Behind the brand: Marissa Martinez of Mamaskate

When I arrived at Marissa’s Downtown LA apartment she was waiting on the street with her dog Beasley. Marissa had only moved there a little over a week before and was still in the process of unpacking and organizing. Inside, one corner of the studio had been set up nicely with a chair and room divider for an interview filmed there the day before. Mama pants are a hot topic right now.

Marissa switched her slides for skate shoes and grabbed her skateboard. With Beasley in tow she led the way through the streets of DTLA to the Mama shop, where Mama pants and shorts come to life. When we rolled up, Marissa’s sister Lydia was waiting for us. Walking into the shop they greeted the machinists like they were family, and after a few friendly hugs Marissa got to work checking the progress of the next range.

Back at her apartment that afternoon, Marissa sat down to ice her lingering ankle injury. We took the time talk about how she recently joined a band, her favorite skate gigs she has worked on, how Mamaskate came to be, and who is on the Mama dream-team list.

Congrats on the cool new space! What was the motivation for the move?

I wanted to be closer to the Mama shop where all the pants are made, focus full-time on Mamaskate, and on fun skate gigs. I feel like a lot of auditions for that kind of stuff happen in LA. That was always the goal with Lydia and I. We wanted to move to LA to do more skateboarding related things. Before I even started making the pants we wanted to do that. That was the goal but we stopped halfway in Long Beach because we weren’t sure if we were ready to be away from the beach.

Eventually I was like okay, I‘m spending all my time on the freeway, driving everyday to LA, and then just going back to Long Beach to sleep. I wasn’t even able to enjoy the beach. So I decided I was going to make the move. All the driving back and forth in the traffic — I don’t want to sound like a baby, but — it can really just suck your soul. And with my injury, that’s my driving foot, so I couldn’t keep it up for too long as I was trying to heal my ankle.

Yeah, you rolled your ankle real bad, right? What happened?

I rolled my ankle 180ing the stair set at El Sereno Skatepark. It was really bad. Luckily it wasn’t broken but I couldn’t really walk for a few days… actually for longer than that. It was so swollen and bruised. Put me out of commission for months. It’s still healing now.

When you hurt your ankle, was that when you went all in on Mamaskate and launched the website?

I was depressed and so sad and I was like, alright, I just have to focus on what I can do and not think about what I can’t do. What I can do is work on Mamaskate. Actually that morning when I got invited to go skate El Sereno, that day was meant to be an office day. I had so many things I needed to do — work on the Mama website and the pant inventory. I went skating but I should have been working on the site.

I had all the pants in my house that I needed to go through and check; inspect each pair and make sure every pocket was good, belt straps were secure, and that there was enough length on the drawstrings.

That morning I decided, I’ll just go skate for a little bit and I’ll come back and work on the site in the afternoon. It’ll be fine. And then that’s when I hurt my ankle. I was like, “wow!” I knew I had forced myself, here I am handicapped, and now with no excuse not to work on the website.

You seem to be really involved in the whole process from beginning to end and very hands-on. Are you in the shop most days?

Yes. I’m very hands-on. I do a bit of production management work there, making sure the process is going well.

Why did you decide to have the pants made at this place specifically?

I wanted production to be local. Hali from Chonchordia skateboards introduced Connie and I, and we’ve worked together ever since. Hali is one of my big inspirations. I’ve known him for over 10 years and he makes his whole skate line by hand. I saw him making pants for men and I wanted to do that for us girls.

I had a lot of family stuff going on, I was working, going to school, and filming a skate part. Eventually, at one point, I just approached Hali and told him I want to make girls skate pants and I want to learn the process. I basically became his apprentice. We would meet at Starbucks and he would tell me all the things I needed to do. You need to make a pattern first, you need to buy the fabric, you need to have the fabric cut… there were so many steps. I would take notes and ask him to repeat it all again.

How long ago was that?

I don’t even know what age I was. 25 or 26 maybe. So about 4 years ago. I had thought about this concept for so many years but I kept putting it on the back-burner. Finally I decided to focus on it. That’s when I started designing the logo and made the first sample.

So what were the important features that you felt like women’s skate pants needed?

Deep pockets. I wanted deep pockets for sure! I wanted them to be stretchy and comfortable, you know. And I wanted them to have more space. My first round didn’t come out exactly how I wanted. They were a little tighter than I’d hoped. The first round was small — about 30 pants — and I took those up to Seattle for Wheels of Fortune and Kristin [Ebling] let me have a booth there. This was back in 2016. They were cool. They were grey and denim. Those were the two colorways.

I remember those actually. The dark denim ones. They were cool!

Yeah! Those ones had a zipper and button and all that, and deep pockets. But still, they were too tight. We wanted looser pants. So I was like, “listen Hali, we want baggier pants. That’s what I want to create and I need help making a pattern.”

I worked with him, created a pattern and made lots of samples. At one point I realized I wanted to incorporate an elastic waistband, kind of maternity inspired. Make a chino style pant with an elastic waistband. I figured it would fit more sizes with the elastic waistband too. They would fit a larger range of people and that was also important to me. I really liked the fabric Hali was using to make his stuff and I wanted to use it too, so he helped me source it.

It’s kind of funny that they’re called Mama and they’re inspired by maternity pants. That wasn’t the inspiration behind the name though was it?

Mama comes from the first two letters of my first and last name. I started using Mamaskate as my Instagram handle back in the day, before I created the company. That’s where it originally came from. I feel like it has multiple meanings behind it though. We lost our mom early on and I helped raise my two younger sisters growing up.

