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Skateboarding => Skate Questions => Topic started by: satanmilk on May 25, 2023, 09:25:27 AM
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Sorry im new here, for educational paper purpose... i was trying to find the first anti-blank deck campaign from dwindle??? Anyone could help me please???
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Sorry im new here, for educational paper purpose... i was trying to find the first anti-blank deck campaign from dwindle??? Anyone could help me please???
I don’t know if it was Dwindle but Tod Swank and the IASC had a lot of anti blank campaigns. Try googling International Association of Skateboard Companies. There was always anti blank stuff from them in the old Transworld Business mags. I think Jamie Thomas was pretty involved too…
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The Skateboard Mag was also involved. Blitz did a whole "a world without pros" website. The whole iasc felt very anti-skateshop, anti-local scene, and anti-skateboarder at the time
https://web.archive.org/web/20070221221801/http://www.aworldwithoutceos.com/wholesite.jpg
(https://i.ibb.co/nmZ9xFp/dwindle.webp)
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The Skateboard Mag was also involved. Blitz did a whole "a world without pros" website. The whole iasc felt very anti-skateshop, anti-local scene, and anti-skateboarder at the time
https://web.archive.org/web/20070221221801/http://www.aworldwithoutceos.com/wholesite.jpg
(https://i.ibb.co/nmZ9xFp/dwindle.webp)
You should look up the Transworld Business article "Under Fire A Special Report on the Skate Hardgoods Market". In addition to the Blitz and Dwindle campaign, the archived site above was a response by Slap's Grimcity.
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That shit aged like milk
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Man blanks were all i could afford growing up haha. I never even remember this campaign happening but I was definitely a kid skating blank decks or hand-me-downs at the time so it's kinda pissed me off... Fuck dwindle
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The Skateboard Mag was also involved. Blitz did a whole "a world without pros" website. The whole iasc felt very anti-skateshop, anti-local scene, and anti-skateboarder at the time
https://web.archive.org/web/20070221221801/http://www.aworldwithoutceos.com/wholesite.jpg
(https://i.ibb.co/nmZ9xFp/dwindle.webp)
You should look up the Transworld Business article "Under Fire A Special Report on the Skate Hardgoods Market". In addition to the Blitz and Dwindle campaign, the archived site above was a response by Slap's Grimcity.
COMMUNIST CHINA
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Funny, more than a few distributors carry DSM blanks....
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The Skateboard Mag was also involved. Blitz did a whole "a world without pros" website. The whole iasc felt very anti-skateshop, anti-local scene, and anti-skateboarder at the time
https://web.archive.org/web/20070221221801/http://www.aworldwithoutceos.com/wholesite.jpg
(https://i.ibb.co/nmZ9xFp/dwindle.webp)
You should look up the Transworld Business article "Under Fire A Special Report on the Skate Hardgoods Market". In addition to the Blitz and Dwindle campaign, the archived site above was a response by Slap's Grimcity.
COMMUNIST CHINA
Totally unrelated, but I remember being super bummed after reading in a Corey Duffel interview that he hated communists. I thought he totally had to be a hard-hitting leftist (of which I wanted to be one), given how he was such a punk rocker and all that. I must've been 13 or so, around '02/'03. Oh, to be young and innocent again...
I remember feeling vaguely bad about skating blanks too. I was aware of the whole "blanks will kill skateboarding" sentiment, but I definitely wasn't old/educated enough yet to grasp any of it clearly. So I just kept getting blank boards and felt unnecessarily bad about myself.
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Totally forgot about this till I saw that shitty ad full of fear mongering, projection and strawmen
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The Skateboard Mag was also involved. Blitz did a whole "a world without pros" website. The whole iasc felt very anti-skateshop, anti-local scene, and anti-skateboarder at the time
https://web.archive.org/web/20070221221801/http://www.aworldwithoutceos.com/wholesite.jpg
(https://i.ibb.co/nmZ9xFp/dwindle.webp)
You should look up the Transworld Business article "Under Fire A Special Report on the Skate Hardgoods Market". In addition to the Blitz and Dwindle campaign, the archived site above was a response by Slap's Grimcity.
COMMUNIST CHINA
Totally unrelated, but I remember being super bummed after reading in a Corey Duffel interview that he hated communists. I thought he totally had to be a hard-hitting leftist (of which I wanted to be one), given how he was such a punk rocker and all that. I must've been 13 or so, around '02/'03. Oh, to be young and innocent again...
