Today, just about anyone can start a skateboard company. All you have to do is draw up some graphics and then find a supplier. If you can order in bulk from China you can get decks for $10-15 apiece. They won’t be the best quality, but they’ll be around the quality of a shop deck. You can get t-shirts printed for $5 apiece. Stickers are cheap. Then film a small video and stick it up on YouTube and Vimeo and there you go, you own a skateboard company. You can do a decent job with less than $10K. By borrowing stuff from friends and doing as much of the work yourself as possible you could probably get a company going for $1K. Turn your friends pro. Turn yourself pro. What does it mean to be “pro” if anyone can make themselves a deck? Here’s a skateboard company called AVNGR from Portugal. It looks like two guys started it, and there are two guys on the team. This would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. Today it’s easy, or at least possible and not terribly difficult.

The problem is once you get it going, how do you keep it going. That’s tougher, because who wants to buy your stuff? Why would someone pay for your deck if they can get a Baker deck for the same price? Why would someone want to wear your t-shirt when they could be wearing a Chocolate tee for the same price? Would people wear your clothes and ride your decks if you gave them away for free? If not, you’ve got a problem. If they’ll do it for free, at least you’ve got a chance. The next question is will they buy your stuff for the same price it cost you? If not, you’ve still got a problem. If so, you’ve got a chance. In between your cost and what you’d like to sell the stuff for is a nice place called “profit”. It comes after all the expenses, including what you pay yourself, and is what you’ve got left over that you don’t know what to do with. If you know what to do with all the money you bring in, you’re probably not profitable. Certainly not profitable enough.

But maybe you don’t care about making a profit. Maybe you want experience. That’s profit, of a sort, as well. Even if you lose money starting a skateboard company you’ll get a far better education than you’ll get from high school or college–I guarantee it, and I have a master’s degree in business from a fairly renowned university so I have some level of qualification for saying this. You’ll learn more in a month of running a skateboard company than you’ll get from a year at college, easily. And it will be cheaper.

Where does it lead? Who knows? Who cares? Maybe you run it for a few months, maybe a few years. Maybe you make money, maybe you don’t. Maybe the only people who will buy stuff from you are your friends and family. If like it and make money, keep on doing it. If you don’t like it, or can’t afford to keep doing it because you’re losing money, stop doing it. Maybe you can become a “real” skateboard company. Maybe it will fizzle but you’ll get hired by Girl or Baker because of the experience you gain. Maybe you’ll become a skateboard filmer or photographer. Maybe you’ll end up as a consultant for companies doing manufacturing in China and you’ll fly around the world wearing a suit, eating steak and lobster, and doing multi-million dollar deals with guys who are on the cover of Forbes magazine and you’ll have homes in Laguna Beach and Vail. It’s amazing how one thing can lead to another in life. But don’t do nothing because you think it’s hard. Don’t not start a skateboard company because it’s too expensive. It’s easy, and it’s cheap, at least compared to what it was like 20 years ago. And it might just change your life.

When did Merlino come on the scene? For normal peeps like you and me, the first time we heard of Merlino was when he switch-heelflipped Wallenberg. “Wait,” you say, “When did anyone switch heel Wallenberg? I don’t remember that, and I would remember that!” You don’t remember it because he did it at the Back to the ‘Berg contest, when Cole did a switch frontside flip and a backside 360 ollie down the thing, and Catfish did his backside big spin, and Potts did a hardflip, and someone did something else. Merlino came out of nowhere and landed a switch heel, but it wasn’t the biggest news of the day, and so he didn’t get a cover, didn’t get featured, and so you forgot about it.

Think about it. If Merlino had gone there a month earlier and had switch heeled that thing, he would have gotten a cover, he would have been the hot thing going for the next few months. All eyes would have been on the guy. Instead, he fell under the radar. Yeah, he’s coming up, but he’s had to work a lot harder to get up than other people who launched there careers with a mind-bender like that. And more power to him, because he’s followed that switch-heel with tons of solid tricks, and not just bigger, better stuff, but innovative stuff, i.e. tons of NBDs.

You may feel differently than me, but I’m looking forward to Merlino gettin’ some more respect in the future. He’s earned it, and doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

Enough meandering. I had something to write about and I better get started before I forget it. I’ve been skating since the 4th grade, since I was five if you count the time my brother put me on a fiberglass board and gave me a push that resulted in me falling face first onto rough concrete and running inside the house bleeding. I’ve seen a bit of skateboard history. More than most of you that come to this blog, I’ll wager. But even though you’re young and I’m old, I think we can relate when I talk about “that skater we want to be.”

