1. sports
2. skateboarding

Dan Loveland,
Daddies Boardshop,
Portland, Oregon
PHOTO: SPENCER KNUTTILA
SURF
SKATE
SUP
DIVE
January 12-14, 2012
Come together… Register today at surfexpo.com.
Register Now
BOUTIQUE
SOUVENIR / GIFT
RESORT
SWIM
CONTENTS
The wall of wheels at Longboard Loft, NYC.
Winter 2011, Vol. 1 No. 1
8
Welcome To AXS!
Our Focus: The Longboard Business
10 New Retail Trend
The Longboard Living micro-store
in Toronto is gaining success.
12 Insider Info
Marie Case of Board-Trac shares some
detailed stats on longboarding.
26 Shop Talk
Retailers discuss what works,
on-line sales and growth of the
longboard market.
40 Distributor Roundtable
They handle a huge amount of
product and sell to many shops.
Pay attention to what’s
on their minds!
30 The 411
The straight talk on bearings.
Part One looks at ABEC ratings,
bearing loads and more.
46 Public Profile
Just who is Rick Tetz and what
is AXS Gear all about?
This column explains all.
31 What’s That Skateboard For?
14 Company Roundtable
The longboard industry turns its
gaze to 2012 and beyond.
Silverfishlongboarding.com shares
a popular graphic explaining the
multitude of disciplines found
within longboarding.
20 Think Different
The bike industry rakes in
$61 billion per year. Perhaps
it's time for longboarding to
learn from this marketplace?
That Will Improve Your
Longboard Business
50 Book Shelf
32 Industry Insights
Mark Brasier has more than 25 years
in action sports. In this feature he
explains what the snowboard industry
can teach the longboard business.
24 Bud’s Column
Mr. Stratford is blunt, brash and
will support the independent
skate shop until his last breath.
You have been warned!
47 Five Ideas
34 AXS Profile
Bud Smith, a.k.a. Mr. Griptape,
has helped cover 30 million
skateboards. This is his story.
Three books that will get you
thinking and two websites that
will either raise or lower your
blood pressure.
Visit us online at
axsgear.com
Daily updates!
WINTER 2011 | AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER
7
WELCOME
TO AXS WINTER 2011
Publishers/Editors
Michael Brooke
Rick Tetz
Art Director
Mark Tzerelshtein
markintoshdesign.com
Copy Editor
Jonathan Harms
Contributing Editors
Bud Stratford | Mark Brasier
Marie Case | Ben Curtis
Erik Basil | Malakai Kingston
Rick Tetz bombs West 4th Street in Vancouver.
Photo: Jason Foster – Top Left Longboards
Address:
OUR
FOCUS:
1136 Center Street, Suite 293
Thornhill, ONTARIO L4J 3M8
Canada
Ph.: 905-738-0804
Michael Brooke
NYC 2011
Photo: Mitchell Moshenberg
AXSGEAR.com
THE LONGBOARD
BUSINESS
T
he magazine you hold in your hands was born out of the idea that a focused message
has a lot more impact than trying to be all things to all people. If you sell longboards or
are looking at getting into the business, then congratulations, you’ve arrived at the right
place. We know your time is valuable and we appreciate that you’ve cracked open this magazine.
AXS Longboard Retailer was created to share valuable information about the world of longboarding. We want retail staff to be as informed as they can be about the products they sell.
We want business owners and managers to be aware of new ideas and best practices. This is
knowledge that we hope helps them build upon their success. But the main reason we created
this magazine was to ensure the sustainability of the longboard industry. The “get rich quick”
and “gold rush” mentalities must be balanced with long-term thinking and smart business
practices. An excellent way to fight commodification is through education. This knowledge
impacts the bottom line in significant ways. If you ask customers what makes a specialty store
truly special, they’d probably say it was the depth of product, sales staff knowledge and superior service.
As longboards emerge from their underground status and rightly take their place in the
action sports category, they are beginning to fundamentally change the entire skateboard
marketplace. We believe these are still early days; the potential for longboarding to expand
is very probable. But we temper this enthusiasm with the fact that we’re in this for the long
haul. There will be turbulence along the way. There will be fallouts, merges and purges. No
matter what happens, AXS Longboard Retailer will be there to document it all — in print
and on the Web.
Here’s to the future!
Michael Brooke
Rick Tetz
Publishers
8
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
AXS Longboard Retailer Magazine
is published as a joint venture between
North of La Jolla Inc. and axsgear.com.
Publisher’s permission is required
before reproducing any part of this
magazine. The views and opinions
expressed in AXS Longboard Retailer
Magazine are not necessarily those
of the publishers.
Complimentary copies of this magazine
are available to all longboard retailers
in North America. Please email
[email protected]
or [email protected]
NEW RETAIL
TREND
By Michael Brooke
THE LONGBOARD
MICRO-STORE
“S
mall is the new big,” marketing guru Seth Godin once famously wrote. In Godin’s terms, “small” means, among other
things, being able to use speed, flexibility, creativity and personalization to your advantage. That’s why longboard shop
owners, and those aspiring to be shop owners, might want to consider a “micro-store” approach. Ryan Rubin has done just
that with his two Longboard Living shops in Toronto’s Kensington Market. Though small in size – one shop covers just 300 square feet
and the other a mere 150 square feet – they offer big potential. We recently sat down with Ryan to find out how his unique shops work.
What gave you the idea of a micro-store?
Ryan Rubin: Longboard Living is a hard-good
specialty store, so the extra square footage for Tshirts and hoodies was not needed. While
operating on a startup budget, it was the low
overhead that first attracted us to our location,
Kensington Market. A small shop allows for an
in-and-out experience to get what you need and
then hit the streets, hills and parks rather than in
the shop itself.
You have two micro-stores. What are the
differences?
RR: Operating two locations in the same neighborhood creates a destination for longboards,
similar to being on Venice Beach in California. We
took an opportunity to differentiate the shops
based on the differences found among our customers: first-time board buyers looking for cheap
completes or experienced riders chasing a specific
durometer wheel or DH deck. The shops blend
into an environment that is host to a variety of produce stands, coffee shops and ethnic foods. It is
nice to taste different flavors of skate culture, too.
You seem to jam of a lot of product into
150 square feet. What criteria do you use
to choose product to put on your shelves?
RR: We keep it as core as possible – only brands
that impact the industry, like Rayne, Rotule,
BOZBoards, Kebbek, Comet, Bustin, Wefunk,
Sector 9, Abec 11, Orangatang, Venom, Surf-Rodz,
Caliber, etc. These brands have innovative product
lines, and we focus on buying the most unique
decks from each brand and try not to overlap
decks of similar style. 2012 will be about curating
a collection of product from these top brands, offering the rider an “essential quiver” selection.
What has been the reaction from the
skate community to the micro-stores?
RR: The skate community is happy to see us
growing to accommodate all riders. The vibe
around 86.5 Nassau Street is more about gnar,
downhill, freeride and certainly riders who shred.
The community hopes to see us move to other
neighborhoods in Toronto and expand out of
1 0
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
Kensington Market. As long as we stock the right
gear, everybody is happy.
Do you think micro-stores are the future
of longboard retail? Why or why not?
RR: The future of longboard retail will be “clicksand-mortar” strategy: a combination of retail and
e-commerce. Major board shops already do this,
but each local community is different, and small
regional stores will pop up in areas where riders
gather. These stores will sell locally built boards
and product specific to riding styles in that area.
Mortar creates a meeting place and allows riders
to see product before they buy it. The perfect balance of the clicks-and-mortar strategy will be the
future of longboard retail.
Can you discuss some of the events that
take place with your shop? One gets the
sense that it’s a real community feeling.
RR: A couple of weekly sessions help to create
community atmosphere around the stores. These
sessions teach potential and new riders the basics
of push, carve, slide [and] stop, and introduce
group riding safely. Soon skaters will connect
with other riders, learn from each other, start
their own sessions and integrate to the Greater
Ontario longboard community. Our goal is to invite people to look (in the shop), try (at our
sessions), then buy having already entered the
learning curve. It’s generally always high fives and
good times at Longboard Living because of the
awesome people that stay stoked out.
What are some of your future plans?
RR: Longboard Living brand. Our focus on retail
has created a platform LL product to be show-
Ryan Rubin is the proprietor of
Longboard Living in Toronto.
cased and sold. We learn a lot from our customers.
It can be difficult to match up their needs with
their budget, so we are moving toward manufacturing our own line. Product development began
in fall 2010 with a longboard backpack and a production deck, Toronto Thymeless, in fall 2011.
Team Longboard Living will attend more events
to raise the gnar-bar around Canada in 2012.
Riders include Mischa Chandler, Eric Jensen, Ben
Keymer, Dan Herzog, Tim Mulligan, Milk (Nick
Sutarz), Max Z (Zwarenstein), Jake Humphrey
and James Mulvihill.
What is the future of longboarding?
RR: 2012 will see a lot more female riders getting
on board. Closed-road events will become
common in order to keep downhill skateboarding safe for amateurs. Soft shell helmets will
become obsolete. GPS data-collecting technology
will integrate into downhill and long-distance
skateboarding to change the user experience forever. Stoke levels will continue to break records.
The gap between shortboards and longboards
will continue to shrink. AXS
INSIDER
INFO
By Marie Case
©
Daddies Board Shop, Portland, Oregon. Photo: Spencer Knuttila
BOARD-TRAC
on LONGBOARDS
L
ongboards are more pervasive than ever.
Even with a decline in the overall population of skateboarders in the U.S. over the
past several years, there has been an increase of
almost 8% in longboard purchases by skateboarders since 2009.
Longboards came onto the radar in our
Board-Trac© consumer and retail studies just a
couple of years ago, and according to recent data,
sales of longboards have increased to almost 1.3
million boards sold to skateboarders in the U.S.
Our data also shows that 19.5% of responding
skateboarders ride longboards exclusively and
50% of the others own a longboard and ride both
long and shortboards equally. After all, variety
does add spice.
Considering that the population of skateboarders in the U.S. is currently eight million,
these percentages of longboard ownership represent a healthy outlook for longboard
manufacturers. Add to that the fact that over
the next three to five years we expect to see an
increase in skateboarding participation – particularly in the 10- to 19-year-old age segments.
More feet on boards always produce increases
in sales no matter what the economic climate
feels like.
The age analysis and forecasting included in
our Size of Market reports is based on U.S. census
department birthrate data, which we’ve been
tracking for many years now. Countries around
1 2
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
the world seem to follow U.S. trends even as related to the birthrate, and any business targeting
any age segment falling under the age of 25
should look carefully at those numbers.
We had also forecasted the decline in skateboarding participation between 2005-2009 based
on this same data. The decline in population in
key age segments for skateboarding coupled with
a troubled economy didn’t bode well for the
sport, regardless of what size board you were
selling or wanted to ride. Entry-level age for
skateboarders has gone up over the past five years,
too, which is an obvious effect of a declining birth
rate. In the mid-2000s, average entry-level age
was 12, and in the ensuing years it has jumped to
almost 14.
The good news is that we’re seeing an increase in the 10- to 13-year-old male segment
through 2012; however, with that comes a decline in the 14- to 19-year-old male segment still
coming from the aftershock and lack of
breeding in the later ’90s.
We have no scientific data to prove any correlation between specific age segments and
longboards vs. short, but from what I read, form
– or, if you will, purchase – may follow function.
Longboards function well for riding long distances. Age segments under driving age (16 years
old in the U.S.) often use skateboards for transportation. Older age segments may not be into
tricks, but still want to have fun. Sounds like
longboards might be the deck of choice for the
older dudes, too.
Skateboarders in the 13- to 16-year-old age
segment account for 38% of the total skateboarding population — again, U.S. population
—and the total of the 17- to 24-year-old segments
is roughly the same. The 25- to 29-year-old segment now accounts for 8% of the skateboarding
population and is growing. Skateboarders are
channeling surfers who created a lifestyle. We’re
seeing the same cultural development among
skateboarders now, which means that they’re
staying in the sport longer. If we go with the hypothesis that the under-16 and, let’s say, the aging
skateboarder over the age of 25 are the primary
targets for longboard sales, we’ve just hit a home
run. Both segments are growing.
Let’s talk price. Our data shows the average
price paid for a longboard is $113.75 – roughly
double the average price of a shortboard. We
know almost 90% of skateboarders purchase
longboards in one of two places — at a skate shop
or online. Retailers responding to our retail survey
have mentioned 24 longboard brands that they
carry in their stores. Twenty-four different topselling brands! Sector 9 leads the list by a wide
margin. This is not a passive product, nor should
any manufacturer be passive about aggressively
marketing their brand. If you want to know if
your brand is on that list of 24, you’ll have to buy
our Longboard report.
This is just a taste of the data we have on
skateboarders, their purchasing habits, influences
and profiles. Our mission is to help businesses
grow. We are seasoned marketers who not only
collect data on action sports participants and the
retailers who sell to them, but we also use the data
as a platform for our clients’ marketing plans.
Our reports are available on our website store –
board-trac.com – and we are available via phone
or email to answer any questions you might have
related to our marketing and research. AXS
Marie Case
Managing Director
Board-Trac, Inc.
[email protected]
ph. 949-721-8422
COMPANY
ROUNDTABLE
By AXS Staff
THE LONGBOARD
INDUSTRY:
A LOOK
FORWARD
Brittany Bucsu
Bucsu Boards
Dan Gesmer
Seismic Skate
Will 2012 be a strong year in
Q:terms
of longboarding?
Scott Imbrie – Original Skateboards: Trending
can be done using Google Insights for search.
There is no doubt that 2012 will be the biggest
year ever for longboarding; if this chart is any indicator, longboarding is just about ready to be a
“real” sport.
Steve Lake – Sector 9: It sure feels like there is a
lot of momentum heading us in that direction
right now. But in order to maintain this momentum it is our responsibility as “brands” to
drive customers into the stores. Hopefully, as the
industry matures, other brands will take this responsibility more seriously. Likewise, I hope
retailers will base their support on the brands
that help to build the market for all, not just
make product for sale.
Dan Briggs – Loaded: Yes. From a sales perspective, longboard has just started in a lot of
territories (domestically and internationally). In
the past five years a number of specialty
skate/snow/surf shops have really embraced
longboarding, while others have shied away. But
day to day these shops are getting more and
more request for longboard items; the shops who
originally shied away are now inquiring more
and more about longboard brands and product.
