Gino Iannucci Black Label Guest Re-issue Boards

Nice. Gino turned pro for Black Label long before Chocolate, before 101. Keep an eye out on Gino's Epicly Laterd this fall. Teaser one and two. Black Label is also releasing guest re-issue boards for John Cardiel.

2000 Stuntwood

UPDATED for 2010 here.

Starting around 2004, several manufacturers from the 90's have moved all or some of their production to Mexico and China. This includes Rocco/World (now Dwindle/DSM and World Industries is no longer a part of it), Schmitt (PS Stix), Powell (Skate One) and NHS. Taylor Dykema appears to have auctioned off their equipment in 2006.

There are also plenty of other board manufacturers that weren't prominent in the early 90's: Woodchuck (Canada), Master Core (USA), Cinco Maderas (Mexico), Watson (USA), Chapman (USA), Pennswood (USA), ABC (USA), South Central (USA), and Bareback/Generator, who seems to have picked up where Taylor Dykema left off. It's a bit of a mystery which companies use what wood shop. Some companies even use multiple wood shops. The following I'm sure are correct with corresponding links:

Dwindle (China) - Almost, Blind, Darkstar, Enjoi, Speed Demons.
Watson (USA) - Foundation, Pig, Toy Machine.
NHS (USA/China) - Santa Cruz, Creature.
Master Core (USA) and Cinco Maderas (Mexico) - Zero, Mystery, Slave.
Skate One (USA/China) - Powell, Mini Logo.
Chapman (USA) - Shut, Zoo York.
Bareback/Generator (USA and Mexico) - Creation, Stereo, Western Edition, Rasa Libre, Kitsch.
Woodchuck (Canada) - Premium, Monke.
PS Stix (USA/China and soon Mexico) - Element, Black Label, Alien Workshop, Habitat.
Pennswood (USA) - Traffic.
South Central (USA) - 5boro.
ABC (USA) - Acme, Scarecrow.

I have no web sources for who is pressing for the following companies: Girl, Chocolate, DLX, Baker, Kayo, Think, Birdhouse, Consolidated + others. I do know Girl used to be PS Stix, Chocolate and DLX were Taylor Dykema, but that was back in the 20th Century.


Several other board manufacturers include Service (USA), Third Foot (UK), Homegrown (Canada), Control (Canada), Mimic (USA), Prime (USA), CBSB (China), Natural (USA), Comet (USA). If you are interested in how a board is made, click of some of the above links as many of them include factory tours.

1990's Wood

In the 90's there were basically a handful of North American manufacturers that pressed all skateboards (I'm generalizing some of the names because I didn't know exactly what they were): Rocco/World/Prime, Schmitt/Giant, Taylor Dykema, Powell, Foundation, NHS/Santa Cruz, Vision, Fallahee/Alva. The former three must have had at least 90% of the market. I basically only rode Prime wood during the early 90's but did grow to like Schmitt in the latter part. Besides those two wood manufacturers, I avoided the rest for the most part. None of their shapes or concave felt good under my feet. Some of the Taylor Dykema stuff was okay, I suppose.

There's been a fairly large shake up in the board manufacturing business over the past decade, which I will discuss Friday.

Real Skateboards Kelly Bird

Kelly Birds first board graphic on Real. Super sick. I had this board during the winter season after it came out. Learned so many tricks on it! It still remains the only board I've ever done a big spin back tail on. Thanks again to E at chrome ball incident for the scan. Here are two great interviews with Kelly Bird.

Lee Dupont and his Video Camera

I think a urethane 3-piece ball is more aerodynamic than that camera.

Natas Kaupas

Natas and minigolf. No comment about the pants. He is a street skating pioneer so whatevs. He can do whatever he wants. Thanks to E at chrome ball incident for the scan.

Alien Workshop Visitor

When Alien Workshop first broke off from G&S, I vividly remember two boards at my local shop: the Steve Claar with the bird and this alien graphic. A classic that AWS has revisited over and over. The artist was Mike Hill.

Coach Frank

Brown socks and short shorts. Doesn't get much more stylish than that.

Haslam at the Range

I yanked this pic of Chris Haslam from the Momentum Wheel Japan Tour blog. He should work on straightening out his left arm for mad power.

101 introduction

With the recent flurry of great 101 related posts over at chrome ball incident, I had to make this post. These are the first two 101 boards released; Natas with the Satan graphic and Gabe with the Jesus graphic. Lots of kids in my city were really superstitious about riding either of them. More controversial graphics from the Rocco empire. Just found this video that talks about the Satan graphic and how it was originally intended for Jason Lee. Marc McKee was the artist.

Here's a great interview with Rocco, Rodney and other World employees. Talking about borrowing money from shady sources, the use of the SMA name, George Powell, cease and desist etc. I still haven't seen The Man Who Souled the World (what can I say... I was living in a foreign country for the past year).

shoes.com major sale

Just a reminder of shoes.com's massive Saturday sale tomorrow. Up to 60% off. The coupon codes BTS08 or SHOES15OFF save you an additional 15% on your entire order.

Emerica OG1

For 2009, Emerica is re-releasing the first Marc Johnson pro shoe. Does MJ get royalties from the sales of this one? What about SLB for the Etnies re-release of the 23's?

World Industries Vallely Barn Animals

This Vallely board, along with the New Deal Siamese twin kick, were two of the first functioning street boards to have a nose and tail that were close to being the same. This board basically laid down the ground work for todays popsicle stick board shape and started the decline of the fish tail. If you watch The Man Who Souled the World, Rocco talks about how he got the mold for this board from the Vision double tail board, which was more of a gimmicky thing when it was introduced. Art by Marc McKee.

Sheet Wrapped Graphite Shafts

This is a good video on how sheet wrapped graphite shafts are made. In this particular instance, it's Graphite Designs factory. You get to see some of the quality control measures that they use in the manufacturing process. IMO the hand rolling stage has some potential for human error which can lead to shaft inconsistencies, whereas filament wound graphite is more mechanized and automated. There are pros and cons for each process in terms of shaft consistency, feel, resin content etc. The debate of which process is better will likely continue forever.