BULLYBOY is part of a new generation of skate brands reshaping what the culture looks and feels like; rooted in the ethos of Escape the Ordinary, their mantra reads more akin to a dare than a slogan. This is a brand that sees skateboarding as a living archive of rebellion, tenderness, punk lineage, and graphic experimentation, all at once serious—but mostly, the freedom to make and do cool shit with your friends. Born from Francesco’s frustration with the generic grip tape options on the market—“none of them looked like me”—BULLYBOY emerged first as a DIY fix, and has since grown to be a cult label steadily gathering a loyal following. 

BULLYBOY, despite the name, is anything but aggressive. The brand’s latest campaign—shot in collaboration with creative duo OSKI, creative director Grace Mettler and photographer Nick Farmer—leans into a different energy. 

“I run BULLYBOY. It’s actually a one-person show—I do the marketing, design the products, shoot the campaigns, manage the social… the whole shtick. But I kind of like to make it seem like it’s a whole team behind it,” Francesco admits. That contradiction—the illusion of a team, the reality of one person doing everything—echoes the DIY ethos at the core of the brand. Though Francesco is not out there alone; BULLBOY is part of an ecosystem of brands and projects between Francesco and his friends, “With BULLYBOY, I’ve got this whole crew—graffiti artists, photographers, videographers—we all help each other out. So it’s a ‘we’ in that sense.”

That ‘we’ includes OSKI, a collaborative pairing cemented by creative chemistry. Of their relationship with the brand, “we met through Grace’s sister,” says Nick. “Our first shoot together was sometime last year by the train tracks. From there, we just kept hanging out, doing more shoots, and eventually became friends.”

“I’m a creative director, and Nick’s a photographer,” Grace adds. “He’s gotten me into photography too—mainly film. I think we bring two different styles: Nick’s more documentary, and I bring more of an editorial eye. When we come together, we create something a bit more fun and different.”

The shoot for BULLYBOY’S latest drop is full of dreamy contrasts: the gritty environment of their old apartment block, washed in soft light, alongside tough poses softened by floral arrangements. The campaign is a visual love letter to the skate world’s lesser-seen sides, featuring Francesco himself along with Salvador, BULLYBOY’S brand ambassador. “For the creative direction of this shoot, I wanted to show skaters in a softer light,” Grace explains. “They’re often portrayed as aggressive or rebellious, but I wanted to highlight their gentleness and humanity—making it more about the people than the act of skating.”

OSKI did just this, using only a basic setup: one softbox, one strobe, and two cameras—Grace’s trusty Nikon F3 and Nick’s RB67 medium format. “We try to keep things extremely natural,” says Nick. “A lot of the time, we don’t edit our photos at all, and if there are imperfections, we usually embrace them.”

In true BULLYBOY fashion, the guerilla-marketing aspect of the shoot is true to the vision; such as the team using a remote to sneak into an old apartment building, or shooting on film, printing in the darkroom, and saying no to the fast-paced, algorithm-chasing grind that defines so much of content creation today. “The idea for this shoot worked out perfectly,” Nick continues. “Francesco wanted to shoot new content, and Grace and I were building our portfolio. We had a location in mind—our old apartment—but moved out before the samples arrived. Luckily, I had a good relationship with the building security and still had a remote, so we just went in and shot it there.”

“What drew me to BULLYBOY from the start was Francesco’s marketing strategy,” Grace says. “It’s so fresh and grassroots—graffiti, fast-paced fisheye clips of them skating through the city, just being absolute menaces. But if you know them—Francesco and Salvador—they’re the sweetest guys ever. That contrast really shows in the photos.”

At a time when skate brands are either going full-corporate or full-nostalgia, BULLYBOY occupies a rare in-between: forward-looking, punk-rooted, and deeply human. 

As for the drop itself, it features a unisex update of BULLYBOY’S signature baby tee, alongside a cropped menswear piece that blurs the lines between femme and masc. It’s fashion-centric with a dose of cheekiness, “This drop’s for the girly-pops,” Francesco laughs. “I’m over the box tee that everyone is doing right now. We will do a box tee run soon, but the crop is what I wanted to create right now.” There aren’t many skate brands putting the girlies front and centre, and “it’s inspiring to work with a brand that’s doing things for the love of it,” Nick says. “They’re not chasing investors or crazy engagement tactics, it’s just Francesco having fun with something he cares about.”

This spirit is so critical for 2025: genuinely, deeply, stubbornly caring about your craft in a world that rewards shortcuts. BULLYBOY and OSKI are proof that creating, and doing the things you want to do, is felt by your community in ways that go beyond the work itself; ultimately reminding others that they can do the same. 

Shop the collection at bullyboy.shop

Check out OSKI’s work here

Written by Holly Beaton

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