This is also reflected by the larger U.S. trade
shows inviting and embracing the longboard
community.
Chris Chaput – Abec 11: I think that 2012 will
be our biggest year ever in terms of sales. I see
very little decline in the colder and usually
slower months. I think that the tipping point of
longboarding’s visibility and acceptability to the
younger/cooler riders has been reached, and an
avalanche of sales will soon follow.
Mike Mahoney – Honey Skateboards: Absolutely! Longboarding sales have been on the
rise for over five years now. Longboarding has
1 4
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
JP Rowan
Rip City Skates
Photo: Jon Huey
exploded in 2011; the range in demographic is
expanding, bringing both young and old into the
longboard market.
We are seeing 11-, 12-, 13-year-olds riding
longboards, where five years ago they would
never have touched a longboard. This younger
group is not only using longboards for transportation, such as getting to school, but they are
tech-savvy with respect to the types of board,
trucks and wheels they choose. This group is
posting videos on social networks and it’s
spreading like crazy.
On the other end of the age spectrum, we see
a lot of people in their 40s and 50s getting back
into skating by getting on a longboard. This gives
them that feeling of freedom they experienced
as a kid. We all want to hold on to our youth!
Dan Gesmer – Seismic Skate: If present trends
continue, YES! At Seismic we’ve been too busy
with product development and sales to conduct
surgical market analysis. But we assume the
growing market is due to a combination of fortunate demographics, timing and destiny.
Neil Carver – Carver Skateboards: I’m optimistic, but that may just be my nature. Of the few
brands that I know personally, they’re all doing
really well and growing. I think this is due in part
to the quality equipment they’re producing here
in the U.S., and also because the popularity and
acceptance of longboarding in general is going
to the next level right now, and spreading into
the broader market. This will of course bring a
bunch of kooks eager to jump on to the perceived fad, but the companies that are here for
the love of riding will flourish, as they continue
to make great equipment, sponsor great riders,
produce compelling videos and continue to push
the progression of longboarding and other styles
of skateboarding.
Tom Edstrand – Landyachtz Longboards: 2012
looks like it will be a very strong year. More and
more people are getting into longboarding, and
people are using longboards in different ways
than they have in the past. This is creating a need
for more innovation to meet the demand of these
new styles. It’s really a fun time to be involved in
building boards. We’re very stoked on what’s
happening, and our 2012 lineup has tons of rad
new products. It’s going to be a fun year.
Christian Lemire – Restless Longboards: Yes.
Longboarding has seen a tremendous increase in
popularity in the last two years. The main reason
is that a new market of super-stoked kids has
opened up. It used to be that kids would try short
decks first and longboarders were rarely younger
than 18. Now, since kids are going straight to
longboarding, our sport has seen a dramatic increase in sales. Kids have money (well, their
parents do) and they have the free time to go out
riding every day and push their limits, and most
of all, they crave to film themselves, edit it and
put it up on the Web. I think this new wave of
popularity has a few good years to go.
Longboarding is also a market that will take
Austin Graziano
California Bonzing
Christian Lemire
Restless Longboards
Chuck DeMoss
Palisades Longboards
sell three or five to one over others. Stock multiples of the boards people want. Restock them
when they sell out regardless of whether you
have additional slow-moving inventory still
left over.
Kurt Hurley
Dregs
Photo: Bethany Hurley
Heiko Schöller
Concretewave Skateshop (Germany)/Bolzen Trucks
time to saturate because of its diversity. As long
as big players learn from the mistakes of the
shortboard industry, and use responsible business ethics, this decade will be known as the
ascent of longboarding!
Kurt Hurley – Dregs: It depends on who you
are. Some longboard companies have longevity
and some don’t for various reasons. Overall, the
soul of skateboarding will grow.
Brittany Bucsu – Bucsu Boards: 2012 is going
to be the best yet. Every year is going to continue
to improve as companies continue to make
amazing products that reach target markets. It is
an ever-growing industry and anybody who has
a love of the sport can do it.
Austin Graziano – California Bonzing: I do believe that 2012 will be a strong year in sales for
California Bonzing because I am expanding the
California Bonzing board lineup with skateboards
that enhance skaters’ ride and create competitive
advantages over other brands. Also I am making it
easier for retailers to order California Bonzing
boards by providing a wholesale website they can
purchase directly from, and supporting retailers
with local promotions and dealer locators.
Chuck DeMoss – Palisades Longboards: Absolutely. The longboard market has seen a 50%
growth two consecutive years, and from
speaking with shop owners from all over the
U.S., the expansion is expected to continue. We
are seeing a wider age range of riders, more female riders and more options for the consumer.
Graham Buksa – Rayne Longboards: Yes – I
haven’t seen any indication of the “longboard
fad” being over.
Steve Quinn – Roadshark: Yes. The growth
curve is evident: Longboard sales are the largest
growth portion of the skateboarding market.
More young people are adopting longboards as
their primary skateboard, which will drive sales
and growth for years to come. It isn’t an oldschool thing anymore. Things tend to continue
on the same trend unless something drastically
changes. The economy is taking its toll, but at the
same time more and more people are getting interested in longboarding.
Mark Ocampo – SDS Skateboards: Absolutely!
I’ve watched as skaters’ appreciation for longboarding has grown exponentially over the past
several years. It’s amazing, and I don’t see the rate
of growth changing any time soon.
What are one or two key things
Q:
that shops could do to increase
their sales of longboards?
Imbrie: Shops need to look at individual
boards in every brand’s line. Specific boards
Briggs: I think it really comes down to one main
thing – education. Getting the shop owners, all
the employees, and whoever else we can on
boards. Getting them familiar with product, and
getting them stoked about a product. If they are
excited about something, it’s going to roll over to
their consumer. Obviously this doesn’t mean to
shove it down their throats or to beg them. Like
we say: “Stoke ‘em, don’t stroke ‘em.”
Chaput: Shops need to educate themselves about
the various types of longboards and components
available and make sure that they balance their
lineups with both premium and cost-effective
items. The sale of high-performance aftermarket
wheels, bushings, bearings, trucks, grip, etc., will
make their shop a credible resource to serious
and casual skaters alike.
Mahoney: Shops need to understand that longboarding is a well-established category that has
grown organically. It’s not good enough to just
carry one brand anymore. Many longboarders
have a quiver of more boards to fill a wide range of
riding: downhill, sliding, freeriding, carving, longdistance pushing ... There is so much development
going on in the industry that it’s sometimes hard
for the shops to keep up. This is why it’s so important to have someone on staff who is a longboarder
and knows what board is good for the different
disciplines so he/she can sell the customer the best
board for their intended riding.
The shops that commit to longboarding are the
ones that are killing it in sales. They understand
the customers’ diverse needs and carry a wide variety of longboard products: completes, decks,
trucks and wheels. The shops that order boards
and hang them on the wall and wonder why they
don’t sell aren’t committing themselves to this new
category called longboarding. Don’t jump on the
bandwagon; be a part on the movement!
WINTER 2011 | AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER
1 5
COMPANY
ROUNDTABLE
By AXS Staff
Scott Imbrie
Original Skateboards
Neil Carver
Carver Skateboards
Carver: Education of the salespeople is the first
key. Having at least one person that actually rides
a quiver of boards and can talk knowledgeably
about the differences in types of equipment is an
essential component to getting the customer
stoked on the various possibilities. Second,
whether it be freeriding, downhill, surfskate or
carving, differentiate the display layout
somehow to start communicating the differences
visually. Skateboarding is finally more than just
shortboards, and to fully take advantage of this
growing swell in interest, the customer needs to
see this differentiation. Also, by growing their
equipment range, shops will better connect with
more segments of the riding community and
bring in a broader demographic, too.
Gesmer: For us at Seismic, the quality of sales is
at least as important as the quantity of sales. Massive sales of low-quality gear would undermine
the future of the market and the sport. What the
industry needs are more salespeople who are educated, who communicate well and who give a
damn. New customers need solid, trustworthy
help navigating the murky waters of the modern
longboard marketplace. Salespeople need to be
able to explain not just what works well, but why,
as well as a little bit about how modern functional
designs evolved from what came before. Of
course, salespeople should also be both reasonably brand-neutral and prepared to guide caring
customers away from the mediocre copycat stuff.
Edstrand: Shops that do the best are the ones
that have at least one staff member who is really
into longboarding and passionate about it.
Having demo boards is also a great sales tool if
you have the space.
Lemire: Diversity and sponsorships. You have to
get people stoked about longboarding, and the
best way is to show them the many faces of our
sport: downhill, freeriding, tech sliding, footwork, tricks, etc. More people will get into it, and
some will get three or four boards in their quiver
to really get a taste of all the disciplines. By sponsoring people and events, you really put your
1 6
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
Graham Buksa
Rayne Longboards
Photo: Jordan Barber
Sarah Loveland
Daddies Board Shop
shop out there. Giving back to your local market
has always been good business.
Lake: Educate themselves on the products they
are selling.
Steve Quinn
Roadshark
Bucsu: Product knowledge is huge. I think as time
goes on, people will shift away from ordering
completes and really get excited about putting
their own boards and components together.
Shops that know a lot about the industry and
take time to educate staff and the everyday consumer are just going to increase popularity for
the sport and in turn increase sales. Along with
the that, having a good supply of these products
on hand is important.
Buksa: Run their shop like a bike shop: Educate and
have regular sessions. Drop any attitude and welcome customers. EDUCATE! Have an expert on site
to recommend setups specific for a customer’s needs.
DeMoss: In reference to core street skate brickand-mortars that also sell longboards, the
numbers are strong, increasing even, but we need
to see even more core shops increase space allocated for longboards. The margins are there, and
the extra cash flow will allow them to look into
other goals they had for their shop. Also, if you
have a shop, you should have an updated Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, email list and other social
media. Websites are great, but they’re also expensive to maintain. These outlets connect you
with your customer, and they’re free. What do
you check more: your email or your Facebook?
Ocampo: Create a space specifically for longboards. Get involved in what your customers are
passionate about by setting up events with the
companies you carry.
Sarah Loveland – Daddies Board Shop (Portland, Ore.): It depends on the shop’s flavor, but
you need to appeal to a broad range of riders, not
just a hardcore crowd. Everyone is here to have
a good time. Make sure you are supporting that.
Heiko Schöller – Concretewave Skateshop
(Germany)/Bolzen Trucks: Here in Germany
many shops only offer some cheap completes.
We here at Concretewave have a lot of testboards and know what we sell. This is paying
off. If you really want to sell longboards, you
need a wide selection and not only three or
four completes.
JP Rowan – Rip City Skates (Portland, Ore.):
Get involved with their community! Host events,
and back team riders.
What is one of your key goals
Q:
for 2012? What things are you
going to do ensure you achieve this
goal?
Chaput: In addition to our first love (wheels,
bearings, bushings) we making a huge push to
get our trucks and a complete line of decks completed for 2012. [While] having the high-tech
Steve Lake
Sector 9
Mike Mahoney
Honey Skateboards
Mahoney: We are committed to growing the
longboarding industry. We will achieve this by
continuing to support the grass-roots efforts of
the small local events going on all over the
country. We will also push the envelope when it
comes to board construction and shape. We are
always trying new ideas and testing new
methods of deck construction.
SDS Gang
Fyre trucks and Liquid trucks will be helpful,
having our mainstream Attack trucks ready to
assemble completes with is the key to our early
success in 2012.
Imbrie: Continuing expanding on our composite expertise. Increase press times and reduce
stack sizes while also increasing overall production capacity of our wood. Continue exploring
the world and enjoying our sport’s growth as a
brand and a family. Things we can do to achieve
those? Keep in mind the difference between
knowing the path and walking the path.
Lake: Have fun. Make lots of fun stuff at our
skateboard factory in San Diego, Calif.
Briggs: We have a lot on our plate for 2012,
and it is pretty hard to give a simple answer. I
guess at the end of the day, our 2012 goals
come down to a couple of things: 1) Continue
to have fun doing what we do; 2) promote
community and the creative individuals who
are spreading the stoke; 3) innovate and create
the best and most fulfilling product we can (for
our personal enjoyment first and foremost); 4)
continue to grow and refine ourselves — including better internal communication and
making ourselves more efficient for our dealers
(quicker lead times on orders, a better fill rate,
fewer miss-ships and all-around better communication); 5) to squeeze back into that
slinky little dress you like so much (with the
built-in handcuffs).
Gesmer: Our primary goal is the same as always:
to radically expand the envelope of skateboard
technology and performance. If you’re not part
of the solution, you’re part of the problem, and
we want you to get out of our way.
Carver: For 2012 we’re launching our new RKP
truck, the CV, after years of prototyping and testing.
We are innovators by nature, so our goal was to develop a next-generation RKP truck that subtly
tweaked the standard RKP geometry for a more
consistent, rebounding rail. Our intention was to
make something more than just another 50-degree
truck, something that offers a performance distinction. To achieve this we worked closely with a wide
range of riders and friends, like the Loaded crew, and
made sure we were actually improving performance
for many types of riders. We’re super-stoked on how
it rides and looks, so we’re excited about 2012.
Edstrand: We’re going to work on getting our
new ideas to market quicker. We have lots of great
ideas, and we want to get them out to people to
enjoy as quickly as possible. Whip our engineer.
(Just kidding.) We’re building some really cool
testing equipment to help speed up this process.
Lemire: Diversify and expand. To diversify our
line of products, we will invest more in R&D and
test out new molds and shapes, but also test new
types of trucks, wheels and bearings. Most of all,
we want to try different constructions and
methods to be on the technical edge of longboarding. Then, marketing-wise, we wish to
expand our market by reaching out directly to
retailers in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.
Bucsu: As a manufacturer and retailer, we strive
Chris Chaput
Abec11
to listen to what our consumers are saying. We
work hard at manufacturing boards that all types
of riders are stoked to have under their feet. Not
only that, we try to have a good supply of other
products that people are interested in seeing. Customer service is a huge part of selling to retailers.
Being readily available for constructive feedback
is important to us. We want to hear what you have
to say so we continue exceeding expectations.
Hurley: Dregs will continue to focus on making
boards that work for all kinds of skateboarding.
We have 80 years of skateboarding between the
two of us, and will continue to ride and create.