For me, the first one was Matt Hensley. H-Street came out with Shackle Me Not, which started out with Matt riding a board along a sidewalk doing no-complies and a nosepick on a bench. Something about the music, his skating, and that board with the two pointy parts on the side (skateboards weren’t as focused on pure functionality back then) resonated with me. I wanted to be Matt Hensley. I dreamed about skating like him. I watched the video over, and over, and over, and over again. I copied the music onto an audio tape and listened to it over and over and over on my sister’s portable tape player/stereo. There was something about Matt that made him amazing, yet attainable. Well, not that he was attainable, but it was as though, as good as he was, somehow I believed I could be that good too, and have that much fun skating. There were plenty of other good skaters in that video, but nobody made me feel like I felt when I watched Matt skate. I can remember the feeling to this day, and I cherish it. Gullwings, man, those were the most desirable trucks around at the time.

By contrast, as much as I loved watching Danny Way, he didn’t make me feel that way. The guy was too good. Too amazing. Same with Tony Hawk and a host of others. Their skating was unattainable. I couldn’t imagine ever being like them.

The next shot of “hope” I got was with the Blind video, Video Days, probably still my #1 skate video pick of all time, in part because it was so real, so raw. It was just a bunch of guys skating. I would watch the video and think “I could get my dad’s VHS camera and film my friends skating like this.” Not that any of my friends could do noseblunt slides or one-foot ollies to lipslide on a handrail, but…well, maybe they could. I mean, if Guy and Rudy could do this stuff, why can’t I and my crew? None of the stuff was staged, it was just as if a bunch of friends grabbed a camera and went skating around LA for a day. I watched the video and saw myself in Guy’s shoes doing that frontside 360 ollie, backside bigspin, and then fakie boardslide at that bank with the angled ledges.

After that, things got kind of crazy with Plan B, Girl, and progress in general. The first time I saw Mouse I didn’t know what to think. Guy did a switch backside bigspin flip that I haven’t seen equaled for style and ease to this day. It was over ten years before someone did a switch frontside shove it to switch crook on a handrail like Guy did first try and perfect. It would be a while before I got that feeling of “Hey, I could be that guy” again.

The next time it hit me was watching PJ Ladd’s Wonderful Horrible Day, or whatever it was called. PJ was sick. Amazing. And yet there was that feeling of him being a normal kid, just some guy who liked to go out and skate by himself. I liked to skate by myself too, and as I watched PJ I would think “Hey, I could be like that.” And there was something about it that you knew he wasn’t skating to be sponsored, or to make money, or any of that stuff, but just because he loved skating and was having a blast. Sadly, I haven’t gotten that feeling watching PJ in anything since. Maybe it’s just me, but nothing I’ve seen him do since looks as fun. I always get the feeling PJ would prefer to quit being a professional and just go back to skating by himself for fun. But again, I could be wrong.

The point is, there was something about PJ’s part that set it apart from all other video parts from that era. Something about him coming out of nowhere, being an unknown, and just killing it with that part. The soundtrack definitely helped.

I don’t think I’ve had that feeling since. I don’t get it watching P-Rod, Sheckler, or Ortiz, as much as I love watching those guys. I don’t get it watching Cole or Slash or Koston or Puds. I’m sure they’re all having fun, but it’s just not quite as raw, something not as natural. When I think back to those skaters I really connected with on video, what’s the common thread? I think it might be that the videos didn’t seem like they happened on purpose. Shackle Me Not, Video Days, PJ Ladd–all those videos kind of seem as though someone just threw together a bunch of footage for fun, filming skaters who were skating for the fun of it with no expectation that the video would do anything for them, but barging just for their own sakes.

Well, there you go, some thoughts. Can you relate?

Hey,
I have been checking out sublimited for awhile now. Great site. Thanks for taking the time. Anyways, I have always thought about opening up a shop. Recently came into some money, so I am finally starting to get more serious about it. That’s besides the point. With your industry experience and knowledge I was wondering if you could help me out with some info. When I start a shop I only want to carry skater owned brands, and as many local(colorado) brands as I can. There is always a long standing discussion between my friends and I about companies that are not skater owned. Is there any list out there that consists of non and skater owned companies, or could just just give me a quick rant on non skater owned companies. I don’t expect much, I know your busy. So no rush, and if I don’t hear back from you, no worries. Just keep posting on Sublimited, its appreciated. Thanks again.

