Spitfire

Spitfire is one of the few pure skate-shops in Singapore. They are also the distributor for Roces and Senate amongst the many other Skateboarding brands they carry. I went to their shop at Peninsula. (I always confuse Peninsula Plaza and Peninsula Shopping Center. But you know, it’s the one behind Funan Center.) I went in, introduced myself, took a few pictures of the stuff they had before this dude was sabo-ed by his colleagues into being interviewed by me.

Firstly, do you want to introduce yourself or do you want to remain anonymous?

Hahahah…. I’m Kingsley.

How long has this shop been around?

I believe Spitfire has been around for 16 years.

How long have you been here?

I believe I have been here for the last seven, eight years.

How did this shop start?

My boss started selling leatherwear when he started.

What made him convert to skateboarding?

It was in the 80s, when I was younger. There was a new thing coming up, skateboarding. There was a Japanese company selling skateboarding stuff but they were selling it quite expensive. My boss happened to get to know someone so he started to bring in the skateboarding stuff. Inline however is quite recent.

It was around 4 or 5 years back, was it not?

No, we have been carrying Roces since 1994 when we took from Royal Sporting House.

So you guys are the official retailers. Do you do this only for Singapore or around the region?

More on the region

Regional distributors. So every year you guys will bring in the new skates and stuff

Yeah

With regards to sponsorships and events, what do you guys do?

We don’t normally do any individual sponsorship. Event wise, when organizers approach us, we support them by giving them skates or cash vouchers as prizes. We don’t really go major on organizing events.

Here I see you support skateboarding and in-line are there any other cultures that you support here?

Skimboarding, we are brining in skimboarding stuff but not much yet. We are more into skateboarding and in-line. Other than that we do sell accessories here.

Where do you normally get your goods?

We import them directly from the States. It’s not easy to do this sort of stuff in other Asian countries. Singapore is the most suitable place to do this.

One reason why we are featuring your shop is because we recognize that you support our culture. It is our way of showing our appreciation. You promote us so we promote you back.

Hahah, thanks

I had to end the interview as I realized that I was running out of questions to ask. Mental note to myself, next time prepare the questions first, duh.

Spitfire is located on the second floor of Peninsula (Plaza or Shopping center, it’s the one behind Funan) they carry Roces, Senate and shiploads of skateboarding stuff. They are one of the few remaining pure skate shops in Singapore. Just for that, I have muchos-muchos-grande respect for them. At a time when other shops are branching out to hip-hop and other stuff, Spitfire remains true to it’s roots; skateboarding and in-line. One thing you have to note that as the distributors for Roces, these guys can help you get anything in the Roces catalogue. That is why I believe that Roces is one of the “safest” brand of skates to get in Singapore. You can always go back to Spitfire to get replacement parts. You can basically get the entire range of Roces aggressive skates here, from the Majestic 12 to the Graal. If you need skate bags, they stock almost the entire range of Senate skate bags.

Joyah Binte Sameon