DeMoss: We want to work even more on
branding our longboard lines through social
media outlets. We’re also increasing our root
hard-good lines (Palisades, Sims and Vision),
giving our customers the options they need. In
2012, you’re going to see more shapes, more concaves, exotic woods and more wheels. We’ll
achieve these goals through testing, hard work
and listening to our customers.
Ocampo: Our key goal is to diversify our board
line for 2012 by bringing in new shapes and to
get the Stella Longboard name out there.
Schöller: My key goal for 2012 is to show the longboard scene our in-Germany-designed Bolzen
trucks. Bolzen is a project from Alex Luxat (Wefunk)and me, and we are looking very forward to
release the trucks in 2012. Watch out for videos,
ads, our team and friends presenting them in 2012.
Quinn: Improve supply chain and also develop
our unique shapes into a more complete longboard line. We are in full-blown R&D mode
where we are doing prototypes every few days
and testing them with local riders.
Rowan: Success with online sales. Continue offering an above-and-beyond level of customer
service while also updating the site every day
with new product, content and other SEO tools.
Loveland: We would like to increase the variety
of gear we carry so we can make sure we have
everything our customers are looking for, and
of course, some things they didn’t even know
they needed. AXS
WINTER 2011 | AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER
1 7
THINK
By Michael Brooke
Photo: Brendan Poh
DIFFERENT
SUCCESS
ON TWO WHEELS
WHAT THE BIKE INDUSTRY CAN
TEACH THE LONGBOARD BUSINESS
W
hen searching for new ideas for your business, sometimes it pays to learn from a
completely different industry. As longboarding becomes more popular, it’s beginning to mirror
both the culture and business of the bike world. Consider
the following:
• The bike industry has 61 BILLION dollars a year in sales.
• Globally, more than 130 million bicycles are sold each year.
• The industry is seeing growth rates between 10-25%
worldwide.
MIGRATION PATH
Entry-level consumers can migrate to much
costlier products/components
Bikes and longboards can be purchased relatively inexpensively. But once a customer has been hooked, there is
a huge potential in all kinds of upgrades. The era of the
$1,000 longboard complete is here.
2 0
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
PARTICIPANTS
A much wider range of potential riders
The street skate market demographic is generally males under
the age of 18. Bikes and now increasingly, the longboard world
have a tremendous number of female participants. There are
also numerous enthusiasts over the age of 20.
I asked Buddy Carr, a longtime skateboarder and bike
enthusiast, about the industry. Over the past several years,
he has attended the massive Interbike show in Las Vegas.
“The size of the show and the ease of getting access all
make for an extremely productive time,” he says. “Everything is there under one giant roof: road bikes, beach
cruisers, BMX, mountain bikes and everything in between, all in one place.”
He finds the show truly exciting, especially if approached with the right attitude. So even if he has zero
interest in beach cruisers, there is always something that
catches his eye.
“I end up spending time looking at something I ‘thought’ I had no interest in,” he says.
“Open minds lead to open doors.”
Carr says technology is first and foremost on
many consumers’ minds.
“The bike industry seems to run on technology first and image/ego second,” he says.
“Every year there is more to the show than just
new paint schemes and graphic treatment.”
He points to the astounding variety of composites, electronics and new concepts that are
shown each season.
“Some products and ideas are good, some
maybe are not so good,” he says. “But progression of products seems to drive the show, not
autograph signings and expensive after-parties.”
With billions of dollars at stake, you can bet
there is a great deal of interest.
“This is a serious business,” Buddy says. “The
bike dealers are used to investing a lot of money
into inventory, committing to pre-books and
tens of thousands of dollars in merchandise.”
Carr notes that the dealers come in all types
and sizes and says there doesn’t seem to be a
standard “uniform,” as he sees happening with
skateboarding shows.
“Whereas skateboarding was once a sport that
accepted us ‘misfits,’” he says, “it seems the opposite is true these days, where the wrong shirt or
pants could get you snubbed by a manufacturer.”
While many of us view news of major bike
tours on television like the Tour De France, Carr
sees the bike industry as less ego-driven. While
there is hype, it’s not central to the business.
“Sure, a good marketing campaign and a tour
win will help any brand sell more bikes for a certain season,” he says, “but that is a temporary fix
and only one part of the equation.”
The bike industry needs the athletes pushing
their products and showing consumers how well
they work, but there is a huge focus on the
product advancement as well. Carr is emphatic
when it comes to progress vs. marketing hype.
“The longboard industry will be successful by
putting product development first,” he says. “We
can’t rely on simply the image, team or ad campaign. If we create better products, all the other
stuff follows.”
One of those things is price. Carr says most
people would be shocked to learn what bike enthusiasts are willing to pay.
“The average price of a decent road bike starts
at around $2,500, and a really advanced raceready bike will set the customer back over 10
grand,” he says. “There seems to be an unwritten
rule in skateboarding that a complete board
should not cost more than $150 – which causes
manufacturers to rush out and find a cheaper way
to produce products. It’s up to us as an industry to
raise prices through product advancement.”
The word “passion” gets thrown around a lot
Participants at the Super Mellow Beach Cruise
in Toronto prove once again that longboarding
embraces many different demographics.
Photo: Michael Brooke
these days. But committed bike riders are just
like hardcore skaters. They have their sport running through their veins and are always looking
for that next great product. But there are some
key differences.
“The public and many industry people still
view skateboarding as an outlaw sport or something that kids do, but in my eyes it is no
different than the 30-something on the high-end
bike with all the tricked-out gear,” Carr says. “It’s
up to us an industry to move toward this type of
thinking in order to grow longboarding in a direction that is favorable to both customers, shops
and companies. Why should skateboarding be
viewed as a cheap fad or something the skater
will grow out of? What if the bike industry
would have had that mindset? Would they be
selling $10,000 bicycles today?”
The skateboard industry is moving forward.
It has started to embrace different markets and
demographics. But it has taken a long time, and
Carr thinks more can be done.
“I think we as an industry stifle our own
growth,” he says, “and need to look at how we
can advance skateboarding and not just focus on
making a cheaper, less expensive product. Massmarket retailers already have that covered.”
PARALLEL UNIVERSES?
Co-Ops
A bike co-op is where bike enthusiasts can share
resources and build community along with
learning how to maintain their bike. Members
engage in cycling advocacy and education to
promote biking as a safe and sustainable means
of transportation.
A number of longboard clubs are sprouting
up on college campuses. A leap to the co-op
world isn’t far off.
Advocacy
Founded 20 years ago in San Francisco, Critical
Mass is a cycling event typically held on the last
Friday of every month in more than 300 cities
around the world. The purpose of Critical Mass
is not usually formalized beyond the direct action of meeting at a set location and time and
traveling on bikes as a group through city or
town streets.
New York City (Broadway Bomb) and
Toronto (Board Meeting) are attracting 1,000
plus longboarders for their rides. GreenSkate
(held each April) is also drawing out hundreds
of participants in dozens of cities.
The “Culture”
Many cities contain subcultures of bicycle enthusiasts, including racers, bicycle messengers,
bicycle transportation activists, mutant bicycle
fabricators, bicycle mechanics and bicycle commuters. Some such groups are affiliated with
activism or counterculture groups. Advocacy
within the cycling community may aim for improvements including requesting bike lanes,
improved parking facilities and access to public
transportation.
There are many different types of longboarders. Downhillers wear racing leathers and
full-face helmets, freeriders combine sliding with
speed. Long-distance enthusiasts will crush 100
miles in one day! Cruisers just want a quick and
easy way to get to around. Longboarders are
raising awareness for helmet safety (NOBI Foundation) and collecting money for the less
fortunate (Coast Longboarding’s Christmas toy
program). And there’s a huge number of longboarders raising awareness and money for a
variety of charities.
Would You Take 1%?
The bike industry is made up of a number of
small, medium and large size companies. It has
multiple distribution channels and technology
drives the sport forward. Most importantly, it has
products for all budgets, interests and ages.
Taking just 1% of the total dollars spent on bike
equipment would equate to a $600 million longboard industry worldwide. AXS
WINTER 2011 | AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER
2 1
That’s the weight of the new Dissent Longboards by Oust Composites.
We took a blend of USA made High Performance aerospace carbon fiber, high tensile strength epoxy resins
and combined them with the most exotic African, Brazilian and USA grown wood we could find.
The result? The lightest, most responsive and incredibly gorgeous longboard deck ever made.
The inner core can be adjusted in thickness to accommodate different weight skaters.
The high performance layup of carbon can be changed for different flexes and recovery time or pop. The
high strength epoxy is used to insure proper adhesion and eliminate failure.
Performance and beauty – all combined in one exquisite ride.
All decks hand-made in Torrance California USA by OUST Inc.
BUD’S
COLUMN
By Bud Stratford
THE FUTURE
ON THE INDIE SKATE SHOP
I
f I had the chance to edit my own biography,
I’d probably sum up most of my skateboarding career in two simple sentences:
“That f ’n jerk (that’s me) was sometimes celebrated, and often vilified, for his harsh and
unapologetic insights on the emerging issues of
the day. Most frequently, for discussing the
everyday trials and tribulations of – and reiterating his staunch and steadfast support for – the
independent skateboard shop.” I like those two,
because they’re fair, balanced, kinda funny ...
and, best of all, they also honestly illustrate my
personal strengths and weaknesses. Which ultimately make me exactly who and what I am.
So, the inevitable question becomes: Why
am I so steadfast in my pro-indie skate shop
stance? The answer is actually quite simple: I
cannot imagine a skateboarding world without
them – mostly because we’ve never had a world
without them. Think about it: Never in all of
skateboarding’s history have we faced the grim
prospect of the wholesale decimation of the independent-retailer paradigm. Suddenly,
though, this has become an industry-wide hotbutton issue, because we’re watching the reality
of indie skate shops going out of business unfolding all around us.
Of course, there are plenty of pundits and
experts who claim that everything is gonna be
just fine. That there will be a nation of corporately-owned big-box skate retailers that will
easily and enthusiastically fill the void left by
the natural, Darwinistic rooting out of this
weaker, independent species of skate shop. And
that’ll actually be better for us all, long-term.
However, the correct answer is still that we
just don’t know for sure what’s gonna happen –
until it actually happens. There may even be
some unintended consequences that we won’t
like and that might just do our pastime irreparable harm. But still, we won’t know what
those will be until they actually transpire.
It’s that unknown that sometimes keeps me
awake at night. The very best we can ever hope
for is that, by simple process of elimination, we
can sort of guesstimate what might be possible
and plausible.
Take this one, for example: Without independent skate shops, who’s gonna pay for all
those tours and demos that we, as skaters, like
to attend from time to time? “The Industry”
does tend to forget that the independent retailer network makes for a mighty handy
road-trip itinerary, while they also subsidize
2 4
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
many of our industry’s promotional tours.
Skate shops do, after all, pay cold, hard cash to
have those demos come to town, year in and
year out.
Then, if and when we get the “demo” question sorted out, we also have the questions of:
Who’s going to sponsor all those local, hometown skateboard teams? And who’s gonna throw
all of those local contests? And fight for all of
those new skateparks? And arrange all of those
Go Skateboarding Day events? These shops are
not promoting themselves, mind you, but rather,
promoting skateboarding. But unfortunately for
the independents, they’re facing an onslaught of
chain-store and mega-corporation competition.
There’s an even more important dynamic at
work here, though. If we lost the independent
retailers, we might also lose one of those critical intangibles that makes skateboarding what
it is. Sort of like Independent Trucks, Thasher
magazine, Duane Peters or Steve Olson, these
are entities whose ultimate value could never
be calibrated, substantiated or justified by the
dollars-and-cents concerns of a corporate balance sheet. These are things that you, as a
skater, might not support, like or even approve
of. But as skaters, we also intrinsically understand that skateboarding would sort of suck
without them. It’s these things that keep skateboarding “real” when everything else around us
is going straight to the toilet.
My natural enthusiasm for the cause is tempered in many of my writings by the realization
that, too often, the independent skate shops actually become agents of their own demise. At
some point in the debate, honest and brutal observation is required to get a complete and
evenhanded perspective of the problem at
hand. This was rammed home to me a few
years ago when, while doing a random survey
of a few hundred skateboard shops across the
Midwest, I came to a startling realization: Out
of those 300-plus shops ... less than a dozen of
them knew how to answer the damned telephone correctly. This, my friends and enemies,
is an extremely startling factoid. And this told
me, honestly and brutally, that it was high time
for the skate shops to wake the hell up, and
start learning how to build better, more customer-focused businesses. Put another way: To
start helping themselves.
However, that’s balanced by the need for us –
the community of manufacturers, brands and
the media – to wake ourselves up and realize the
indie skate shops’ true importance in the far
bigger picture. They also need our help to make
the hard-goods-centric, independent skateboard
shop a sustainable paradigm for the future.
What kind of help do they need, exactly? At
this juncture, I’d say any help that we can spare
would be a damn good start.
A few years back, I began to champion ideas
like MAP/MSRP pricing structures that would, at
the very least, give the independents a level
playing field, and maybe even a fighting chance to
make a nickel or two once in a great while for all
of their investment, hard work and dedication.
Sometimes this process compels me to ask
“The Industry” difficult questions, such as:
How exactly does so much “premium product”
find its way to so many mass merchants, rogue
e-tailers or seemingly every eBay and Amazon
storefront owned by some clueless jackass
somewhere? It’s a perpetual mystery to me
how “The Industry” can claim to be helpless to
control their own distribution channels, but
they do. And they’ll constantly wring their
hands and bemoan the problem, while they do
virtually nothing at all to fix it. To me, that’s
not just disingenuous; it’s sheer hypocrisy at its
very worst.
Admittedly, at Everything Skateboarding, we
can only do very small things to advance this
cause. Of course, shopping at independentlyowned skateboard shops is the best place to
start; and we do our very best to encourage our
readers shop at them too. I also spend countless
hours on the road, attending and covering those
local events myself. I make the time to personally visit shop owners in their own shops, and to
educate myself on the other small things that
my staff and I can do to spread the word.
Of course, no matter what I or we do, it’ll
probably never be enough. My big hope is that,
between my magazine and our readership, it’ll
all add up eventually to making a bigger difference, somewhere.