-Matt

Disclaimer: The nice thing about having a blog is I can write whatever I want on it, without any evidence to back it up. And that’s what this answer is–just my own meandering opinions and thoughts. Take them for what they’re worth. Oh, and some of my info may be woefully out of date, like when I start talking about who owns which companies.

Answer: First off, I don’t know of any list of skater-owned vs. non skater-owned companies out there, but I’m guessing there might be one on Google somewhere. I should probably create it myself, since it would probably draw in a bit of traffic, but I’m kind of lazy. Tell you what, you create it, and I’ll post it here, fair enough

Second, it’s kind of hard to determine which companies are skater-owned vs. not. For example, is Element skater-owned? Well, it was started by a skater. It’s run by a skater. But technically it’s owned by Billabong, right? Zoo York was started by skaters, but is owned by Echo. Santa Cruz is not skater-owned, but Skip is about as down for skating as anyone, isn’t he? Maybe, maybe not, I don’t know the guy, but he seems committed to skateboarding. DC was started by Ken Block and the Way brothers. Danny is obviously a skater, and Damon and Ken…well, I don’t know if they ever skated, but they probably did. I don’t know anything about Damon, but I owe Ken a debt of gratitude because he sold product to me when I was starting my first shop 15+ years ago and nobody else would sell me stuff in small quantities. I don’t know anything about him today other than that he drives fast cars, but he was cool to me once and I won’t soon forget it. But of course now DC is owned by Quiksilver. Emerica seems like a core skater brand, right? I mean, you don’t see an Emerica surfwear line, right? What about Etnies? Yeah…not so much. But Etnies and Emerica are the same company, SoleTech, which is definitely skater-owned (Don Brown and Pierre were also cool to me when I was getting started–Pierre talked to me for 10 minutes about glue, once).

So if you’re going to draw lines as a skateshop owner, where do you draw them? Do you decide which companies are really skater owned, which are sort of skater owned, and which aren’t at all? Or do you have to go even further and decide which are skater-owned and marketed to real skaters (i.e. Emerica vs. Etnies)?

Here’s what I say–it’s all brain damage, so just sell the kids what they want, within reason.  What do I mean by “within reason”? Well, there are some products I wouldn’t sell, because I find them objectionable and I don’t think kids should have access to it. Not that I think the government should step in and ban stuff, or anything like that, I just mean that if I think a particular product has artwork or language or something that’s beyond what I find acceptable, I won’t sell it. No offense intended, that’s just the way I choose to do things. Luckily skateboarding already went through its “porn phase” over a decade ago, and hopefully it won’t come back.

In a different vein, there are products I might just not want to support, even if the kids want them, because I think it’s just going too far outside skateboarding. A few years ago I felt that way about Nike, although I’ve since changed my mind because they sent me a million dollars. But I kid, they’ve never sent me anything, I just changed my mind because I feel like they’ve proved their commitment to skateboarding, and because Koston threatened to send his goons after me to break my knees. I can’t think of another product at the moment that I feel that way about, but I’m sure they’re out there. You can probably think of a few.

So would I carry Element? Sure. DC? Probably. Etnies? Yeah. Zoo York? Why not. As long as kids buy the stuff, and it’s not crazy stuff like skateboards with 16 wheels or Snakeboards then it’s within reason for me.

That said, I happen to like certain brands better than others, and a lot of it has to do with them being “real” skater-owned companies. Girl/Chocolate/Lakai/Fourstar, for example.  Zero/Mystery/Fallen is another. Alien Workshop, Habitat, and pretty much anything Steve Berra reps is dope, even though DVS is run by a fat, washed-up, has-been of a skater (just kidding, Tim!…well, sort of). Baker, Deathwish, etc. Those are some of the brands I would go out of my way to promote. Others, like Element, I would have up there just in case kids want them. There are plenty of others as well, I just mention those because they spring to mind.

