Help Send NYC Girls to Skate Camp with This Upcycled Skateboard Jewelry

By Carey Dunne

Skateboards tend to have short lifespans — heavy use guarantees they’ll eventually splinter or split in half. Brooklyn-based designer Megan Carli specializes in giving destroyed decks second lives: She repurposes broken skateboards into sculptures and jewelry, carving their decks and resin wheels into rough-hewn bangles, silver-lined pendants, stackable rings glazed in colorful resin, and dangly earrings. Now, she’s using her craft to help raise funds for the underrepresented lady skater community in Brooklyn.

Wearskate, the jewelry line Carli launched in November, is collaborating with Brooklyn’s Homage Skateboards and Girls Riders Organization, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering girls through usually male-dominated action sports, like skateboarding, snowboarding, and BMX biking. Wearskate’s Kickstarter campaign, if funded, will provide skateboards, safety gear, and a week of skateboarding camp for New York City girls, ages six to eleven, who couldn’t otherwise afford it.

Carli was an avid skater while growing up in Santa Cruz, California. When collecting her broken skateboards in Brooklyn skateparks, Carli wanted to do something about the dearth of girl skaters. “Skateboarding offers girls the freedom to move throughout the city–it’s a form of independent transportation,” Carli says. “My goal is to have these girls see and believe that their bodies are worth more than just being someone’s object of desire; that they’re strong and capable of focus, control, and dedication.” With enough funding, maybe one of these aspiring sK8er girls will follow in the footsteps of pro Alana Smith, who set a Guinness World Record at age 14 for being the youngest X Games medalist ever.