And if everybody pitches in and does their
part, I think it will. AXS
Bud Stratford is the editor of Everything
Skateboarding Magazine. everything
skateboardingmagazine.blogspot.com
SHOP
TALK
RETAILER
ROUNDTABLE
Melanie Loveland – Daddies Board Shop,
Portland, Oregon
Kelsey Crozier – Switchback Longboards,
Nanaimo, British Columbia
Q:
What percentage of your
overall sales are longboards?
John Karg – Woody’s Halfpipe: Around 35%.
Dominic Pérusse – Free for All Boardshop:
Ninety-five percent are longboards. Probably four
percent street and pool decks, one percent clothes.
Melanie Loveland – Daddies Board Shop:
Ninety percent.
Kelsey Crozier – Switchback Longboards: I
would say more than 95%. Longboarding is our
passion. We do have a selection of street skates
that I buy now and then, but they tend to sit in
the back. Same with the reissues. Street guys do
come in sometimes, but I only carry sale stuff
that I got a deal on and pay it forward to them. I
keep about one of each width of deck in stock
from various brands.
What are some of the things
Q:
you are doing that make your
shop a truly great experience for
longboard customers?
John: Our relocation to Brook Run skatepark;
creating a separate area dedicated to longboards,
park/pool boards and street boards so each customer has an easy time shopping.
Dominic: Every time you enter our shop you’re
2 6
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
going to be welcomed by a longboarder who rides
and who knows what he’s selling. You can try
every board; if you want to take two hours to try
each board, just do it! If you need any advice on
how to footbrake, Coleman slide or you just want
to know how to set your bushings, it’s going to be
a pleasure to help you. Finally, we are always
searching for new brands that kick ass. We want
to provide the best product on the market to our
client. We don’t sell longboards because it’s
trendy. We do it because we love this sport and
want to make it big.
Melanie: We continue to bring in new products
all the time. But the layout of our shop and our
merchandising really gives the customers a
“hands-on” experience. We have a ton of demo
longboards and an incredibly knowledgeable
staff. We’ve got some pretty great displays (like
our GoPro display that constantly plays video
showing what the camera can do); a super setup
from Banshee Bungee and other companies. It’s
pretty darn colorful in our shop, and I’m a “neat
freak,” so my shop is pristine, which makes the
customers feel very, very comfortable. The mood
in our shop is so “family” that they know they are
welcome the minute they come in.
Kelsey: Selection is key. We are the one-stop shop
for all things longboarding. Free shipping is also
huge. It makes us everyone’s local shop. Another
fun thing we’re doing is Facebook. We have the
chat going whenever we’re online, and people can
ask us questions, suggest setups, show off photos
or videos of themselves and even suggest their favorite Ke$ha song. You can keep up with us on
our road trips with the team and see what kinda
trouble we’re getting into.
One of the biggest and best things about Switchback is that we all ride. That comes into play in
pretty much all of the decisions we make, but mostly
that affects our product selection. Being riders, we’re
pretty good at choosing what to bring into the store
and knowing how a product will work/sell before
we’ve even ridden it. Don’t get me wrong, if it’s not
on our site that doesn’t mean it’s not worth buying,
but some companies aren’t in it for the right reasons,
and that comes through with the end product they
are selling.
In the end it all comes down to smiles. Switchback is all about fun. I hope it comes through in
our ads. Anyone can add some text over a sick
skating shot, but we like to up the ante when we
can. Who wouldn’t think taking a bath in skate
gear out in the middle of the woods is fun? If
you’re not having fun, don’t do it!
What are some of the things
Q:
you do for your longboarding community?
John: Jams, contest and events; we also have several demo boards in the store.
Dominic: We try to sponsor every single event in
the province of Quebec, big or small. We do
demonstrations for kids and we sponsor local
riders. We work hard to promote our sport and
for people to ride safe. Recently Maxime Garant
Rousseau and I went on TV to explain the basics
of our sport and talk about safety gear and more.
We love longboarding and we want it to stay!
John Karg – Woody’s Halfpipe,
Dunwoody, Georgia
Photo: Rob Knight
hoped would sort itself out later (quite a few years
later!). Free shipping was not a business decision,
that’s for sure; we do it because we deserve it up
in Canada!
In the early days it was much easier to keep in
touch with the community on the Island and in
Vancouver before we were big online, but recently
I’ve been reaching out to the East through the Escarpment Surfers and the Ontario Longboarding
Forum. There is just so much going on all the way
across the country, and it’s amazing to see all the
little groups developing. There might not be too
many hills in Saskatchewan, but people are out
there riding nonetheless.
I always try to help out with events that come
to our attention, even if it’s just some stickers for
an outlaw. This winter I’ve been getting a lot of
shop teachers asking for product to help with
board-building projects. Stoked to see that in the
schools! Another big thing we’re into is the race
scene. I love racing, so getting out to all the races
and laying down some $ is a way of giving back
to everyone in the scene, not just our select group
of shop riders, who no doubt – like everyone in
this sport – deserve more than they are getting. In
time I think the big media and money will come,
but if not, I’ll still be skating.
you feel there is more
Q:Do
growth in longboard retailing?
John: That’s the big question. Probably – but I
feel in-store sales will be diluted as more stores
carry longboards.
Dominic Pérusse – Free for All Boardshop,
Quebec City, Quebec
Photo: Oliver Seguin-Leduc
Melanie: First and foremost is to sponsor as many
events that we can. We actually go out of our way to
sponsor very tiny little races/events all over the
country. We feel those are the longboarders that really need the support from a shop. On another level
– and we look at each individually – we have given
away hundreds of dollars of longboard products to
kids who have had their boards run over, destroyed, stolen or whatever the particular case may
be. We want to get them rolling again. We also
sponsor the large events and do have salaried Team
Riders. Kids look up to our riders, so it has that
trickle-down effect for them. We also encourage
and carry in our store any of the longboards that
are made locally.
Kelsey: Switchback has always been about getting people on longboards. Making money we
Dominic: For sure – in two years of operation we
practically grew our inventory by four times.
When we opened in 2009, we were carrying approximately 60 decks; now we have more than
300 boards on the floor, thousands of wheels, a
bunch of trucks, bushings, helmets, gloves ... all
you need to ride!
Melanie: Absolutely. We are not even near the
cresting point yet.
Kelsey: Right now I think we might be getting
close to a peak, or at least a leveling off. Who
knows, though? I definitely don’t ever see longboarding dying off like shortboarding has in the
past. This sport is accessible to so many people.
You don’t need to be a speed freak who loves
leather to get into it; cruising and carving down
the road is fun for everyone. Older guys who
used to skate can get on a longboard and cruise
down to the corner store and have a blast. Kids
who are traditionally into team sports can pick it
up and skate to their soccer games. It can be as
simple as pushing from your car to your classes
on campus, or even pushing all the way across
Canada if you’re determined enough.
The thing about street skating is that it is hard.
Not everyone can do it. On a longboard, though,
there is no “doing it” because you’re just pushing
down the street. If you want to add “early grabbing” down some stairs or blasting off some
ramps, go ahead, but even if all you ever do is
push back and forth around the city, you’re still
going to have a blast.
Are you finding that online
Q:sales
are growing?
John: Online sales are growing, and it isn’t always me
that gets the sale. Local skaters routinely shop online,
lured by lower prices and free shipping (sometimes
with no minimum). We know this is happening because our customers are pretty open about it. As for
our online sales, they are growing, although it is at a
slow pace. We completed an eight-month redesign of
woodyshalfpipe.com in order to have a site that would
give buyers more confidence in shopping with us. Our
traffic has improved since rolling the site out in September, and I believe within a year the site will
represent 15% of store sales. For a niche sport, the online marketplace is becoming more crowded, and
more established online stores may see their market
share erode.
Another form of competition is the manufacturers themselves. Many buyers seem to like to
buy direct in order to have some perceived bond
with the typically small company. Nothing wrong
with this – it has been going on in the wine industry for years. There are so few barriers to
entry, and the conventional wisdom seem to be
that “trees will grow to the sky.” It will become
more difficult to be a profitable online-only store.
If the market continues to grow at the current
pace, it is certain to grab the of higher-volume
onliners such as REI. The smallest manufacturers
will never sell to them, but then again the
smallest manufacturers probably make little
profit and will only survive as long as the visionary owner stays with it.
Dominic: Online sales are growing, and we work
hard to serve our customers online as best we
can, but the priority is the local customers.
Melanie: Leaps and bounds and leaps and bounds.
Especially our international market. Many countries
are just getting into longboarding, and with the Internet, they can now finally find all the products
they need. I would say they are about three to five
years behind the USA when it comes to longboarding in certain countries.
Kelsey: Online sales have been growing for sure.
It is a combination of the demand growing and
our selection growing. There are new companies
popping up all the time in this sport. Hopefully
they all stick around. If you have a good product
and your heart is in it, I think you can thrive in
this sport. AXS
WINTER 2011 | AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER
2 7
WINTER 2011 | AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER
2 9
THE
411
By Ben Curtis
BEARINGS
A
kid and his dad walk into a skateboard
shop to buy bearings, and the dad asks
the shop employee, “What is the difference between all these bearings?”
This is a serious question that nearly all shop
employees fail to answer thoroughly and accurately. How would you answer? Would you
answer this way: “Well… there are ABEC-rated
bearings, Swiss bearings, ceramic bearings ... ”
OK, that answer is technically correct; but is
it enough? Can you accurately explain the differences between bearings, or what makes
ABEC-rated, Swiss or ceramic bearings better
than others — or not? Being able to answer any
and all questions customers ask is vital for any
business to survive, compete and grow.
People take their issues to the experts that
know how to take care of them. Are you and the
other employees at your shop experts in skateboard equipment and how it’s used? Are all the
employees at your shop capable of taking care of
your customers’ needs? The following information will help give your shop what it needs to
answer your customers’ most frequent questions
about skateboard bearings.
ABEC RATING
Many skateboard bearings are marketed with an
“ABEC rating” of 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9. But what do these
ratings mean, and do they correspond to how
well a bearing works for skateboarding?
ABEC stands for Annular Bearing Engineers
Committee, which was founded by the American Bearing Manufacturers Association to set
standards for bearing tolerances. ABEC sets tolerances, which are only the dimensions of the
entire unit and allowable spaces between the
balls and the inner ring and the outer ring (also
called races). That’s all!
The ABEC scale does not rate speed, durability, axial or torsional loads, torque, steel grade,
ball sphericity, materials, surface finish, raceway
depth, ball size, lubrication, and on and on.
ABEC strictly measures tolerances; the higher
the ABEC number, the closer the tolerance.
Tolerances are crucial for proper bearing
function and load handling. A bearing has to
have tolerances in order to rotate. The tighter or
smaller the tolerance, the more accurately a
bearing will spin, because the balls have less
room to move on the raceway (the groove the
balls roll on).
Tighter tolerances usually equal more precision and better functionality going straight
down a hill or during wide turns. However, a
tighter tolerance or higher ABEC rating does not
presume the bearing is faster. It only implies that
3 0
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
a bearing may function more efficiently at
higher speeds. You still have to factor in axial
and torsional loads, torque, material grade, ball
sphericity, surface finish, raceway depth, ball size
and lubrication.
So if the ABEC rating only measures tolerances but not all these other factors, what is the
point of ABEC rating for skateboarding when
there are so many other vital factors to consider?
And can an ABEC 3 bearing actually function
better than an ABEC 7?
Of course it can.
The ABEC scale was not created with skateboarding in mind, and it does not account for all
the abuse skateboarders give bearings. In skateboarding, tolerances need to be adjusted
differently in order to handle the axial and torsional loads that skaters vigorously apply. Thus,
a bearing with a lower ABEC rating may actually perform better for skateboarding than one
with a higher ABEC rating.
Part One
It’s important to account for
bearing loads – vertical, axial, and torsional loads. These loads are
directional forces applied to the
bearing. Basically, vertical is up and
down, axial is side to side, and torsional is a curve or twist.
One might assume, since bearings are placed
vertically in a wheel, that bearings don’t have
axial or torsional loads. Actually, bearings encounter tremendous axial and torsional loads,
especially in longboarding. Imagine the amount
of force applied to a bearing while speeding
around a turn. Add in slides and drifts, and you
have a heavy dose of axial and torsional loads.
BEARING LOADS
Unfortunately, many of the bearings in today’s
skateboards were not created for skateboarding.
They evolved from the early days when roller
skate wheels were used on the first skateboards.
However, since then, enormous improvements
have been made in the quality of bearings. Plus,
with some manufacturers redesigning bearings
that are skateboard-specific, we’re still evolving
toward better equipment.
To find out how or if bearings can handle
these loads, we have to look at the raceways – the
grooved tracks the balls roll on. Not every brand
or ABEC rating has the same size raceway. This
is where the depth and curvature of raceways
prove to be important.
A shallow raceway allows less surface contact on the balls, thus providing less friction –
theoretically a faster bearing. However, we must
raise this question: When the balls are in a
shallow raceway, what happens when bearings
go into a turn? The axial (sideways) loads are
causing the balls to roll away from the center of
the raceway. They are now turning on the edge
of the raceway.
What happens to the balls hitting the edge of
the raceway? The edge of the raceway is rubbing
against that ball and burnishing the ball. Burnishing is contact surfaces causing plastic
deformation from sliding one object over another. In other words, this means the balls and
races can gouge, scratch, and indent each other
in a circular pattern.
A deep groove raceway holds the balls securely,
in alignment, during axial and torsional loads. A
deep raceway does not translate to more friction due
to extra contact surface for the balls, and it doesn’t
necessarily make it a slower bearing either. No
matter where the ball moves within the raceway the
ball’s footprint remains the same. Once again, you
have to account for other factors, such as surface
finish, material hardness, and steel grade. Skaters
could make a more educated choice of bearings if
more manufacturers disclosed this information.
SKATEBOARD-SPECIFIC RATINGS
Some brands have made an effort to steer clear
from marking an ABEC rating on their packaging. Oust uses what they call a MOC
(Machined Optimum Clearance) rating, and
Bones Bearings created their own Skate Rated™
scale, which they say reflects their efforts to de-
sign and construct their bearings to specifically
handle the rigors of skateboarding. Although
this is a leap in the right direction for skateboard
bearings, it does not automatically give the consumer an understanding of what makes them
any better. I urge you to contact the various
bearing companies and ask specifically what
they have done to create better bearings as relates to skate ratings.
Core shops need to represent themselves as
being more knowledgeable about what is really
going on with skateboard products. But being
knowledgeable is just the beginning. What else
can you provide your shop that differentiates it
from all other retailers?