The Internet changes everything. It’s not all that hard to slap together a website, create a profile on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. If you’re a skateshop it’s a piece of cake for skaters to find you…right? Well, maybe you’ve got the system down, but even if you do, you could probably use a little more foot traffic or online sales. As you can tell if you follow this blog, writing posts here is not my full time job. Have I even written 10 times on here in the last year? Nay, my full time job is doing search engine optimization for other companies that have nothing to do with skateboarding. And recently, I launched a new business that builds online directories. I’m going to stick up one for every state and one for every major metro/city, but for now we’ve got a few up and running.

SkateShopDirectory.net

BostonSkateboardShops.com

CaliforniaSkateboardShops.com

LosAngelesSkateboardShops.com

NewYorkSkateboardShops.com

UtahSkateboardShops.com

You can go and list your skateshop on any of these websites for free. You get a whole page where you can put whatever information in there that you want, as well as a link to your website. If you know anything about getting better rankings in Google for your website, you’ll know a big part of it is getting links back from sites that are relevant to what you do. These websites are highly relevant, and as such are going to help your rankings quite a bit.

There’s no catch, other than this–if you want to be on the homepage, it costs $20/month (or $50/month on the national one, $20/month for a featured listing on a state-level page). You’ll still get some value and some traffic if you get a free listing, don’t get me wrong, but you’ll get a lot more traffic and SEO value if you’re on the homepage with a featured listing. Trust me, I know how money can be tight when you’re running a shop, but for $20/month, you can’t beat this deal.

Yeah, I know the websites don’t look like anything to do with skateboarding. My company has launched 723 of these in the last week (see DeclareMedia.com) and we might customized the look and feel down the road, but there’s no time for that at the moment. And hey, it doesn’t really matter. You’re still going to get traffic and SEO results, no matter what the sites look like.

Now that I’m 35 and have two kids, I don’t have the mindless spare time I had in school to play with tech decks, but as I mentioned, I have two kids, and there’s nothing like a tech deck to get them started on the right path in life.

So why am I talking about tech decks? Cause they sent me a few free ones as part of their “get the word out” effort about a batch of autographed tech decks. Here’s the official press release. Go get you some.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TECH DECK® BRINGS THE AUTOGRAPHS OF THE TOP PRO SKATERS FROM THE STREETS TO YOUR FINGERTIPS

Collect the limited edition board packages available exclusively this summer

Toronto, ON/ Los Angeles, CA – July 19, 2010 – Tech Deck®’s reputation for delivering only the most authentic replica skateboard collectables has reached new heights this summer. Tech Deck® has joined forces with the biggest stars of skateboarding and upped the ante for collectors. Some of the most respected pro riders have personally signed 100 or less Tech Deck® board packages, making these the rarest collector’s items of the Tech Deck® line. From the streets to your fingertips, the hottest collectable Tech Deck®’s will be randomly distributed later this month, to mass market retailers across the United States. This is every fan’s chance to finally have some of the biggest stars of skateboarding right in their own hands.

“I’m psyched to be part of this promotion, it’s a great way to give back to the fans that I may never get the opportunity to personally meet. Good luck to all the collectors,” said legendary rider Ryan Sheckler.

Featured Collectable Autographed Boards from:

Tony Hawk – Birdhouse

Chris Cole – Zero

Ryan Sheckler – Plan B

Paul Rodriguez – Plan B

Chris Troy – Black Label

Corey Duffel – Foundation

Shuriken Shannon – Black Label

Chris Haslam – Almost

Ronnie Creager – Blind

David Navarette – Creature

“Fans of Tech Deck® are pretty hard core. They’ve been amassing their collections for years,” states Craig Drobis, Marketing Director at Spin Master Ltd. “Whether they’re motivated to build their collections based on riders, boards, or skate brands, they’re all excited by the Tech Deck® brand.  We’re the only one out there bringing fans authentic replica skate board graphics from all the top skate companies – essentially putting some of the hottest stars of the streets into the hands of their fans.”

Autographs from the most respected riders will have fans racing to stores across America in search of the coveted boards. The packages can be identified by a special holographic Tech Deck® sticker that will be affixed to the front. With these highly-coveted autographs, these boards are sure to be worth far more than their face value of $3.29 SRP. Make sure to check out www.techdeck.com as well as each of the rider’s social media sites for additional information.

About Spin Master Ltd.