I remember feeling vaguely bad about skating blanks too. I was aware of the whole "blanks will kill skateboarding" sentiment, but I definitely wasn't old/educated enough yet to grasp any of it clearly. So I just kept getting blank boards and felt unnecessarily bad about myself.
Not sure how old Corey was at that point but in this 10 year old ccs interview he says he believes in socialism...
https://youtu.be/emGZ5XQk42I
He's so corny haha
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Never heard of this but skateboarding doesn’t need graphics or pros, businesses do.
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The Skateboard Mag was also involved. Blitz did a whole "a world without pros" website. The whole iasc felt very anti-skateshop, anti-local scene, and anti-skateboarder at the time
https://web.archive.org/web/20070221221801/http://www.aworldwithoutceos.com/wholesite.jpg
(https://i.ibb.co/nmZ9xFp/dwindle.webp)
You should look up the Transworld Business article "Under Fire A Special Report on the Skate Hardgoods Market". In addition to the Blitz and Dwindle campaign, the archived site above was a response by Slap's Grimcity.
Like the blitz distribution?
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Awe fuck, I barely remember this.
But you know who made blanks look cool?
FUCKING PROS!
So many older skate videos had pros riding blanks. Or you see and add with a pro on a blank with a sticker and the minimalism of it, looked cool. Also, I remember there was a rumor that pros rode better boards than what was sold in stores, that’s why they didn’t have graphics on them.
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Awe fuck, I barely remember this.
But you know who made blanks look cool?
FUCKING PROS!
So many older skate videos had pros riding blanks. Or you see and add with a pro on a blank with a sticker and the minimalism of it, looked cool. Also, I remember there was a rumor that pros rode better boards than what was sold in stores, that’s why they didn’t have graphics on them.
It wasn’t really a rumor. Some people have custom boards/shapes made for them, and sometimes pros ride boards made specifically for them from a different woodshop. The first few that I personally skated were some boards Blind made Corey Sheppard around 2004. His boards were made for him on BBS/Bareback decks instead of DSM/whatever they were called back then
The best part of that ad was Dwindle insinuating that Chinese made blank boards were inferior while having the absolute worst dogshit Chinese made boards at the time. DSM might hold up now, but they had a hard reputation to shake in regards to quality
@satanmilk yup. Blitz Dist. Per Welinder had to walk that one back pretty hard after just a couples of weeks. The backlash was pretty intense with a lot of it originating on slap. There are some long dead threads on here that you can search for that will give you a pretty clear picture about how out of touch a big part of the skateboard industry was at the time
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Also this wasn’t just anti blank boards, but anti shop board as well.
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blanks are dope. i remember hearing a rumour (i was very young) that kareem would sand his off his graphics because they were too heavy. lol
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Also this wasn’t just anti blank boards, but anti shop board as well.
This is where I remember people not giving a shit. At first it made sense because it seemed like it was anti random bundle of boards off eBay which you'd see a lot of at the time but then when it's like hey don't buy that slightly cheaper board from the actual skateshop while most companies themselves had logo boards and even price points that were basically their own blanks anyway the argument fell a part a bit
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Oh boy. Way back. The chief was such a kook about this.
Grim did a great job w that site too.
Now we got people hording $18 element decks lol
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fuck your 80$ decks
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I know this happened a long time ago but this is inspiring... To buy more blanks and shop decks :P
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Whose got the plug on generator blanks or any other good blanks people recommend?
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Couldn't find the original pdf online. Click the link under the image (standard HTML doesn't work here so I couldn't figure out how to embed the link from the image).
(https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1MbvhyqDMEl5fUZIvEuV_b4ye4j5RdtJl)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uy-olw7LA_3GPYxZJAOFf7QGzt8KtzlH/view?usp=share_link (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uy-olw7LA_3GPYxZJAOFf7QGzt8KtzlH/view?usp=share_link)
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Couldn't find the original pdf online. Click the link under the image (standard HTML doesn't work here so I couldn't figure out how to embed the link from the image).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uy-olw7LA_3GPYxZJAOFf7QGzt8KtzlH/view?usp=share_link (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uy-olw7LA_3GPYxZJAOFf7QGzt8KtzlH/view?usp=share_link)
Great post.