Deep product knowledge can help foster the
soul and true skateboarding culture to your shop
in ways no one else has accomplished. You can
be the expert “doctor” in your skate shop. AXS
Determined to be the hub of the skateboard industry, ratvision.com is quickly becoming
recognized as the consumer and retail advocate for all things skateboarding. Through
in-depth product research and retail insight,
Rat Vision is dedicated to providing accurate
knowledge shops need to sell, service and educate consumers on the products
they purchase. With exclusive reports detailing the
results of laboratory and
field tests of hard goods,
Rat Vision can increase a
company’s expertise with
proprietary information regarding the brands shops sell most.
Next up: Ceramics, lubrication and
maintenance.
WHAT’S THAT SKATEBOARD FOR?
SILVERFISH LONGBOARDING’S GUIDE TO BOARDS AND DISCIPLINES
Skateboarding defies definition to many, but if you’re just getting into longboarding or classic skateboarding, you might be blown away by the variety of purpose-built styles and construction for skateboards. It’s not all popsicle sticks and teeny wheels, right?! So, here’s a quick and general
guide to the basic categories of boards and the disciplines they’re designed for.
FREERIDING – a term used to describe any style of skating downhill
that includes drifting, sliding, hard carves and aggressive maneuvers.
Any board a skater is comfortable with that affords the handling and
agility can work for a freeride board. However, the current standard is
a bidirectional board with deep wheel wells or cutouts and often dropthrough mounted trucks of either “conventional” or “inverted” style.
This is the style that varies with you, but generally involves wheels intended for sliding and thrashing, typically 70-76mm in diameter, and
78A-89A durometer.
SPEEDBOARDING – the sport of getting down a hill as fast as possible.
Standard downhill (or “DH”) decks are rigid for stability, with moderate
concave, no kicktail and lengths typically ranging from 36” to 46”. Inverted-style trucks are used, in drop-through and top-mount
configurations with wheels 70-100mm in diameter and 78A-89A
durometer. Look for designs intended to eliminate wheelbite, and prepare to encounter the most exotic of materials ranging from maple to
monocoque composites.
SLALOM – usually a timed sport that involves avoiding cones either on
flat land with small spacing (tight), downhill with more varied spacing
(hybrid) or steeply downhill with large, spread-out spacing (giant). Most
slalom boards range in size related to the style of slalom, from 30” to
36”; utilize asymmetrical concave (more in front) with a nonfunctional
kicktail or footrest at the back and toe-stops on the front of hardcore
race boards. The standard is for “wedged,” conventional trucks and
65-77mm wheels with durometers ranging 77A-85A.
CRUISING – traveling from one location to another in whatever manner
the skater sees fit. Any board can be a cruiser, and this term is also used
by street skaters to describe any board with “soft wheels.” Cruiser boards
tend to be medium to larger-sized boards, often with wide shapes that
allow many foot positions. Wheels and trucks are based on rider preference, but are often inverted-kingpin trucks with wheels to fit the board in
a low to medium durometer. Soft wheels and great turning ability are the
hallmark of a campus cruiser and general fun-hog longboard.
CARVING – the manner of riding a hill where the skater cuts back
and forth in hard turns to scrub off speed and yet maintain control
of the board, very much like surfing. Carving boards are often set
up for maximum turning and allow the trucks and wheels to turn
as deeply as possible, with typical board lengths over 36”. Flexible
decks are popular but not required. Inverted trucks and high-traction design wheels with durometers 75A-85A are typical setups.
LONG DISTANCE – a growing style, broken into two groups: Long
Distance Skating, where the focus is the actual pushing over great
distances, and Long Distance Pumping, where the focus is generating momentum by pumping. LDS boards typically have a
“dropped deck” for extra-low height to the road, and LDP boards
are often similar in shape to slalom boards, yet slightly longer.
Wheel diameters typically run 70-76mm and durometers range
from 77A-84A, depending on the setup and riding style chosen by
the skater.
BOARDWALKING – also called “dancing,” this freestyle skating focuses the upon the skater’s ability to use the deck to accomplish
tricks and maneuvers on the deck. Boards are typically 40” to 60”
and may have concave and a kicked nose or tail. Wheels and trucks
are often set up so the board’s agility is easily controlled by the
rider and wheelbite is impossible, and smoothness is ensured via
wheel diameters 70-76mm, durometers in the 77A-84A range and
pretty much any truck you like, either conventional or inverted.
TECHNICAL SLIDING – a specialized discipline with some crossover
to street-skating gear, this is the intentional breaking of traction on
steep hills to accomplish tricks that modify the board’s movement
down the fall line. Much more than “power sliding,” these tricks
can include stalls, rotations and the use of gloves with pucks for
hand-on-the-pavement moves. The decks are usually 34” to 38”
with twin kicks and hard, smaller wheels on conventional trucks,
but a variation growing in popularity (see “freeriding”) uses 70mm
or larger “soft wheels.”
OK, that’s a quick look at some of the general disciplines and skateboard styles active within longboarding and classic skateboarding. With experience, you’ll learn how variations on these
themes suit you and your terrain perfectly, but this should give you a great start. If you’d like more information or input, jump on over to SILVERFISHLONGBOARDING.COM. There are forums for
“Beginner Q/A” along with discussion areas for each of these disciplines, and much more. By the skaters, for the skaters, it’s the largest online skateboard community on the Internet, and it’s
the place to check in when you’re not out shredding the concrete waves. See you out there!
WINTER 2011 | AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER
3 1
INDUSTRY
INSIGHTS
By Mark Brasier
PARALLELS
& PITFALLS
WHAT LONGBOARDING CAN LEARN
FROM THE SNOWBOARD INDUSTRY
THE BEGINNINGS
Outcasts
The snowboard business was very small for a
very long time. It was a tight group of outsiders.
Only the pioneers and purists could relate to the
essence and the spirit that kept driving it forward
through the formation years. A lot of groundbreaking work and constant cheerleading went
into its gaining acceptance. The appeal was deep
and times were very simple. There were only a
few in the business; nobody was making any serious money, but that was OK.
Sound familiar?
Then the market began to show signs of
growth. Sales were ticking up, repeats were happening, price points were still premium,
distribution was tight. A handful of new brands
entered with fresh thinking, new technology was
being introduced, and everyone was pushing the
measure higher, faster, lighter and stronger.
Everyone was getting along just fine and the
monetary rewards were starting to flow in.
Good times!
Mr. Popularity
Then everybody wanted to be in the snowboard
business. Retailers, ski brands, factories, agents,
pro riders, sales reps, new upstart brands –
everyone wanted a piece.
Consumers were attracted for all the right
reasons. They were attracted by this lust for
something different – something aspirational.
The attraction from industry, both inside and
out, was purely monetary.
All that hard work and devotion at the purist
level to building and promoting the sport had
made it mainstream.
The ski business was in the dumps and
many of its management were out of touch and
bitter. They did everything they could to protect their domain, and dismissed snowboarding
as a fad.
Ski kids converted to snowboard. They embraced the core snowboard brands while their
parents continued to ski. The family roof racks
had an equal number of these wide boards
3 2
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
heading to the resorts. Meanwhile skateboarders
and skate shops were embracing snowboarding
as their own.
The formula seemed simple enough: Sign up
a pro rider, come up with a catchy brand name,
run a few ads, be super cool and sign a Japanese
distributor and you were a full-bore snowboard
brand operating as a snowboard company.
Nobody was getting along, but now everyone
was making real money.
The Perfect S—t Storm
So what could possibly go wrong?
So much growth so quickly made every company look good. The snowboard business lived
off this for years. One market could sustain and
finance global production and sales, and
everyone wanted in. There was very little business acumen and even less planning. The
mistakes being made were easily covered by the
market growth. All the mistakes went away.
Then it happened: In 1995 the snowboard
business experienced a massive hit to the head,
and the industry came crashing down. And almost nobody in the industry saw it coming.
Analysts saw it coming. Rational business
people saw the signs – but not those closest to it.
They were so immersed in the day-to-day that
the big picture was way out of focus.
Inventory levels were at an all-time high, the
gray-market goods going into Japan strangled
the traditional distribution model there, and
many companies simply went out of business as
their golden egg in Japan went away.
This placed immediate downward pressure
on price points. Inventory levels were so high
that closeouts were being offered at 50% off from
every brand in the business. This brought snowboard prices down by half at retail. At these
prices, it was the perfect entrée for the large
sporting goods retailers to enter the category.
The existing distribution couldn’t handle the inventory levels and brands/factories were forced
to sell knowing full well the short- and longterm implications. Brands in financial trouble
needed to unload, and the only channel that
could consume these units was the large-format
sporting goods retailers like Sports Authority,
SportMart and Gart Sports.
Snowboarding had created a new channel of
distribution that needed to be fed. Factories in
North America and Europe were being pressured to lower prices and quality in order to fill
this new channel that was clearly capable of consuming large units. For the first year or so, excess
inventory from the glut of the hundreds of
smaller brands that had lost their mojo satisfied
these needs, but it was clear that another strategy
was required for long-term sustainability. Enter
China and the package business.
Enter the Big Boys
The business had been handed over to the large
multi-brand corporations and large big-box retailers to benefit from all of the pioneers’ hard
work. The big boys were dictating price points
and brand-slapping to see which of their brands
could extend into snowboard. A few good paint
jobs and a good save story in the weekend flyer
and they sold. As one of my favorite merchants
once said, “We sell s—t to dopes.”
Brands that were not being bought were then
either sold to licensing houses or direct to retailers. This direct-to-retail license model is alive
today, and brands that were once high-end and
premium and are now relegated to a very
opening price.
Consolidation took place at such a rapid rate
that all the foundation brands were left trying to
figure out where they fit. Should they continue
Russ Gerstacker. Photo: Max Benjamin
ance spectrum there is aspiration and admiration.
That’s brand equity.
Why would you not want the price-conscious
consumer to be able to enjoy this? Why not have
an aspirational consumer tied to your brand
from the start?
with business as usual, look to sell/merge/
license, or just bow out?
It was big business now. One industry veteran
said to be successful you need to run the business like a 58-year-old, act like a 38-year-old and
be able to think like an 18-year-old. The supercool “bro/brah” management style was over.
Snowboarding was all about survival and
making as much money as possible.
Something to look forward to?
WHAT CAN WE LEARN?
Brand Positioning
The longboard foundation leaders (a.k.a. pure
play brands) have all the brand equity. Their decision to expand and extend into new price and
distribution is critical. The pure play brands
have to act quickly and with full conviction to
lead the category.
Many brands are reluctant to make the first
move. They look to introduce sub-brands with
little to no ties to the franchise brand. This
means more marketing, more salespeople and a
lot of effort justifying each channel. This doesn’t
fool anyone. Retailers would always mention that
this was part of the parent brand and created
friction and confusion. This strategy just delays
the inevitable, keeps the market unstable and allows other brands to take that share.
What’s wrong with building and developing
the customer for the future? You want to allow
the lower-end brands to do this? Inferior
product and ultimately a bad longboard experience is not good for anyone.
Audi is a great example of using their brand
equity to build a range of performance vehicles
to attract consumers early on and keep them for
life. They are not worried about having a huge
range of price points in the showroom proudly
showing off the rings. The standard A3 sedan and
the fantasy-car R8GT can both sit in the same
showroom. Consumers for both models are passionate about the brand and are looking for the
ultimate brand experience they can afford.
Skateboard brands that so far have distanced
themselves from the sport will all of a sudden embrace it as if they’ve been there from the start.
They have so much scale and power that their
story will be told and consumers will believe.
The big corporations with their multi-brand
strategy have a lot of leverage into this channel.
They have the relationships. They do huge business
in these buildings already and will simply layer in
another product with one of their brands on it.
They can average out margins and have efficiencies
the smaller brands don’t — a commodity approach.
What they don’t have is the aspirational
brand. What’s that worth? Quite a lot, actually.
Product Positioning
Time and time again, innovative performance
product is the differentiator.
Only the pure play brands can continue to
bring innovative performance product to the
market. They ride, and they know what the next
innovation needs to be to better the product. It’s
equivalent to the motorsport business taking all
that is learned on Sunday at the track and getting into the showrooms Monday.
Take the Audi A4. It comes stock, in S4 livery
and in the ultimate performance monster, the
RS4. The average consumer can’t tell them apart.
Subtle badging speaks to what lies beneath the
hood and the engineering that has gone into the
car. That’s all that is necessary.
Every year each model gets faster, lighter and
more fun to drive. Passing down technology fully
amortized allows the continuum of higher performance and challenges the engineers to develop
vector tech up in the RS4. Consumers expect to
get more performance for the same money year
after year. This is critical and keeps them yearning
for an even better experience.
So imagine all three of these cars lined up beside
each other at a red light: A4 on the left; S4 in the
middle; RS4 on the right. Think about what is going
through the mind of each driver as they glance at
the cars beside them. Up and down the perform-
Price & Channel Positioning
It’s always easier to bring price points down.
That’s been proven time and time again. There
is nothing wrong with lower price points as long
as the quality is still built into the product.
A tiered pricing structure tied to the performance level and channel is key to a
meaningful strategy. There are certainly overlap
price points, but it’s key to match the price points
with the channels’ ability to sell, service and
grow the sport.
Nike mastered this through the AIR years:
non-AIR for mass distribution, nonvisible AIR
for mid-channel and visible AIR for higher-end.
Strategies for each of the specialty channels
can also be addressed. Differentiate products
going into skate, bike, ski and outdoor adrenaline channels. Defining each channel’s consumer
and building to suit is key.
Only a few meaningful price points will
matter. Brands in the middle will get squeezed
from both sides. The core longboard brands will
come down with pass-down technology, and the
house brands, either licensed or bought, will
look for a strategy to creep up these price points
with longer margins.
You can’t be at every price point in every
channel. The assortment plans at retail have to be
spread among vendors. Sometimes your greatest
strength could also be your greatest weakness.
Brands that had a great program in the mid-price
points but also owned the opening price-point
business found it tough to reach up in price. The
retailer needs to offer an assortment of brands
and can only allocate so much to one brand.
Understanding where your price points are
most relevant is critical to ensuring a meaningful position.
Who’s Got the Ball?
Longboarding feels different than snowboarding. It’s not trying to be the cool guy. In
fact, longboarding is more like skiing in the
snow-sports world: looking for acceptance.