I definitely see those caring mom vibes. With the production of the pants, does every step of the process happen in LA?

Yeah. I buy the fabric here, make the pattern here and everything gets sewn here. With the sewing process, one guy makes the belt loops because he has the machine for that, and then the well pockets are made by another guy that lives in LA. Once those two parts are done then everything goes to Connie and the ladies, and they sew it all together. Connie herself does each elastic waistband and makes sure they’re all fitted properly.

It definitely sounds like it makes sense for you to be in DTLA and amongst everything.

Now that I’ve moved to LA, it feels like it’s all coming together. It’s a six minute skate to the shop so I can just roll up with Beasley. The move was worth it. It makes sense.

So what’s a normal day in the life of Marissa?

I wake up, meditate and do some healing on my ankle. Play some music and take Beasley for a skate run. Then I’ll see what’s up at the shop, cruise over there if I need to. I’m trying to be more consistent with my social media and post things regularly around 12 o’clock everyday. Then I’ll link up with the girls and skate or see the family. Or sometimes I’m working and I’ll be on set for the day.

Yeah, so tell me about that side of your life. You do a lot of acting and modeling stuff too, right?

I do a bit of acting and modeling here and there, yeah. Most of the gigs that I get are skate related and they’re usually sent from Lisa Whitaker — my skate mom [laughs]. People will reach out to her when they’re looking for skater girls, or they might see my profile on the Meow website team page or my Insta. Mimi [Knoop] and Lydia send me jobs as well.

What was your favorite job that were casted for?

Maybe one of the first jobs I ever did. It was for Apple. That was probably my favorite. Basically I went on a week long vacation and they paid me guap. It was for the Apple Nano or something. It was a small group of people and myself, and we went to Lake Tahoe and San Francisco. We got to skate, we did zip lining and went paddle boarding on this really beautiful lake. That was my first introduction to doing these skate gigs.

Am I right in thinking that you are in a band? What’s the story? You’re a woman of many talents.

[Laughs] Yeah I guess I am. I’m in a band with Andrea Benítez — Blue Avocados is the name — and there are two other guys in the band as well, Ben and Sunrise. About a year or so ago, Andrea and I were at Allysha Le’s house and Andrea was jamming on the guitar. She wrote this song called “She’s Not That Hipster” and we were just messing around with that song. It was a cool moment. Ruby [York] was singing with us. I like to sing but I don’t usually sing in front of other people. When I was in 8th grade I recorded a CD with my friends on the East Coast but since then I hadn’t done anything.

Then fast-forward and Andrea flies back out here for Dew Tour. After Dew we went to LA. I needed to stop by the Mama shop and she wanted to record with her band. Their studio is really close by the Mama shop. I was at the shop to doing my thing and then she hit me up, “Hey I want to record that “She’s Not That Hipster” song. When are you going to be done?” I cruised over and we recorded the song.

Is this going to be an ongoing thing? Big plans for world tours and dropping albums?

[Laughs] We’ll see! I had a lot of fun. Even though I was shy I still felt comfortable around them and I definitely want to do it again. So I need to make it to the next practice session.

So what’s next for Mamaskate then?

I have 5 new colors in the works — pants and shorts; black, navy blue, mocha brown, teal and dark pink. After that I want to do t-shirts and hoodies. I kind of want to look into making boxers and underwear that are more comfortable because that’s something that bothers me. I am selfishly motivated. If I can’t find what I want, then I want to make it. I also want to travel with Mama and put a team together.

Yeah, I was going to ask about that. Because there isn’t a team right now, is there?

That’s the goal — to get to the point where I can support a team. I mean, I do have girls and guys I bless with pants and shorts — my flow team for now [laughs].

“Guys and girls love them because they’re so comfortable and skateable. It’s crazy, even our grandparents wear them. And our dad has a pair.”

Do you have a list of your dream team? Do you want to drop it on the record right here, right now? No pressure…

I mean… I could [laughs]. I know I’d love to have Andrea on the team. She is already repping pretty hard. It’s still very grassroots right now. I’ve had girls ask if I’m sponsoring but I’m still trying to figure it all out. I haven’t thought about the list in a while. Samarria [Brevard]. I’ve given Samarria a pair. It would be dope to have her on there. Lee [Lacey Baker], and Lil Tubs AKA Una [Farrar]. Definitely Fabiana [Delfino]. She’s killing it. Neex [Nika Washington].

Your pants are also worn by a lot of guys. Was that a conscious decision to make them unisex when you were designing them and working out the pattern?

Honestly no. I was very selfish in the design, with the help of my sis Lydia. It was just what we wanted in a pair of pants — we made them for us, and if other people like them, then cool. Guys and girls love them because they’re so comfortable and skateable. It’s crazy, even our grandparents wear them. And our dad has a pair.

So would you put guys on the team?

It’s definitely going to be predominantly girls and then I’ll add one guy at a time.

Maybe you should have one “token dude” like all the brands that have one “token girl.”

Exactly! [Laughs] That’s what I was thinking. I was talking to Evan [Smith] about that. Like, make it be all girls in the Mama van and just one mystery guy guest .

That would be amazing! Any final words that you want to end on for now?

I want to say thank you. I really appreciate the opportunity and everyone’s support and feedback. It means the world to me. I’m going to keep creating and having fun with the process. I’m very grateful right now.

Check out Mamaskate products here and keep an eye out for the new range dropping soon.