A multi-category children’s entertainment company since 1994, Spin Master has been designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing consumer products for children around the world and is recognized as a global growth leader within the toy industry.  Spin Master is best known for such popular brands as boy’s action phenomena and 2009 Toy of the Year winner Bakugan Battle Brawlers™, 2008 Toy of the Year winner Air Hogs®, Aquadoodle™, Tech Deck™, Moon Sand™, Liv™, and Mighty Beanz™. The company has also marked an entry into children’s media with the launch of Spin Master Entertainment, a subsidiary focusing on the design, development and production of television and other media properties.  Spin Master employs over 800 people with offices in Toronto, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Hong Kong and Mexico.  For additional information please visit: www.spinmaster.com.

###

Some observations:

1. Good size nose and tail. I’ve had issues with other decks in the past that had a tail that was too small.

2. Good concave and steepness on the nose and tail.

3. Overall good shape.

4. Most importantly, the board felt natural as soon as I stepped on it. I realize here and there you’re going to have to get used to a new deck, but ideally I like to step on a deck and have it feel natural from the get-go, and the Fortica deck I tried gave me that experience.

These decks are going for $35 a pop on their website (link above) so go buy you one.

But what I wanted to comment on today is this whole recession thing, and if you think we’re coming out of it…well, we’ll see where we’re at a year from now. But a few years ago there was a big to-do in the skateboarding business world about shop decks and blank decks and how they were hurting sales of pro models, and how we should imagine a world without pros and how bad that would be. Now look, I love the pros as much as anyone. Those guys kill themselves to get where they are, and they deserve whatever they can get, and frankly, after years of riding blanks (I wasn’t buying them, I was getting them for free, and do you think I’m going to go spend $50 on a pro deck when I can ride a decent blank for $0?) I think there is something to be said for pro decks. I’m not sure if it’s worth $20 to everyone out there, but I think it might be worth it to me. But it’s hard to blame a kid who only has $30 for buying a blank instead of waiting another month to save up another $20 so he can get a pro deck. But that’s not my point here.

The point is that whatever damage might have been done to sales of pro decks due to competition from blanks has been compounded by the bad economy, and I’d be willing to wager the recession has done a lot more damage to pros than blanks ever did, because while there are blank decks and wheels that are decent, I’ve never seen decent blank trucks or shoes. This economy is hitting soft goods and well as hard goods, and that means there’s less money to go around for everybody from every source, not just smaller deck sales. But do we see pros giving up? Do we see pros not skating anymore? No, they’re killing it just as much as ever, and I’m starting to wonder if maybe they’re having even more fun than they were before.

What really gets me thinking is Circa and ExpeditionOne. Just a year ago you could have written off both of these companies. Sure, Circa’s shoes are no different than those from any other company, and ExpeditionOne’s decks are just as good as those from any other company, but we should all know by now that branding/marketing and team members are what sell skate products, and not so much quality, because the quality of everything is pretty much the same with minor exceptions. And when it came to those two factors, Circa and ExpeditionOne didn’t have bad branding/marketing, and they had some good riders–some dang good riders, in fact–but…well, they just didn’t seem to be on the same level with the other companies. But all of a sudden Gallant is off Plan B/DC and on Circa/ExpeditionOne. Now Matt Miller is on Expedition. Suddenly Expedition’s team is like…wow, that’s a really, really solid team. And Circa’s team is really, really solid too.

But why is this happening? Could it be that the recession has made skaters appreciate things other than money a bit more? Maybe pros are realizing life is too short to focus on cash flow, and they’re going where they feel like they can enjoy life the most. Not that there’s anything wrong with the corporate thing, maybe some skaters like that and that’s part of the fun for them. But maybe that’s not the right thing for other skaters who just want to skate and hang out with friends, rather than doing tons of demos, signings, travel, etc., and maybe it’s worth giving up the huge paycheck for a more relaxed lifestyle.

I’m not in the industry so I don’t really have a clue. But I think it’s worth asking whether money is all it’s cracked up to be in skateboarding. Maybe the recession will turn out the be the thing that keeps skateboarding real just a little bit longer.

Ok, so that said, it’s a fine deck. It’s snappy, and I like that the nose is a little steeper than that on my last deck. The concave and shape are all fine, with one exception–I found the tail to be just a tad small for my tastes, but hey, that’s just me. So that’s it. Short and sweet, but what else do you want me to say? It’s a deck, after all, there’s not much to it. Oh, and they’re just $35 with free shipping on their website, so the price is definitely right.