Surfing has always bled into other worlds – skating, snow, art, music. Throw graffiti and high fashion into the mix and it should be overkill. For the crew behind Sydney-based brand Graveylane, it’s the driving force behind their mission to make the steeziest boardshorts in the lineup – and, one day, high fashion pieces walking runways in Milan and Paris.
Graveylane was started by friends Dylan Price and Blake Beveridge who are both from North Steyne on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Despite growing up streets away from each other, it wasn’t until a chance encounter while the pair were living out of their vans in Byron Bay during Covid that they formed a friendship.
“Yeah it’s actually pretty funny how we got close. I was seeing this chick at the time… we’d been getting on really well and then I didn’t hear from her for a couple days. Anyways, I’m out in the surf and Dyl paddles up to me. We start chatting, and he tells me he’s met this girl who said she knew me. Turns out the reason she hadn’t replied to me was because Dyl had been cracking on with her. We both just instantly burst out laughing, went in and got on the beers together and we’ve been hanging out ever since,” said Blake.
Not long after the pair formed a friendship, Blake was working on creating a brand with someone else, but it never stuck. Then Dyl pitched a fresh idea.
“One day Dyl came up to me with the idea of starting this brand and doing these boardshorts,” Blake said. “It was just perfect timing.”
But the pair weren’t exactly seasoned fashion veterans.
“When we first started the brand, we had no clue what we were doing,” Blake admits. “I didn’t even have a pen for my iPad. I literally designed the logo using my finger. Next minute we’re putting the logo all over a bunch of hats and printing my graffiti work all over some boardshorts.”
Dyl had a clear vision early: boardshorts first.
“Everything started with the boardshorts — that was the core idea I had. I could see this big 90s resurgence coming back on trend and thought we could get ahead of the game and put out some sick boardies.”
Samples took nearly 10 months, during which the boys threw everything into building an identity on social media. When the boardies finally dropped, they didn’t know if anyone would care.
“We were shocked when we sold out of them quickly,” Dyl said. “The biggest issue was trying to keep up with stock. We sold out three times and were the bestselling boardshort in Aloha Manly over the summer. That was the validation we needed… once we sold out in Aloha, we were like, tools down, let’s give this a fucking good crack.”
A quick look at their boardshorts and you can see how the boys have drawn on their different inspirations, 90s surf culture and graffiti in particular, to produce a steezy set of knee knockers. One of the things that make the brand unique is the Cheech & Chong type energy between its founders.
“We come from really different backgrounds,” said Blake. “Growing up my passion was graffiti, being a rug rat, surfing and skating. Honestly, I don’t know where I’d be without Dyl — he’s helped me so much and pushed me to better myself. If it wasn’t for him I’d still only be showing my art on a highway or near a train station instead of on boardshorts, clothes and high fashion pieces being displayed on runways.”
Their influences pull from everywhere — the 90s, gritty inner-west graffiti culture, European couture.
“I think our product comes from the things me and Dyl have been inspired by,” said Blake. “For Dyl it’s very much that 90s surf culture. For me it’s graffiti and art… and we’ve both been inspired by some of the high fashion you see across Europe. When you blend all of that together, you get this really unique vibe. We want our stuff to be worn in the surf, on the street and on runways in Milan and Paris.”
That vibe now spills into everything they do — surf, skate, rave and runway. The boys target market stretches way beyond surf and has seen them hold pop up stalls and art installations at Sydney’s Mode Festival, put on their own rave events and create a 15 piece collection for the MODA Designer runway show earlier this year.
“We were invited to Moda off the back of the success of our own rave and runway event. We had like 10 days to screen print, spray and produce these outfits. We spend day and night putting together these fits but it paid off big time,” said Blake.
“We’re lucky Blake’s mum lets us use her art studio. That’s where we do most of our design work and screen printing, and where we’ve spent endless nights piecing stuff together. But right now it’s a lot of time in front of a screen trying to get our next collection across the line,” added Dyl.
The mission now is growth — without losing their authenticity and their continued promise to give back to the culture and community that shaped them.
“We want to build a team of sponsored riders and make sick gear for them, while also making wearable art for runways. We want to do pop-up stores in Tokyo, London, Paris, wherever,” said Blake. “At the same time we’re just stoked to see kids running around in our gear, handing out stickers to them and watching them froth.”
They also want to steer away from becoming another stiff fashion house.
“Everything we do has a very lighthearted touch,” Dyl adds. “We don’t take ourselves too seriously — we want to have a good time. Whether that’s making a funny surf edit to promote boardies or putting on a rave so everyone can let loose.”
Blake and Dyl are not sticking to one lane, they’re very much building their own by stitching together the worlds they live in: the beach, the streets, the rails, the party and the runway. While they have dreams of going global, it’s clear they want to continue giving back to the communities that shaped them.
Check the boys out here and grab yourself a pair of steezy knee knockers.