I was on the anti-blank bandwagon, but the anti-shop board irked me to no end. The end of this tries to say that shops could sell a pro board for 55, the shop I worked at in 2002-03 sold pro boards for 40-44 including grip. We made nothing on pro boards. Hell, even today Cowtown sells Zero boards for less than $55.
(https://i.ibb.co/xJh6Ldt/Screen-Shot-2023-05-29-at-9-37-29-PM.png)
Without pros, who would work/live in my warehouse?
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Whose got the plug on generator blanks or any other good blanks people recommend?
I think these are BBS blanks.
https://skatesamples.com/products/blank-deck-premium-2-dye
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The Skateboard Mag was also involved. Blitz did a whole "a world without pros" website. The whole iasc felt very anti-skateshop, anti-local scene, and anti-skateboarder at the time
https://web.archive.org/web/20070221221801/http://www.aworldwithoutceos.com/wholesite.jpg
(https://i.ibb.co/nmZ9xFp/dwindle.webp)
jesus christ that ad is insufferable. I wonder how many people out there started buying blanks just because of that
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only reason to skate blanks are these insane prices
i refuse to spen $80 on a BBS hockey board
i can get the same BBS deck for $25 if i buy a 10 pack in bulk
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only reason to skate blanks are these insane prices
i refuse to spen $80 on a BBS hockey board
i can get the same BBS deck for $25 if i buy a 10 pack in bulk
Where can you get bbs boards in bulk?
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The Skateboard Mag was also involved. Blitz did a whole "a world without pros" website. The whole iasc felt very anti-skateshop, anti-local scene, and anti-skateboarder at the time
https://web.archive.org/web/20070221221801/http://www.aworldwithoutceos.com/wholesite.jpg
(https://i.ibb.co/nmZ9xFp/dwindle.webp)
You should look up the Transworld Business article "Under Fire A Special Report on the Skate Hardgoods Market". In addition to the Blitz and Dwindle campaign, the archived site above was a response by Slap's Grimcity.
COMMUNIST CHINA
Totally unrelated, but I remember being super bummed after reading in a Corey Duffel interview that he hated communists. I thought he totally had to be a hard-hitting leftist (of which I wanted to be one), given how he was such a punk rocker and all that. I must've been 13 or so, around '02/'03. Oh, to be young and innocent again...
I remember feeling vaguely bad about skating blanks too. I was aware of the whole "blanks will kill skateboarding" sentiment, but I definitely wasn't old/educated enough yet to grasp any of it clearly. So I just kept getting blank boards and felt unnecessarily bad about myself.
I would sincerely love to hear the Duffman explain his conception of what comprises a communist economy.
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No shame in a good quality blank when money is tight. I usually buy 5-10 to keep on hand for younger skaters in my community. I either sell at cost or give them away.
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The Skateboard Mag was also involved. Blitz did a whole "a world without pros" website. The whole iasc felt very anti-skateshop, anti-local scene, and anti-skateboarder at the time
https://web.archive.org/web/20070221221801/http://www.aworldwithoutceos.com/wholesite.jpg
(https://i.ibb.co/nmZ9xFp/dwindle.webp)
You should look up the Transworld Business article "Under Fire A Special Report on the Skate Hardgoods Market". In addition to the Blitz and Dwindle campaign, the archived site above was a response by Slap's Grimcity.
COMMUNIST CHINA
Totally unrelated, but I remember being super bummed after reading in a Corey Duffel interview that he hated communists. I thought he totally had to be a hard-hitting leftist (of which I wanted to be one), given how he was such a punk rocker and all that. I must've been 13 or so, around '02/'03. Oh, to be young and innocent again...
I remember feeling vaguely bad about skating blanks too. I was aware of the whole "blanks will kill skateboarding" sentiment, but I definitely wasn't old/educated enough yet to grasp any of it clearly. So I just kept getting blank boards and felt unnecessarily bad about myself.
I would sincerely love to hear the Duffman explain his conception of what comprises a communist economy.
There are already enough skateboard podcasts with god awful content, but this would be a hilarious breath of fresh air....
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The Skateboard Mag was also involved. Blitz did a whole "a world without pros" website. The whole iasc felt very anti-skateshop, anti-local scene, and anti-skateboarder at the time
https://web.archive.org/web/20070221221801/http://www.aworldwithoutceos.com/wholesite.jpg
(https://i.ibb.co/nmZ9xFp/dwindle.webp)
Riding an advertisement is so much more core.