At this crucial turning point, the sport requires leadership. The sport needs a course; it
needs commitment to keeping it real from all aspects. It needs drivers.
Long term, the brands looking for a quick
buck will jump ship once they see signs of
slowing. The last in are always the first out, and
it will be no different here. Twenty years from
now, what will the business look like? The snowboard business looks like the ski business did 20
years ago. AXS
WINTER 2011 | AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER
3 3
AXS
PROFILE
By Bud Smith
MR.
GRIPTAPE
Meet the Man Who Helped
Cover 30 Million Skateboards
I
skateboarded in the summer of 1964 with my brother, Jim. We each
had a skateboard that our parents had bought for us. They were laminated oak planks about 17”-18” long and about 4 ½”-5” wide – hardly
comparable to skateboards made today. The trucks and wheels were steel
and were obviously taken from roller skates. Nonetheless, we had a lot of
fun on those skateboards. But we lost interest, as we lived in a small town
without sidewalks, with roads composed of tar with pea gravel. The hot
summer weather would soften the tar and the constant traffic would drive
the pea gravel into it. Little did I know that riding that skateboard back in
1964 would one day give me the opportunity to become a significant part
of this incredible skateboard industry and culture.
My reintroduction to skateboarding began innocently enough, back in
the summer of 1984. At that time, I was working for a small manufacturing
company located in McHenry, Illinois, that made and sold abrasive, nonskid tapes. I was selling tapes to Caterpillar, John Deere, J.I. Case, Komatsu,
Toro, Boeing, Mitsubishi, Toyota and Universal Gym, as well as to manufacturers of running boards, fitness equipment and riding mowers.
One day I came home from work one day to find my 10-yearold son, Tod, sitting on the front step of our home with his
friend Jason, who was visiting from Florida. As I
walked up to the steps, I noticed a skateboard
lying upside down on the front sidewalk — a
Vision deck with pink wheels. As soon as I
turned the deck over, I noticed the incredible amount of grip tape on the top of the
deck. I asked Jason about the skateboard, and he told me that
skateboarding was really big in
Florida and a lot of the kids
were into it.
“Where can I get more
information on skateboarding?” I asked. This
skateboard and grip tape
was a whole new market, and
they used a lot of grip tape!
Jason told me that Thrasher
magazine was the bible of
skateboarding, so that’s
where I started.
Where could I find
this Thrasher magazine,
though? There was no
Internet, so I looked at
3 4
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
my local bookstore. They had never heard of
Thrasher, so I looked in the Yellow Pages under
“Skateboards.” I found skateboards listed at The
Village Pedaler, a bicycle shop in the neighboring
town of Crystal Lake.
My son and I went to the shop, and we were
amazed by the amount of skateboards and the incredible graphics. Vision Psycho Stick, Powell
Sword & Skull, Alva and Santa Cruz seemed to
be the most popular skateboards. They also sold
Thrasher, and that’s what I was really after!
The owner of the shop, Jeff Crittenden, told
us just how many kids were skateboarding in the
area. He was selling about 20 decks a week, and
they were using Wooster grip tape.
I knew Wooster Products very well, as they
were my major competitor in every market in
which my company sold non-skid or anti-slip
tape. Wooster is a well-run company with good
products, and very competitive. So I knew it
would be difficult to break into the skate market
with Wooster being the major supplier.
(By the way, 3M was the first company to
make non-slip abrasive tape. Its product was
called “Safety-Walk,” which is the trade name 3M
still uses today. Originally, the grit was applied
to aluminum foil, which served as a moisture
barrier. Once plastics became popular, 3M
changed to a plastic film to replace the aluminum foil. 3M found that their regular
Safety-Walk was too abrasive for skateboarders,
so they eliminated about half the grain coverage
and named the new product “Grip Tape.” In
every other industry, it was called non-slip, antislip or abrasive tape, but to skateboarders, it’s
grip tape!)
I needed to know more about the skate industry, so I found and visited a local skate
distributor, AWH Sales in Evanston, Illinois,
owned then (and now) by Art Harris. My first
time at AWH, I was astounded by the volume
of business. There was a stack of skate boxes
from the floor to the ceiling, and the stack was
about 35 feet long! Hundreds of boxes going to
skate shops.
At about 2:30 p.m., I had just started to
speak with Art, when the UPS truck showed up.
AWH is located on Davis Street in Evanston, in
one of the main retail districts in town. The
UPS truck was a semi tractor and trailer, and it
blocked the street until all the boxes were
loaded. The cops actually stopped by and told
them to hurry up, or else they would be issued
a citation for blocking traffic. It was just crazy
as everyone, including me, hauled out boxes for
a good 30 minutes.
As we talked, Art explained the high end of
the skateboard industry. I was fascinated. I
learned that Powell, Vision and Santa Cruz dominated the industry and were the three biggest
skateboard brands in the world. Art also told me
that twice a year, there was a trade show for the
skateboard industry: the Action Sports
Retailer trade show in Long Beach. I
had to get to that trade show!
But the next one wasn’t until the
following January, so meantime I continued to research the skateboard
market. I subscribed to Thrasher, and
every month I learned more and
more. I found that Wooster was indeed the primary supplier of grip
tape to the skate companies. The
biggest users were actually the pricepoint boards made by Makaha,
Variflex and Valterra. The amount
of grip tape they were using was
just incredible.
On a cold, snowy Saturday in
January 1985, I made my first trip
to California to attend the ASR
show. I had no idea about the
Marty “Jinx”
Jimenez with
world I was about to enter or how
Bud at ASR.
it would change my life.
We landed in Long Beach
about 12:30 p.m. I was wearing my heavy leather
jacket, stocking cap and gloves until I walked
down the ramp onto the tarmac. It was about 75
degrees, with bright sun, blue sky and a warm
breeze. I couldn’t believe this was real! I rented a
car and was amazed that there were six lanes of
traffic in each direction on the 405 freeway.
When I got to ASR, I was blown away by the
spectacle. I was really out of place as I walked the
trade show in my suit and tie. Casual was one
thing, but this was beyond casual. Most of the attendees wore T-shirts, jeans and sneakers. The
next day I wore my blue jeans and T-shirt so I
didn’t look so obviously out of place.
ASR closed on Sunday, so on Monday I
started to visit skate companies in my suit and
tie. I remember visiting with AJ Brice of Vision,
Jeff and Jerry Madrid of Madrid Skateboards,
John Falahee of Alva, Jill Johnson of Powell-Peralta, Henry Hester at Gordon & Smith, PD at
Skull Skates, Vic at VK Skate, Barry Asher at
NHS (Santa Cruz), Larry and Linda at Tracker,
Walt Tiedge at Gullwing, JJ at Toxic Skates, Jay
Losi at Variflex, RAX, Sport Fun, Uncle Wiggley,
Action Sports, Valterra, Makaha and a bunch of
other skate brands.
Once I understood the skate market and the
amount of grip tape they were buying, I had to
find a way to get them to try my grip tape. I figured if I was able to get one of the Big Three to
buy my grip tape, I could use that as an endorsement, so to speak, and the rest would follow. I
contacted Bob Denike at NHS, Everett Rosecrans
at Vision and Todd Hastings at Powell. These
guys were the skate team managers and had direct access to the most popular skaters. I spoke
with each of them and asked them to give my
grip tape to their team riders and let me know
how they liked it.
“AS WE TALKED,
ART EXPLAINED
THE HIGH END OF
THE SKATEBOARD
INDUSTRY. I WAS
FASCINATED.
I LEARNED THAT
POWELL, VISION
AND SANTA CRUZ
DOMINATED
THE INDUSTRY
AND WERE THE
THREE BIGGEST
SKATEBOARD
BRANDS IN
THE WORLD.”
WINTER 2011 | AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER
3 5
AXS
PROFILE
By Bud Smith
A couple of weeks went by. At about 2:00 one
afternoon, I got a phone call: “Hello, I’m Jill
Johnson with Powell-Peralta and I want to order
50 rolls of grip tape.”
Wow, I had gotten my first order! The first
part of my plan had worked! I was really charged
up, but now I had to get more orders.
So I called Jim Muir at Dogtown.
Bud: “My name is Bud Smith and I sell grip
tape. Would you like to buy some?
Jim: “What is the name of the grip tape?
Bud: “Well, I don’t have a name for it, but I
know it’s good.”
Jim: “Send me some samples and I’ll let
you know.”
Bud: “I’ll be happy to do that, but Powell
just bought 50 rolls from me.”
Jim: “Powell bought 50 rolls? Really? Send me
50 rolls too.”
Next I called Carol Colgate at Smoothill –
same conversation with the same results. Then
Bruce Walker at Ocean Avenue Distribution
in Florida – another 50-roll order. Vic at
VK Sports went the same way. John
Falahee at Alva also ordered 50 rolls. I
think I made eight phone calls and got six
orders on the first day.
Once I started getting orders, the
volume started to increase dramatically.
Fifty-roll orders started to become 100roll orders, then 200 rolls. Within the first
year, 500-roll orders were coming in regularly. And I remember one time the buyer
at Vision called and ordered 300 rolls a
week “and don’t stop until I tell you.” About
three months later, I got a phone call from
Vision kingpin Brad Dorfman asking me why
I was sending him all this grip tape. He had grip
tape everywhere! I just told him that is what the
buyer ordered.
Titus Dittman in Germany would order 1,000
rolls at a time. Chris Allen of Shiner was my first
U.K. distributor. John Hurren of JHS in Australia
was my first Australian distributor. Foreign distributors started calling me and ordering my grip
tape, and pretty soon my full-time job evolved
into servicing the skateboard market.
I was visiting skate customers in California
about three or four times a year, plus the two
trade shows, so I was starting to become recognized as “the grip tape guy.” After a few years in
the industry, I came up with the idea to host an
industry skate party every January at the ASR
show. Those parties were nothing special, but it
seemed everyone came and had a good time.
After a couple of years they became a favorite as
people started to ask me if I was going to host
another party at the next ASR. (Free food and
beer will do that!) Unfortunately, ASR got word
of what we were doing and shut us down. Many
people still remember those parties.
I remember one ASR show in particular, in
3 6
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
1990. The show had moved to the San Diego
Convention Center, and there was nothing in
that area except pay parking lots. This was before the days of Gaslamp, PETCO Park and
condos. On the last day of the show, I left and
drove to Costa Mesa so I could start calling on
customers the next morning. When I got to my
hotel and opened the trunk of my car, my suitcase and all my clothes and files were gone!
Someone had broken into my car in San Diego
and stolen everything. All I had was the clothes
I was wearing.
My first call on Monday was with Steve Rocco
at World Industries. I told Steve what happened
and asked to buy some T-shirts and pants. Steve
gave me four or five shirts and three pairs of
pants for free. He also asked me if I needed some
money for the rest of the week, and said, “Let me
know if there is anything else I can do for you.”
Word traveled quickly, and just about every
skate customer I visited had clothes waiting for
me. When I went to VK, Vic gave me a sweatshirt; Paul Schmitt gave me a couple of shirts;
and Brad Dorfman gave me some Vision Street
Wear shoes. I went home with two new suitcases
of skate clothes! I have never forgotten how Steve
Rocco and all my friends went out of their way to
help me when I needed them most, and I will
never forget their generosity.
Over the next 25 years, I was able to grow and
maintain my company’s position as the bestselling grip tape in the skate industry, even
though my company didn’t advertise and didn’t
understand the skate industry. I’ve made custom
grip tape for Madrid Fly Paper, H-Street, Schmitt
Stix, Titus, Alva, Planet Earth, Girl, World Industries, Independent, Deluxe, Alien
Workshop, G&S, Element, Plan B,
Zoo York and just about every
skate brand that ever existed over
the past 25 years. I also made
custom-printed grip tape for Etnies Game of Skate, Red Bull, DC
Shoes, Zumiez and a bunch of
other associated skate brands as well.
But in December 2010, after I had
taken a non-skid tape product made by
an industrial manufacturer and built it
into the dominant, best-selling grip tape
brand for more than 20 consecutive years, my
previous employer terminated my employment.
After 32 years of working for that company and
covering more than 30 million skateboards with
their grip tape, they told me my job description
was being eliminated. Thirty-two years of
work establishing and building their
brand and they gave me a lump of coal for
Christmas! I am still disappointed that
the owner didn’t even have the class to tell
me himself. It was a tough day.
But then something incredible happened. The next day I started to receive phone
calls and emails from just about every skate
brand, and they all expressed sympathy for my
situation: Bob Denike of NHS, George
Powell and Jill Johnson from Powell, Steve
Lake and Dean Hunter from Sector 9,
Norm Macdonald from Ultimate, Dorsey
Truitt from Atlantic, Art Harris, Ed Riggins,
Linda Prettyman, Michael Brooke, Carol Colgate and dozens more. I was and still am deeply
touched that so many people care about me.
Today, I am the sales manager for MOB Grip,
and I’ve been dubbed “Mr. Griptape.” We have
an incredible team, and I’m working with a
group of people who fully believe in and support
skateboarding. I am honored to be a founding
member of our industry association, the International Association of Skateboard Companies
(IASC), and I was one of three people responsible for building the McHenry Zone Skate Park
in McHenry, Illinois.
I love the people in the skateboard industry.
I’ve had an incredible career, but by far, my most
prized possession is the many friends that I have
made in our skateboard industry. AXS
Contact Bud at [email protected]
DISTRIBUTOR
ROUNDTABLE
By AXS Staff
LONGBOARD
DISTRIBUTORS:
The Future Looks Bright
Did the growth of longQ:
boarding over the past year
or so surprise you?
Krijn Moens, Surf2Go – Netherlands
Reggie Barnes, Eastern Skateboard Supply –
USA: We really were not surprised. We have
seen it coming for a while now. Having carried
longboard brands for many years, we have seen
it gradually grow into a major category for us.
Steve Greenidge, S&J Sales – Canada: Perhaps
a bit of surprise. I think it has created some frustration in the industry due to product shortages.
In many cases product that rocketed to popularity became very scarce due to the industry’s
inability to forecast the growth.
Damian Hebert, South Shore Distribution –
USA: Yes and no: Yes, considering it’s a weak
economy, and no because of the new group of
kids getting into it. Youth breeds growth, so once
I saw the youth going after longboards it was
easy to guess growth. The real surprise is the fact
the kids were jumping on downhill speedboards
and longboards.
