Skateboarding and Dunbar’s Number

In a nutshell, the theory of Dunbar’s Number says that you have trouble dealing with more than 150 people. Not you specifically, you in general, and me too. That is, if you’ve got a company with 150 people in it, that will work fine, but hire 50 more people and you start having problems. Put 125 people in a church congregation and they’ll do fine, but double it to 250 and the preacher will start having issues with his flock. Those who believe in Dunbar’s number say that “group sizes larger than [150] generally require more restricted rules, laws, and enforced policies and regulations to maintain a stable cohesion.” So what does this have to do with skateboarding?

I think it might have everything to do with skateboarding pros and deck sales. I’m not sure the industry can handle more than 150 pros at a time because I’m not sure the kids can handle more than 150 pros. It’s not that kids get overwhelmed by walking into a skateshop and seeing too many different pro decks on the wall or that there are too many products endorsed by pros or anything like that. I think it’s that kids (as well as adults, but I’m going to keep talking about the “kids” since the adult skate market is probably relatively tiny compared to what is purchased by kids under 18) simply don’t have the mental capacity to remember more than 150 pros.

Think of a kid’s mind like a small glass. Imagine that you have an eye dropper and you’re dropping drops of liquid into the glass, and the glass can hold about 150 drops. Once you get to 150, every drop you drop into the glass forces one drop out of it. It might be the drop you just dropped in, or it might be another one.

Granted, all drops are not created equal. Koston has been and will continue to be on every kid’s mind for a while and isn’t going to be forced out very easily. But is Koston as big to kids today as Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Hosoi, or Tony Hawk were to those of us who grew up in the 80s? I don’t know the answer to that question, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Koston’s “brand” isn’t as strong as that of pros from the 80s simply because we didn’t have as many pros to choose from back then.

A pro’s personal brand is diluted today by all the other pros out there, and with the rise of the “pro-am” (i.e. Daniel Castillo) kids have even more skaters to keep track of than they ever did before. For companies this may not be such a problem, but it may be an issue for individual riders, even those legends like Koston, Reynolds, or Berra. With so many old pros, current pros, and new pros, plus new stellar ams, legends don’t take on the same status they once did and are more easily forgotten.

Take Jeremy Wray for example. For those of you who skated when the first issue of 411 came out, do you remember how amazing Jeremy’s part was? Even by today’s standards many of the tricks he did were amazing. Over the next few years Jeremy definitely became a legend as he pioneered much of what we see today. And yet today if you went and asked 20 13-year old skaters who Jeremy Wray is, I’ll bet you not one would have even heard of him. But I bet you that at least some of them will have heard of Hosoi or Cab.

So what’s this mean for the industry? I’m not sure. I think the slipping sales of pro decks may have something to do with this. I don’t think kids care about or respect pros the way they once did. The pros aren’t legends, they’re just really good skaters. But I’m no longer a kid and so I could be totally wrong on this one. But whether or not it’s a problem for the industry or companies, it’s certainly a problem for pros. If a pro wants to have any lasting impact on skateboarding and extend their career then they’re going to have to work harder and make sure they either make their company a top-tier company, or they’re going to have to ride for a top-tier company that can boost their own brand.

Then again, maybe we’re all better off if pro skaters just say “Who cares?” and skate for fun.