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Couldn't find the original pdf online. Click the link under the image (standard HTML doesn't work here so I couldn't figure out how to embed the link from the image).
(https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1MbvhyqDMEl5fUZIvEuV_b4ye4j5RdtJl)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uy-olw7LA_3GPYxZJAOFf7QGzt8KtzlH/view?usp=share_link (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uy-olw7LA_3GPYxZJAOFf7QGzt8KtzlH/view?usp=share_link)
Thanks for posting this link. I don’t think I have the stomach to read it all, but I skimmed the pull quotes and more, and man does it stink more than horse manure.
They seemed to think the end of actual skateboarding was imminent with the rise of blank board sales. Sheesh.
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Skating a blank right now. Feels right.
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Couldn't find the original pdf online. Click the link under the image (standard HTML doesn't work here so I couldn't figure out how to embed the link from the image).
(https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1MbvhyqDMEl5fUZIvEuV_b4ye4j5RdtJl)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uy-olw7LA_3GPYxZJAOFf7QGzt8KtzlH/view?usp=share_link (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uy-olw7LA_3GPYxZJAOFf7QGzt8KtzlH/view?usp=share_link)
Thanks for posting this link. I don’t think I have the stomach to read it all, but I skimmed the pull quotes and more, and man does it stink more than horse manure.
They seemed to think the end of actual skateboarding was imminent with the rise of blank board sales. Sheesh.
They're mostly all saying the same thing out of the IASC playbook. You should read Per Wellinder's response though. He has a specific beef with regional and "private label" brands (I'm assuming he means small scale board brands in general). I'm glad this kook is pretty much done with the industry.
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Someone, please post the best place to buy blanks in bulk.
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Someone, please post the best place to buy blanks in bulk.
Skatesamples.com they're from generator, but I don't know how legit, and it's like $20 shipping.
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it would be really funny if a company (Jacuzzi?) ran a spoof of that ad
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Powell SST treated decks..love em'. Spring 1996 was the first time Powell Skateboards (pre-cursor to Skate One) offered "blank" product and planted the seed for Mini Logo to be born...
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The Skateboard Mag was also involved. Blitz did a whole "a world without pros" website. The whole iasc felt very anti-skateshop, anti-local scene, and anti-skateboarder at the time
https://web.archive.org/web/20070221221801/http://www.aworldwithoutceos.com/wholesite.jpg
(https://i.ibb.co/nmZ9xFp/dwindle.webp)
You should look up the Transworld Business article "Under Fire A Special Report on the Skate Hardgoods Market". In addition to the Blitz and Dwindle campaign, the archived site above was a response by Slap's Grimcity.
COMMUNIST CHINA
Totally unrelated, but I remember being super bummed after reading in a Corey Duffel interview that he hated communists. I thought he totally had to be a hard-hitting leftist (of which I wanted to be one), given how he was such a punk rocker and all that. I must've been 13 or so, around '02/'03. Oh, to be young and innocent again...
I remember feeling vaguely bad about skating blanks too. I was aware of the whole "blanks will kill skateboarding" sentiment, but I definitely wasn't old/educated enough yet to grasp any of it clearly. So I just kept getting blank boards and felt unnecessarily bad about myself.
I’m not a huge Duffell fan or anything but you really can’t judge someone based on skateboard interviews they did as a teenager. He probably didn’t even know what communism was at that point. If I had been interviewed by thrasher as a teenager I would be trying to scrub that from existence.
But yeah Dwindle is kooky as hell for that anti blank campaign.
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Someone, please post the best place to buy blanks in bulk.
i got the 10 pack (it comes out to $25 per board once you add shipping, so it was $250 total for me)
the boards are legit and good quality qood, top and bottom plys are stained
it might just be me, but they felt slightly heavier than the better bbs decks ( from word of mouth, these are apparently the bbs boards they sell for shop decks, so theyre slightly less quality than a standard bbs board youd get. this is consistent to what ive experienced with buying shop decks in the past, so i have no problem with it)
so far ive only skated 1 for the past week (since i just bought them) & ive had no issues
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I’ve been skating them for a few months. No complaints.