Norm Macdonald, Ultimate Skateboard Distribution – Canada: Not really; we knew it was
solid and growing. Certain regions were slower
taking up longboarding and are now on board,
while others regions have increased what they already bought.
Rich Auden, Lush Longboards – United
Kingdom: We’ve seen it coming for a long time,
though as we’ve not been working internationally
until quite recently, it still came as a bit of a shock.
Krijn Moens, Surf2Go – Netherlands: No, actually it didn’t. I still feel it is quite early stage.
Awareness of longboards in Europe is far more
recent than in the U.S. So we still have some
catching up to do.
Why do you think longQ:
boarding has become so
popular?
Barnes: It appeals to a much larger audience
than other types of skateboarding. It’s a great
4 0
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
form of transportation, and longboards have almost become a fashion statement on college
campuses. You don’t have to be able to ollie or
kickflip a longboard to be able to have fun; you
can just put four wheels down and go.
Macdonald: Accessibility, transportation, no age
or gender barriers, former or new skaters taking up
longboarding themselves or with their kids, exercise, green thinking. No need to huck oneself down
10 stairs. Ride, carve, cruise at one’s own pace.
Greenidge: I think longboarding has an inherently larger demographic. This allows for more
participation from a wide variety of participants,
from commuters to hardcore racers, teens to oldschoolers, and not to underestimate the female
enthusiasts. With less focus on tricks, it is a bit
less intimidating for newbies.
Auden: It’s accessible, has a broad appeal, has
many uses and looks cool. I think it has a long
way to go before we hit the market ceiling.
Hebert: People like to go fast. Street skating takes
so much fine tech skills that kids are scared to try
such tech stuff. It’s easy to jump on a longboard
and start going, and that’s all that is expected.
Then the really aggressive kids go after more
thrills and start bombing hills. That’s why scooters
and rollerblades got popular; their learning curves
were very short. And progression was also short,
thus they were fads. Longboarding is looked at
by many as a fad, but there is progression in
longboarding. The only question is how much.
That progression will determine the real future
of longboarding.
Moens: The popularity of surfing has grown
quite significantly in Europe the last years. But
there are only few places with really good surf
spots. Longboarding offers a great alternative
and is also a great way to practice. That was one
of the first movements.
The image of someone riding the streets on a
longboard is quite strong. It makes others also
want to join – it creates a very high “me too” impulse. It just looks like fun, and of course the
people who longboard are happy people. It is all
about surfing, beaches, sun and holiday feeling.
Who wouldn’t want to be part of that? With a
modest budget everyone can do it; you don’t
need snow, mountains or waves.
This is supported by really strong social
media — I dare to say one of the first industries
"This phase of longboarding
needs dealers with real vision
and entrepreneurial skills."
– Krijn Moens, Surf2Go
Reggie Barnes, Eastern Skateboard Supply – USA
Hebert: I redesigned my website a bit to include
a large amount of details to give the dealers more
information, allowing them to make educated
buying decisions in a part of the industry where
trends are changing on a dime. We have more upgrades in the pipeline to further their buying
experience in a positive way. This also gives our
established sales crew a deeper understanding of
what they are selling. And we’ve always supported
our retailers when it comes to contests and events.
Macdonald: We have separate longboard reps,
promotions and marketing.
If even a small percentage of all bicyclers starts
longboarding, we have still a long way to go.
And last but not least important, boys will be
boys. We are all looking for something that appeals to our youth and makes us feel young
again. I certainly am.
What are some things you’ve
Q:
done to help support your
network of dealers as it relates to
longboarding?
Barnes: We offer our dealers the top-selling
brands in longboarding. We work hard to keep
up with new products as they come available and
update our site daily with those products. We
also educate our dealers about the potential sales
growth in adding longboards to their mix if they
haven’t already done so.
Steve Greenidge, S&J Sales – Canada
that understood the strength of social media. In
my belief anyone between 6 and 60 who can
walk or ride a bike is a potential longboarder.
That is quite a big demographic group. It is a
sport, but also a means of transportation. Being
a Dutchman, I am quite familiar with bicycling.
Greenidge: Our focus as we present all of our
brands across the categories we serve is authenticity. It is vital that our brands are represented
by people who are knowledgeable and enthusiastic. With longboarding specifically, we brought
Matt Livingston on board to help us get the message of our LB brands out to the retailers. Matt is
a great resource for our dealers, sales reps and
end user customers.
As for promotion and marketing, LB has its
own ways of doing things, and we have adapted
to suit. We sponsor the larger international events
like Danger Bay, Giant’s Head, Maryhill, etc. This
differs from street skate, in which we direct more
resources to print, team and regional events.
Auden: Introducing our Shopatron platform is
probably the biggest thing. It takes orders from
our websites and farms them out to local dealers
to fulfill. We’re the first to do this internationally.
The idea is to complement all the other POS stuff
we’re already doing by adding value to the
brands for our bricks-and-mortar stockists –
who are usually the retailers giving the most
back to their local scenes.
Moens: First, we have tried to bring many of the
well-known, high-end U.S. brands to Europe and
make them available to the European consumer.
We also help young brands or small manufacturers with their brand. We believe the European
market needs that kind of choice of product. It is
also one of my weak spots, having done business
consultancy for many years. I really like helping
companies to grow.
Moreover, we have aimed to make dealers
more aware. This phase of longboarding [requires] dealers with real vision and
entrepreneurial skills. These type of dealers have
done really well. We try to help the high-conviction dealer with their growth.
Longboarding has many different disciplines
of skating, and therefore it offers so many options. Sometimes we support dealers by giving
them a longboard clinic after work hours to educate the staff. We also try to support events or
to be present ourselves as much as we can.
Are you concerned about
Q:
the immense amount of
longboard companies out there?
Barnes: The fact that there are so many longboard companies out there is a testament to how
popular longboarding has become. I’m not that
concerned about it. I think that it will shake out
over time and the stronger brands will survive.
WINTER 2011 | AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER
4 1
DISTRIBUTOR
ROUNDTABLE
By AXS Staff
Rich Auden, Lush Longboards – United Kingdom
Greenidge: As with many genres — like snowboarding, for instance — longboarding will go
through a growth curve, which will include an
increase in brands. As with snowboarding, the
market will regulate itself. The good product will
prevail, and better business models will win out
over those just jumping in to make a fast buck.
Hebert: Yeah, to a point. It was inevitable with
something growing like LB. But it’s a part of
doing business in a fast-paced growth sector of
skateboarding as a whole.
Macdonald: Not really. While there are far too
many companies, some will never make it any
further than their introduction stages. We do not
jump on new projects. We have a solid program
with Sector 9 and a few offerings from the traditional shortboard companies.
Auden: Not really; many won’t be around forever, and the market is evolving so fast that true
innovation with product and distribution is rewarded with a big market share.
Moens: No, not yet, but ask me again in 12
months. The market is big enough and it is part
of the growth. There will be many new companies out there, but eventually some are not here
to stay. Things will balance out in due course.
But we are concerned about the spirit of skating.
We hope the fun stays in the business.
What advice would you give
Q:
to a longboarding company
wishing to place their product with
your distribution company? What
should their expectations be like?
Barnes: They should contact ESS via email at
[email protected] with pictures and
pricing of their products. We are always openminded and willing to consider new
skateboarding companies to distribute.
If we decide to distribute a new company they
can expect to be treated like a partner. We will
show their product on our website as soon as it is
in stock. We will display it in our booth at trade
shows and advertise it online and in magazines.
It is also important that they understand that
it is their job to create the demand and our job to
educate our dealers about the products and get it
to the stores in a timely manner.
Greenidge: We do our best to bring our brands to
market in the most efficient manner to enable our
dealers and ultimately the retail customer to make
their selection. Distributors are responsible to do
this. We can’t make a brand popular; we can help
it grow in many ways, but ultimately it is up to the
brand owner to create a buzz for the brand. My ad4 2
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
Norm Macdonald,
Ultimate Skateboard Distribution – Canada
vice is to do your homework. Make a great product
and create a brand that has integrity, authenticity
and timeliness. Customers can see through a
smoke screen. Realistic expectations of your international and domestic business are important. If
you are doing 50 grand in sales in the USA, don’t
expect Canada or the U.K. to do a million.
Hebert: Get national recognition on a regular
basis. Make it affordable for retailers to stock the
product as well as for distributors, but don’t expect distributors and retailers to be advertisers
and promoters. You know you’re the marketing
arm; we as distributors [and] retailers are the
supply arm. Point-of-purchase items are great,
and making a consistent quality product is a
major part of it.
Macdonald: As I said, we have a solid line in
place now with Sector 9 and are not looking at
expanding our distribution at this point.
Moens: First, we are looking for products that
stand out; that is obvious. It needs to have an
edge. It is also important there is some chemistry
between the company and Surf2Go. We feel the
personal relationship is part of the fun. The
brand needs to have a clear business strategy as
well as product strategy, or we can help achieving
that. The product line needs to make sense –
something for different tastes within a certain
area of expertise. But it needs to maintain its
image. You’ll see that with a lot of brands we do.
Expectations are always difficult. We are able
to open doors in Europe, but I am always careful
[about] raising expectations. We take it step by
step, and we really need to be sure the company
is able to supply while growing. There needs to
be some synchronization between demand in
Europe and availability of product. Managing
growth is a challenge.
Do you see longboarding
Q:
going through the same
cycle as the street skating market?
Boom and then bust – a flood of
blanks, shop decks, etc.
Barnes: First of all, I don’t think street skating is
busted. The main reason that blanks and shop
decks have affected sales of street decks is because there is not enough differentiation
between the shape and construction of street
decks. It’s pretty easy to copy a seven-ply maple
popsicle shape. Hopefully the longboard brands
can learn from this and will focus on developing
products that are unique in shape as well as construction and avoid the negative effects that
blanks and shop decks have had on the street
skating market.
Greenidge: That’s a hard question because there
are things that are a reality in LB that are not so in
Skate and vice versa. LB will go through a similar
cycle as snowboarding and street skating in terms
of a proliferation of brands. I don’t expect LB to
have quite as much of an issue with blanks, as in
LB the consumable is wheels, not decks like Street.
Street customers need a steady supply of cheaper
decks if they are avid skaters, as they break them
consistently. LB will need wheels more often;
however, I believe there are many choices and differing price points in the market already. We are
a ways off from the private-label problem that
street skating has. However, you are starting to see
some chain stores starting to private-label the
longboard product in addition to street product.
I don’t believe that core shops will bother trying to
follow the same direction in shop boards. Complete LB packages are too expensive to
economically manufacture at private label, unless
you have large buying power like some chains do.
Hebert: Not sure. Yeah, I already see the blank
and discount thing seeping in, but they are way
behind the progressive brands. The seven-ply
brands are the ones that will feel the “importer”
brand/blank effect, but brands that keep true to
their quality and progression toward newer and
better ways to make a board will keep those importer/blank issues at bay. But they must be
ahead all the time, or we will see a repeat of the
A perfect shop in my dream would be a shop that has all levels
of skateboarding: longboards, ditch boards, pool/park boards and
street boards. That way the shop will be a better shop compared
to the big-box/mall shops. – Damien Hebert, South Shore Distribution
regular board market. You have to produce a
product that shows a real value to it – be that
special shapes or special additions to the item
like fiberglass or Kevlar [or] something – and
make it hard for China to duplicate.
trade show, last year, and only about 20 out of
2,050 brands were about longboarding. It has
been a while [since] a movement in action sports
has been that strong. Probably it is best to compare with snowboarding in the ’70s.
Macdonald: Yes, somewhat; it will level off but
not bust. I do not see much potential in shop or
blank longboards, a far more expensive proposition than short boards. Areas that have been
strong may level off somewhat; other areas late
in the game will grow.
Q:Any final comments?
Auden: Yes and no. Certainly there will be a
peak, then things will die off a little, but longboarding has such a wide appeal and a greater
adaptability that the trough will be nowhere near
as bad. Street skating has pigeonholed itself in a
way that longboarding probably never will.
Greenidge: Authentic is the word of the day.
Moens: Partially. I believe it won’t be that severe.
Longboarding has a much more relaxed culture,
and it is driven very strong from within the industry. There are also so many more options in
shapes of the decks. Many brands have now a far
more technical, advanced product. These are not
that easily made in large volume. And capacity
issues and meeting demand are still an issue. But
for the less advanced products, the cheaper range
of products, the risk is certainly there. It is a
cycle, so what goes up, must come down.
Do you see more growth in
the longboard market over
Q:
the next few years?
Barnes: Yes, I think we will see continued
growth for at least a few more years in the longboard market. Hopefully when it does level off
it will continue to be a healthy category for many
years to come.
Greenidge: I do believe that LB will continue to
grow into a category in and of itself in action
sports shops and not be regarded as an offshoot
of street skate. There is already a vibrant international roster of great brands with complete
legitimacy. This will help the growth and
longevity of the genre.
Hebert: I think so – as long as everyone stays focused on advancing this part of skateboarding.
Moens: Yes, still. As I mentioned, I believe we
are still in the early years of a potential huge
market. I was at ISPO, Europe’s biggest sports
Barnes:
I’d just like to say that we should all be grateful
for the growth in the longboarding market. It has
helped our industry in this tough economy.
Hebert: A perfect shop in my dream would be
a shop that has all levels of skateboarding:
longboards, ditch boards, pool/park boards
and street boards. That way the shop will be a
better shop compared to the big-box/mall
shops. And [it would have] all the gear to support it. No mall or big-box shop could even
think about competing!
Just imagine: A 16-year-old walks into a shop to
get a new set of LB wheels, but his little brother
wants a street board because he saw someone
like Nyjah Houston on ESPN ripping it up. Both
get what they want, and the shop can still sell
Dad a nice cruiser board or ditch board like he
used to ride “back in the day,” or some nice shoes
so dad can look cool while hanging out with his
kids. Basically, the best option in my opinion for
retailers to survive is to be completely diverse in
the industry they love. Shunning street boards
or longboards just isn’t a smart way of thinking.
Both have value and both will ebb and flow, thus
you’ll be relevant either way.
Macdonald: Skating has been around for a long
time and will continue well into the future.
Longboarding is and will be an integral part of
skating forever.
