Mall grabbing is considered bad in skateboarding culture for two reasons: it marks you as a beginner, and it scrapes up your clothes. The term refers to holding your skateboard vertically by the trucks (the metal axle hardware on top), with the grip tape side pressing against your leg. It’s one of the fastest ways to get side-eyed at a skate park.
What a Mall Grab Actually Is
When you mall grab, you reach down and grab the board by one of its trucks, letting it hang vertically at your side. The coarse, sandpaper-like grip tape faces inward toward your body, usually rubbing against your thigh, shorts, or pants as you walk. The name comes from the stereotype of someone who bought a skateboard at the mall and carries it around without actually skating it.
The Clothing Problem
Grip tape is essentially sandpaper glued to the top of a skateboard deck. It’s rough enough to keep your shoes locked onto the board during tricks, which means it’s also rough enough to shred fabric. When you mall grab, that abrasive surface drags against your clothes with every step. Over time (or even quickly, depending on the material), it causes visible pilling, scuffing, and wear on your pants or shorts. Some grip tapes are aggressive enough to tear through lighter fabrics entirely.
It can also scratch bare skin if you’re wearing shorts. Experienced skaters know this from handling their boards constantly, so they tend to avoid carrying positions that press grip tape against their body for extended periods.
The Social Stigma
The bigger reason mall grabbing gets attention has nothing to do with clothing damage. It’s a cultural signal. In skateboarding, the way you carry your board, push, and move communicates how long you’ve been skating. Mall grabbing is widely seen as a rookie move, and at a skate park, it can invite comments or jokes from other skaters.
This isn’t unique to mall grabbing. Skateboarding culture places a high premium on doing things in specific, socially accepted ways. Pushing “mongo” (using your front foot to push instead of your back foot) carries a similar stigma. These unwritten rules function as a way to distinguish beginners from experienced skaters, creating a kind of in-group knowledge that you pick up naturally the more you skate. If you’ve been skating for years, you’ve internalized these habits without thinking about them. If you haven’t, they can feel like arbitrary gatekeeping.
And honestly, there’s truth on both sides. Some skaters argue the stigma is silly and exclusionary, that it discourages new people from feeling welcome. Others see it as harmless cultural shorthand, no different from any hobby where experience shows in small habits.
How Most Skaters Carry Their Boards
There are several accepted alternatives, and they all keep the grip tape away from your clothes or use a grip that feels more natural for someone who rides regularly.
- Under the arm (hip carry): Hold the board horizontally, tucked under your arm at hip level with the grip tape facing outward, away from your body. This is the most common method and keeps the board secure without damaging your clothes.
- Pinch the nose or tail: Grab the very tip of the board between your fingers and let it hang. This works for short carries, like walking from your car to the spot, but gets tiring quickly.
- Shoulder carry: Rest the board across one or both shoulders with the wheels and trucks facing toward you. This distributes the weight comfortably for longer walks and keeps the grip tape facing away from your clothing.
- Skateboard backpack: Dedicated skate backpacks have straps to secure your board to the outside, freeing up your hands entirely. These are practical for commuting or carrying other gear.
Most experienced skaters default to the hip carry without thinking about it. It’s comfortable, it’s quick to transition from carrying to riding, and it keeps grip tape off your clothes. If you watch skaters at a park between runs, this is what you’ll see almost universally.
Does It Actually Matter?
From a practical standpoint, mall grabbing is slightly worse for your clothing and slightly more awkward as a carrying position. The board swings more when it hangs vertically from the trucks, and the grip tape contact is unavoidable. But it won’t damage your board or affect your skating ability in any way.
The social dimension is where it carries real weight. If you’re new to skating and show up at a park mall grabbing your board, some people will notice. Whether that matters to you is a personal call. Plenty of skaters have moved past caring about these norms, and the culture has generally become more welcoming over the past decade. But the stigma persists, especially among younger skaters and in more traditional skate communities. Switching to an underarm carry is easy enough that most people just do it once they learn about the convention, not because it’s a rule, but because it’s genuinely more comfortable once you get used to it.