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Powell SST treated decks..love em'. Spring 1996 was the first time Powell Skateboards (pre-cursor to Skate One) offered "blank" product and planted the seed for Mini Logo to be born...
my first non-Variflex board was a purple powell blank. might have even been slick. I remember trying to focus that board because i wanted a new one and it just wouldn't break. Probably 1997 or so
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The Skateboard Mag was also involved. Blitz did a whole "a world without pros" website. The whole iasc felt very anti-skateshop, anti-local scene, and anti-skateboarder at the time
https://web.archive.org/web/20070221221801/http://www.aworldwithoutceos.com/wholesite.jpg
(https://i.ibb.co/nmZ9xFp/dwindle.webp)
You should look up the Transworld Business article "Under Fire A Special Report on the Skate Hardgoods Market". In addition to the Blitz and Dwindle campaign, the archived site above was a response by Slap's Grimcity.
COMMUNIST CHINA
Totally unrelated, but I remember being super bummed after reading in a Corey Duffel interview that he hated communists. I thought he totally had to be a hard-hitting leftist (of which I wanted to be one), given how he was such a punk rocker and all that. I must've been 13 or so, around '02/'03. Oh, to be young and innocent again...
I remember feeling vaguely bad about skating blanks too. I was aware of the whole "blanks will kill skateboarding" sentiment, but I definitely wasn't old/educated enough yet to grasp any of it clearly. So I just kept getting blank boards and felt unnecessarily bad about myself.
I’m not a huge Duffell fan or anything but you really can’t judge someone based on skateboard interviews they did as a teenager. He probably didn’t even know what communism was at that point. If I had been interviewed by thrasher as a teenager I would be trying to scrub that from existence.
But yeah Dwindle is kooky as hell for that anti blank campaign.
And then they came with
(https://i.imgur.com/vBwqjI4.jpg)
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That’s the only good thing about enjoi from the last two years. Good boards no shitty graphics
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The Skateboard Mag was also involved. Blitz did a whole "a world without pros" website. The whole iasc felt very anti-skateshop, anti-local scene, and anti-skateboarder at the time
https://web.archive.org/web/20070221221801/http://www.aworldwithoutceos.com/wholesite.jpg
(https://i.ibb.co/nmZ9xFp/dwindle.webp)
You should look up the Transworld Business article "Under Fire A Special Report on the Skate Hardgoods Market". In addition to the Blitz and Dwindle campaign, the archived site above was a response by Slap's Grimcity.
COMMUNIST CHINA
Totally unrelated, but I remember being super bummed after reading in a Corey Duffel interview that he hated communists. I thought he totally had to be a hard-hitting leftist (of which I wanted to be one), given how he was such a punk rocker and all that. I must've been 13 or so, around '02/'03. Oh, to be young and innocent again...
I remember feeling vaguely bad about skating blanks too. I was aware of the whole "blanks will kill skateboarding" sentiment, but I definitely wasn't old/educated enough yet to grasp any of it clearly. So I just kept getting blank boards and felt unnecessarily bad about myself.
I would sincerely love to hear the Duffman explain his conception of what comprises a communist economy.
There are already enough skateboard podcasts with god awful content, but this would be a hilarious breath of fresh air....
Skateboarders are renowned experts on political theory, history and geopolitics. Not sure what y’all mean
I was really into $30 Pennswood blanks last year. Now that they’re less available I’m more choosey.
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Consolidated. ABD
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Someone, please post the best place to buy blanks in bulk.
i got the 10 pack (it comes out to $25 per board once you add shipping, so it was $250 total for me)
the boards are legit and good quality qood, top and bottom plys are stained
it might just be me, but they felt slightly heavier than the better bbs decks ( from word of mouth, these are apparently the bbs boards they sell for shop decks, so theyre slightly less quality than a standard bbs board youd get. this is consistent to what ive experienced with buying shop decks in the past, so i have no problem with it)
so far ive only skated 1 for the past week (since i just bought them) & ive had no issues
I’ve been skating them for a few months. No complaints.
I had been curious about those boards, but I hadn't actually heard of anyone with them, so thanks to both of you.
Of course, being BBS (Generator) they are boards I am familiar with and have had a number of local shop boards on the same wood, as with some other brands that use it, so didn't doubt the quality.
Some of the lesser pro brands or blank boards from BBS I have had recently seem to have a fair bit more concave than usual, not a worry, but definitely more than the usual DLX or some other brands have had in the past.
In light of all the pro brand price rises, along with an excess of wood right now, these seem a very decent option for those who can afford to stock up and get ten or more at a time.