Moens: I have great sympathy for the relaxed
atmosphere and social character of longboarding. In a time of growing individualism,
there is a community sharing their love for
longboarding and each other’s well being while
skating. Longboarding just connects people. I
just looked at a couple of videos of the
Broadway Bomb – what fun! My next goal is to
participate myself and be one of them. I hope
longboarding maintains these positive characteristics. AXS
WINTER 2011 | AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER
4 3
TA ILE RS
AT TE NT IO N AC TIO N SP OR TS RE
JOIN US FOR A
COMPLIMENTARY LUNCH AT
TO CELEBRATE THE LAUNCH OF
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER COVERS THE WORLD OF LONGBOARDING EXCLUSIVELY.
THE MAGAZINE PROVIDES DETAILED INFORMATION THAT WILL ARM SALES STAFF
WITH THE PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE THEY NEED TO SELL MORE EFFECTIVELY.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 5th, 2012
FROM THE HOURS OF 11 AM TO 3PM
Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que is located at 300 South Pine Drive
in Long Beach (right next to the Convention Center).
Please RSVP and your add your shop to our mailing list by visiting http://bit.ly/pamhWx
For more info, email [email protected] or call Michael Brooke at 905-738-0804
4 4
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
WINTER 2011 | AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER
4 5
PUBLIC
PROFILE
By Michael Brooke
BEHIND
THE SCENES AT
AXS GEAR
The magazine you are holding grew out of the AXS Gear longboard website created by Rick Tetz. When I first met Rick three years ago, we had no
idea we’d find ourselves one day publishing a longboard trade magazine. But that’s the great thing about longboarding – anything can happen
as long as you are determined. These are still early days and opportunities are plentiful, should you wish to invest the energy. Believe me when
I say that we’ve both invested a great deal of energy on longboarding!
Rick created the AXS Gear website to provide consumers with information on where to purchase longboards and to give companies an
opportunity to showcase their products. The response has been tremendous; there are now more than 4,000 registered longboard shops at the
site. This magazine aims to be an extension of the site. But we wanted to
give you a little more insight into Rick and share with our readership
some of his knowledge.
Since most readers are familiar with my work with Concrete Wave magazine, I wanted to give you some background on Rick. Ours is a unique
partnership, and we are both very strongly committed to the success of
longboarding via print and pixels.
Rick rode for the Sims Canadian Team back in the day.
Photo: Mark Gilmore
Opposite page:
Interview for a piece on helmet safety at CalStreets.
4 6
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
R
ick started skateboarding in 1975. Back
in the late ’70s, he opened up a very successful skate shop in Vancouver called
CalStreets.
“A number of years ago, I hurt my back and
my doctor forbade me from skateboarding,” says
Rick. “But I had a friend, Pat Montgomery, who
had a longboard, and that’s what drew me back
into skateboarding.”
After Rick hurt his back, he had the opportunity to learn about Web programming and design.
“With my first company, WebLab, I designed
security protocols and put together camera arrays to help [reduce] shrinkage at various retail
shops. I had learned about shoplifting when I ran
my own shop. I knew how kids did it.”
Rick also created a website, calstreets.com,
that received an enormous amount of traffic for
something fairly unusual – scanned advertisements from old skateboard magazines. The site
has become extremely successful; people spend
hours looking at the old ads.
“There is something about the history of skateboarding that just draws them in,” Rick says.
But something else was also drawing folks to the
site, and it has tremendous implications for shops.
“When I created calstreets.com, I didn’t use
HTML,” Rick says. “The whole site is databasedriven. Every skateboard name from the past 30
years is on my site. Everything is meta/alttagged, including videos and photos. So when I
launched, Google just ate it up. This gets calstreets.com ranked high in the search engines.
When it comes to helping shops gain some
traction on the Web, Rick is adamant that they
don’t keep only to third-party sites.
“Some skate shops and companies only have a
Facebook page,” he says. “This is not a huge confidence builder. They need to plan properly –
have their own dedicated server, their own website, just in case something goes wrong.”
Rick is also skeptical about the use of Gmail
for a shop’s email address.
“I don’t want a third party having access to
my information,” he says. “It too is not a huge
confidence builder.”
What does impress Rick is how a website
like Daddies Board Shop integrates reviews
into the product offering.
“Their cart allows easy upselling of products,” he says. “They also concentrate on
product description and info. You simply click
the product you’re interested in, and up pops a
comprehensive review – simple and yet extremely valuable.”
As a former retailer, Rick is deeply concerned about the fate of the current crop of
shops that are strictly bricks and mortar. He
says shops that fail to embrace digital are
taking a huge risk. “They must work towards
having an-online presence,” he says.
Rick feels there are a number of other
things that skate retailers can learn from other
successful online shops, citing the example of
ncix.com, which sells a wide variety of computer products.
they either point us to another store or just say,
‘I don’t know.’”
Rick acknowledges that a number of shops
sell lots of longboards without a huge amount
of product knowledge, but says a day of reckoning is coming soon.
“There is a bit of a disconnect between the
retailer and many longboard consumers who
have little patience for weak product knowledge and limited brand selection,” he says. “A
lot of skate shops made decent money selling
street skateboards for years and years. Longboarding started to gain a following, and a
number of shop owners were puzzled. They
were out of their comfort zone and still refuse
to adapt to what is happening. The shops who
ignore longboarding do so at their own risk.”
Rick has seen what happens when a category gets hot.
“I remember when BMX suddenly became
FIVE IDEAS
THAT WILL
IMPROVE YOUR
LONGBOARD
BUSINESS
RUN CLINICS
ON LONGBOARDING
• Hold intro classes for all who wish to attend.
• Make them weekly or monthly, but be consistent.
• Teach people how to skate safe, maintain their
longboard and learn advanced riding techniques.
• Target different clinics to beginners, intermediates and advanced riders.
• As you get more comfortable and word spreads,
offer private instruction.
RENT OUT
YOUR LONGBOARDS
• A great way for folks who might want to ride,
but are without their board.
• A great way to for people to try before they buy.
• Make sure the rider signs a waiver, and secure
the transaction with a credit card. Keep a piece
of ID, too.
BUILD A WALL OF WHEELS
“They have these crazy ‘Blue Light Specials’ promotions that they’ll do at 3:30 a.m.,”
he says. “People flock to the site for an item
that is 85% off and then wind up purchasing
other things.”
Website translation is another key thing
that Rick has zeroed in on.
“It’s more than just getting a plug-in for
translation,” he says. “The power to draw more
overseas visitors comes from getting Google’s
international sites to find you. This can be
tricky, but it is worth pursuing.”
Rick wouldn’t disclose how he works with
Google translation, but if you’re interested, you
can contact him at [email protected].
The one key element that runs throughout
this magazine and on the website is education.
Rick says he has seen firsthand what happens
when the folks behind the counter are out of
their depth.
“My team and I at AXS have gone out to
visit a number of action sports shops. When
we ask detailed questions about longboards,
popular in the early 1980s and skateboarding
took a dive,” he says. “Thankfully, I had BMX
product in my skate shop, but that was only because I kept my finger on the pulse of what
customers wanted.”
Shops and longboard companies are encouraged to add their information to the
database at axsgear.com. There is no charge to
do this. If desired, listings can be upgraded for
a nominal fee. The site also features a wide variety of news from the longboard community.
Like Rick, I truly believe this is just the beginning. For the past 15 or so years, longboarding
has grown organically, winding its way through
the consciousness of many different demographics. What started within the surf
community slowly became absorbed by college
kids. Things started to heat up with the advent of
sliding and freeriding, and now we have 8-yearolds bombing hills and wearing full-face helmets.
AXS is here to inspire, to educate and to ensure
that the spirit of longboarding continues for
many decades to come. AXS
• A simple but extremely effective way of showcasing the multitudes of wheels on the market.
• Customers LOVE to touch the merchandise,
and this way, they can actually spin the wheels,
squeeze the urethane and compare and contrast
different wheels.
• Have short explanations next to each wheel
(size, durometer, intended use, etc.).
• It makes a huge statement when you walk into
a shop and see a wall of wheels – it screams,
“We are focused!”
USE SOFTRUCKS™
ON YOUR DEMO DECKS
• Customers love to take boards and ride them,
but this can cause chaos in the store.
• Mounting a set of Softrucks™ on your bestselling decks or the ones you wish to promote
allows folks to stand, lean and bounce on the
deck without rolling.
• Softrucks™ are available via garagemfg.com.
PUT EXPLANATORY NOTES
ON ALL DECKS
• Categories include: Beginner-entry level/sliding/
downhill/long-distance/carving/slalom.
• Helps customers make sense of the many different deck styles and types.
• Categorizing your product helps consumers be
informed, and when they are better informed,
they make the right purchasing decisions.
WINTER 2011 | AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER
4 7
4 8
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
BOOK
SHELF
BRANDWASHED
THE FOUR
KINDS OF
SALES PEOPLE
By Martin Lindstrom
OVERVIEW
Martin Lindstrom gets into
people's heads — literally — to
find out what they feel about
certain brands and why they
make specific buying decisions: He conducts
fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)
studies that show how the brain “lights up” when
exposed to certain brands. He gets heavily involved with neuroscience to examine how
consumers become addicted to their possessions.
He even conducts a multimillion-dollar experiment on word-of-mouth marketing. What does
this all add up to? Well, for one thing, I was
stunned by some of the revelations that Lindstrom
presents. Marketers are doing some amazing
things to trigger our subconscious. There are
some truly frightening insights about how companies use personal data to target their customers.
WHY READ IT?
Of all the information that Lindstrom presents,
the chapter on word-of-mouth marketing will
resonate the most with action sports retailers. We
all know that word of mouth is incredibly persuasive, but Lindstrom explains in exquisite detail
just how effective it can be. While most shops
can’t afford the ridiculous marketing budgets of
the chain stores or Fortune 500 companies, they
can definitely modify some of Lindstrom’s concepts and ideas; it’s just a matter of scaling them
to size. This book is about the psychology of desire and how our emotions play a huge role in our
purchase decisions. If you’re in the business of retail, I am quite confident it will give you at least
half a dozen excellent ideas on how to sell more
product. That’s well worth the $25 investment.
WE ARE
ALL WEIRD
By Seth Godin
By Chuck Mache
OVERVIEW
This gem of a book was published more than four years
ago, but that shouldn’t stop you from picking it
up. Mache presents this timeless information in a
very different way than most business books. He
uses a story to expose the traits and characteristics of four types of salespeople: Parker the
Performer, Paula the Professional, Craig the
Caretaker and Sarah the Searcher. This book explains how and why salespeople excel — or don’t.
It provides a clear and precise description of how
each type goes about selling, exposes their
strengths and weaknesses and provides expert insight on what each type of salesperson requires
to achieve next-level success.
WHY READ IT?
We all recognize it’s important to hire the right
people for the job. But when it comes to hiring
sales staff, it’s vital that you hire correctly, because if sales aren’t happening, you’re in big
trouble. This book can be the catalyst to motivating your top salespeople to become even
stronger, and it can offer piercing yet thoughtful
insights to those who may not really be cut out
for a career in sales. A great tool for separating
the wheat from the chaff without burning up
the farm.
OVERVIEW
I am big fan of Seth Godin. In
fact, I own most of the books
he’s written and always come
away with a few good ideas. If you’ve never read his
work, I recommend you start with The Purple Cow.
We Are All Weird combines some of his greatest
ideas from Tribes, The Purple Cow and Linchpin.
This book is a manifesto about creating something
remarkable that competes with the “middle-of-theroad normal.” He pleads with readers to embrace
the fringe: “If you persist in trying to be all things
to all people, you will fail. The alternative, then, is
to be something important to a few people.” Specialty retailers are living, breathing examples of
being on the cutting edge. They offer unique products and support to their customers. The question
is how you continually move things forward in this
age of aggressive competition.
WHY READ IT?
Although this book is slim, clocking in at just under
100 pages, it delivers some thought-provoking
ideas. However, it’s not simply another manifesto
on “niche” marketing. It’s about embracing your
passion and doing productive and useful work for
the tribe that cares about you. Finding, cultivating,
organizing and leading this tribe and embracing
their weirdness can be a challenge, but, Godin says,
the rewards are truly wonderful. AXS
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER
NEXT ISSUE – Arrives Early Spring 2012
• Satisfying Gear Heads • Brooklyn’s Longboard Loft •
More on Bearings
MARKETING WEBSITES WORTH CHECKING OUT
ries.typepad.com
adcontrarian.blogspot.com
Laura Ries has some terrific insights on the power of focus and branding.
While the pace of her posts has slowed somewhat, there is enough information to keep you thinking for days. Here are just two examples:
For a dose of marketing reality, you can do no better than to jump over to this
site, written by Bob Hoffman. He’s an advertising guru with decades of experience in the business. Hoffman revels in calling BS on a lot of what we are
told is correct about social media, marketing and advertising. You might not
always agree with him, but you’ll be fascinated by his insights.
Google is a monster today. And like most monsters, it thinks it is invincible and not subject to the laws of marketing. But nothing could be
further than the truth. Google should study history. They don’t want to be
the AOL or Yahoo of tomorrow. Google needs to surround its strong search
brand with other brands and other brand names that dominate new
emerging categories. Toyota did that with Lexus, Prius and Scion. Google
that Google.
Broad ideas like confidence and quality aren’t specific enough to be ownable. And even if you want own something like “great customer service,”
you don’t do it with a “we love our customers Facebook page.” You do it
with a specific and tangible concept like: “Free shipping. Both ways.” The
concept that put Zappos in the mind and gave Tony Hsieh something to
tweet about.
5 0
AXS LONGBOARD RETAILER | WINTER 2011
Top-down branding works in a few categories – fashion, booze, cigarets and some
luxury goods. Account planners, marketing coordinators and others with limited vision think that because these are heavily advertised categories this is how
advertising works in general.
In fact, about 95% of the stuff we buy is not fashion, booze, cigarets or luxury
goods. It’s mayonnaise and toothbrushes and shower curtains and socks.
If you are not in the business of selling fashion, booze, cigarets or luxury goods,
you would be wise to forget about “brand” advertising and focus your ad dollars
on differentiating your products. The strongest brands are built “bottom-up” – by
outstanding product advertising. As we always say around Ad Contrarian headquarters, we don’t get them to try our product by convincing them to love our
brand. We get them to love our brand by convincing them to try our product.