Inside TVS: How a Bali Skate Brand Went Global Without Even Trying

If you skate in Bali (or honestly anywhere in Indonesia), you’ve definitely seen someone rocking Televisi Star (TVS) pants. Baggy, raw, very 2000s — the brand has somehow become the uniform for skaters everywhere. We sat down with Hendry Bayu from TVS to talk about how it all started, why their pants are suddenly all over the world, and how fabric waste turned into a literal brick. Before all the hype, a lot of people first discovered TVS through their videos. Skate edits, community clips, event content — that was the beginning. 

“TVS started as media I think about 2011-2012, filming anything about skate really. It was during covid, 2020 that we couldn’t do skate event, skate videos or anything so we started the brand. We already made our merch for fun before, we sell them if we made or join any skate event.” says Hendry.

In the end, it’s about the community. TVS grew because people supported them — skaters, friends, the Bali scene, and riders worldwide who chose the pants because they liked them. No marketing tricks. No PR push.

“Skate fashion is ahead of regular fashion. People copy skaters’ style — . They want to look like us.” adds Hendry

It Started With Pants — Big, Baggy Pants

TVS originally set out to bring back the early-2000s skate look: huge silhouettes, real skate energy, nothing commercial. Baggy was the vision from day one, and surprisingly… it stuck. The demand was building up so they decided to hire their own tailor, pattern maker and everything without making it too commercial.

“We really want to keep it raw and skate style — Skaters always do things DIY.” As mentioned by Hendry.

Just skateboarding, word of mouth, and a lot of fabric scraps turning into something cool. 

Arend (A), Hendry Bayu (H)

A: What was the first thing you produced? TVS is famous for the pants — like most skaters wore TVS pants. Did you really start by making pants? what about the media part?

H: Baggy pants! We actually wanted to bring back the 2000s, like old-skool skater style. The media part, it’s basically still running. The media side is more focused on events — like the one with Volcom and USS recently in Jakarta — community stuff.

A: Because at first what I saw was the media, like you guys made a lot of skate videos. Before you even had news-style content, right?

H: We nope to bring more of that kind of content in 2026. 

A: So the people who follow TVS Media now are mostly international skaters, right? How did you guys get to that level?

H: Honestly, just word of mouth. Somehow the skate community helped us make it. A lot of people come to Bali — many pro skaters, lots of skateparks and bowls in 
 

Bali. From there they kinda helped by support us, as simple as wearing our pants i think? From Sanggoe too, his friends, Marcos Montoya,Filipe Mota wears them too. It spread naturally.

The Team Behind the Brand

The current crew includes Louie, Renald, Ical, Erik, Adit, Sora, Odit, Ethan, and Axel, with Indra on the must be no waste departement. Some have been around since the early 2010s, others joined a bit later, but the vibe has always been collaborative.

A: You guys started way earlier than I thought, so has the original team has changed ?

H: Yeah, there were few changes, people come and go but we family still

A: So you’ve been there since the start?

H: Not really. Renald was there from the beginning. I joined a year after. But for media, I’ve been helping since back then. I officially joined around 2021 i think?

A: So from the start, Indra started everything and brought you guys in to handle TVS catalog?

H: We all did it together — all the boys.

The Bali Skate Community Made Everything Bigger

Most of the crew grew up in Bali — hanging out, skating, making things together. And because Bali has more skateparks than most big cities, the scene here exploded fast. The community support became a big backbone for the brand.

A: Your community in Bali is huge now. How did it start?

H: -We are very blessed the community support us here, of course it start from the skate scene, we always try our best to giving back to our community here and also maybe most the crew born and growing here in Bali so we been around haha

A: Now in Bali there are many skatepark hangout spots.

H: Now it’s even more. Everywhere. Compared to other countries, Bali probably has more .

A: So after work you guys skate?

H: We skate whenever we want even if its during work hours haha, 

TVS Goes Global

The biggest market? The U.S.

Their pants blew up overseas — especially after being worn by skaters like Andy Anderson and TJ Rogers. TVS now has distributors in Japan, the U.S., the U.K., and Australia. Funny enough, only recently Indonesia started catching up again in sales.

A: TVS sells a lot overseas, right?

H: Our biggest market is the U.S. Like Andy Anderson collab — 90% of buyers came from there I think. We have distributors in Japan, the U.S., the U.K., Australia… But lately, maybe this year, Indonesian buyers grew a lot.

A: Since you produce yourselves, do you purposely make limited quantities?

H: Yeah, pretty much. There’s still this “euphoria” around it.

A: Any plan to go massive?

H: If we go massive, then it will be through big distributors. So we don’t hold stock — just wholesale.

A: If you do wholesale, are you still gonna produce here? That’s crazy.

H: Yes, here. The system is like pre-order. For example, for next year’s summer in June, the catalog already comes out in December. Or January the latest?

A: So about 6 months before? Where did the connections start?

H: Skateboard!

A: Skateboard or the media?

H: The media is skateboard hahaha.

A: Haha! So do you sponsor any riders?

H: It’s more like family. We send stuff to people who genuinely want to rock our product — like send them products every 3 months. But we never force anyone to wear it. Most riders wear it because they like it, not because we pay them.

A: Like Baker Skateboards riders — do you guys have signature products for your riders?

H: We recently did one with our fam Andy Anderson

A: Interesting. With Andy Anderson it’s a collaboration right? Did he request specific shapes?

H: The pants  100% designed from him. We just help made it happen. The most techinal pants  and of the best we ever ever made ! 

FASHION BATA

A: Earlier I talked briefly with Jevon about your production waste issue. How did that start?

H: So before the Fashion Bata thing, since we produce everything in-house — cutting fabric and all — a lot of waste piled up unmanaged. Our first idea was a campaign called “MUST BE NO WASTE.” We made new products — pants, bags, aprons, hats — from leftover fabrics. But as demand increased, we couldn’t keep up. We already made products but the waste kept growing. Then Indra had an idea and developed it — now it’s the Fashion Bata. Indra developed it until it became a real brick. There’s a lot you can make — tables, knife handles (we did collab with Sound Familiar Knives), partitions, doors, drink coasters — the potential is huge. Fabric waste can become something usable again.

A: So if someone wants a Fashion Bata, is it made to order?

H: Made to order? I think they’re still developing, but they’re open. Some people saw the knives as samples and wanted them.

A: Yeah, the knives were so cool. So the Fashion Bata purpose is to reduce waste?

H: Yes, because fashion waste is one of the biggest pollutants in the world. If one brand can produce this much waste, imagine how many brands exist globally.

A: Is it only your waste or from other brands too?

H: So far mostly ours. But if other brands want to send their waste to us — we are more than welcome. Poor Earth hahaha.