When I first looked at the site, everything cost too much to ship to Australia (with shipping costs doubling the price for me), but for those in USA or not too far to ship within reason, it would make sense.
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The anti-blank campaign reeks of a corporate move to shit on blanks. They complain that without skateboard companies, skateboarding will die. THEIR board sales are down, but skateboarding as a whole is not dying as evidenced by the growth in blank sales.
It’s obvious the companies in the article are going the way of record labels. Skaters who have a lot of good content on social media gain followers because of the skating, not the skateboard. The companies are hanging onto pros to have some kind of foothold in the industry that no longer needs them.
Go to ImportYeti.com and you can see that DLX, Dwindle, NHS, Supra, etc all get their shipments from the same groups of Chinese woodshops.
Go look on Alibaba and you will see Chinese companies selling skateboards direct to small companies around the world. You don’t need to go through a distribution company to get the boards you can get blank from the same kind of companies the big boys get their boards from. In fact, many of the companies show purchases of heat press machines. Which makes me believe that they too are buying blanks and just printing them when they get to the US.
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The anti-blank campaign reeks of a corporate move to shit on blanks. They complain that without skateboard companies, skateboarding will die. THEIR board sales are down, but skateboarding as a whole is not dying as evidenced by the growth in blank sales.
It’s obvious the companies in the article are going the way of record labels. Skaters who have a lot of good content on social media gain followers because of the skating, not the skateboard. The companies are hanging onto pros to have some kind of foothold in the industry that no longer needs them.
Go to ImportYeti.com and you can see that DLX, Dwindle, NHS, Supra, etc all get their shipments from the same groups of Chinese woodshops.
Go look on Alibaba and you will see Chinese companies selling skateboards direct to small companies around the world. You don’t need to go through a distribution company to get the boards you can get blank from the same kind of companies the big boys get their boards from. In fact, many of the companies show purchases of heat press machines. Which makes me believe that they too are buying blanks and just printing them when they get to the US.
Not disagreeing with you, but you might want to check out the Woodshop thread, just as a reference to where boards come from for various companies, because it is definitely not as simple as you might think, or how it comes across from your post.
https://www.slapmagazine.com/index.php?topic=120409.0
Also the shipments you might be referring to are most likely for the budget completes, which in itself is nothing new, but yes there is an increased trend to get cheaper budget / beginner boards produced in some woodshops in China for the lesser quality type setups and the pro boards from other woodshops, as per the list.
Also there are a significant number of smaller to mid range brands or distributors (who do a number of brands) that do have heat transfer machines which do put whatever graphics on "in house" according to what is needed, which means they are somewhat more versatile than everything being done at the original woodshop (be it Mexico, China or elsewhere), from deck production, graphics, shrink wrapping with sticker, etc and then shipped to the brand distribution warehouse as per pretty much all the major top brands in the industry. Again their wood can come from any number, usually the larger woodshops, be it BBS, PS Stix, Clutch, or others in China.
The woodshops in Mexico and China are the most common suppliers of boards, but there are still woodshops in USA and other places too, including HLC in Spain that does a number of brands with global distribution. Most of these woodshops are also now doing blanks in a "straight to consumer" method or through a representative company / website, as per the boards from https://skatesamples.com/
As to Alibaba and similar sources, there are a significant number of counterfeit products on the market of which people do dabble from time to time, including some shops, but they are different boards, different concave and easy to spot if you know what you are looking for. There was a separate thread on counterfeit product too.
Personal opinion aside, I have tried to collect as much information with regard to woodshops and associated things, to help with general knowledge and information on here, so although I have no direct affiliation with any skateboard company, brand or distributor, I have worked in and around skate shops for twenty plus years and I can definitely understand the frustration with the big brands / distributors and see your view on things like that as well, whatever that may be.
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I understand it can be easy to make generalizations from shipping data, and I know some companies outsource their completes to China while selling decks from Mexico, but if you look at the information publicly available, it shows what is in the shipping containers.
There is a differentiation between products labeled and coded as skateboard wood/decks vs skateboard completes. These companies are buying large amounts of decks from China at the same places during the same time periods.
I’m not saying there is anything wrong with Chinese made boards, I’m simply commenting on how these big companies move in lockstep with one another on sourcing their products from the same places.
I’m also saying we should use the shipping info to help us better understand exactly where the boards are coming from at any given point in time. Like for example instead of putting Dwindle or BBS, we can take note that in July 2023 certain companies got product from HK Evergreen or Jeeping or Chop Chop etc.
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I understand it can be easy to make generalizations from shipping data, and I know some companies outsource their completes to China while selling decks from Mexico, but if you look at the information publicly available, it shows what is in the shipping containers.
There is a differentiation between products labeled and coded as skateboard wood/decks vs skateboard completes. These companies are buying large amounts of decks from China at the same places during the same time periods.
I’m not saying there is anything wrong with Chinese made boards, I’m simply commenting on how these big companies move in lockstep with one another on sourcing their products from the same places.
I’m also saying we should use the shipping info to help us better understand exactly where the boards are coming from at any given point in time. Like for example instead of putting Dwindle or BBS, we can take note that in July 2023 certain companies got product from HK Evergreen or Jeeping or Chop Chop etc.
Excel is maybe the one that comes to mind as well, even though there is not a lot out there on them, but they make decks for a lot of pro quality brands, as well as completes too - had boxes with their info on come in from a few places that I have seen.
To be fair, Dwindle has been sourcing wood from only China for a long time now. NHS has been only China for a bit, what is it a few years now even. DLX has still been all BBS for a long time, but as per that other thread re latest drop coming in early 2024 from their new woodshop in China, they will also soon be there. As to some other big and definitely other smaller operations, many are getting wood from China, even though they don't want to admit it publicly - as you said, not a worry to me if you get it from China, but being a little more transparent about it wouldn't hurt either.
I know I have said before, when someone says in response to the question "Where does your product come from?" with "Our boards come from the same place that all the big brands" and cleary there are more than a few places, but also I can look at and stand on a board and give a fair assessment of where it was from, or more precisely where it was NOT from, so that kind of shoots down their statement and like other people have said, it makes some people more wary of that brand, or not want to buy it now, regardless of how good the product actually is.
Being very biased in my personal view of what I prefer to ride in terms of woodshop doesn't come into it at all, where these discussions are concerned, but I also don't think any broad statements with regard to any single woodshop can really be valid either. People are entitled to their opinion and that is fine too, but it can get a bit awkward at a shop, skatepark or even in online forums when someone starts claiming all wood from this place is rubbish and all wood from this other place is great - seen boards from every single woodshop in pieces or delam as well as others that seem like they would last til the end of time.
A more funny one is when people say all wood from brand X is rubbish and all wood from brand Y or Z is better, especially if they have come from the same woodshop, which I have seen before. I just smile and nod or keep silent, so that is quite ok too.
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In regards to the stuff I said about Alibaba and you mentioned counterfeits, I agree. But there are companies on Alibaba who sell to the big board companies.
The shipping data shows Tum Yeto gets tons of skateboard decks plus skateboard completes from Huizhou Woodsen Sports.
Huizhou Woodsen is one of the top deck sellers on Alibaba. Their MOQ is only 2-50 decks based on product. Their blank decks and factory look pretty impressive in their videos.
If I was Tum Yeto I would be pissed off that the factory I’m using is selling blank decks in bulk. This is where the anti-blank animosity comes from.
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Pro's are ok.
In a perfect world I'd get nothing but Coakley and Brandi bloards because those are my guys. ...but I can't help but buy shop bloards.
In my world the most important thing to support is your local.
I think they both might be on shop anyway
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The anti-blank campaign reeks of a corporate move to shit on blanks. They complain that without skateboard companies, skateboarding will die. THEIR board sales are down, but skateboarding as a whole is not dying as evidenced by the growth in blank sales.
Just to be clear, that IASC/Transworld Business piece is from ~2006/7. A completely different world. This whole thing was one of the biggest slap controversies of all time, and if I’m not mistaken is what lead to Jamie Thomas starting his ISUCK account and then eventually running banner ads here.
Also, there was the hilarious boondoggle of, I think, TWS running some article about a bunch of pros from various companies meeting randomly for a sesh as the LA river, and then two months later The Skateboarding Mag running an IASC sponsored article about that same session and copy about how blanks were ruining the industry and imperiling the livelihoods of all the pros at the session.
This was riiight before the Great Recession hit, and the IASC’s message was so poorly received that I assumed they disbanded. Are they still around?
Edit: one second of research shows that their website is gone, and they were the force behind Go Skateboarding Day. Interesting.
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In regards to the stuff I said about Alibaba and you mentioned counterfeits, I agree. But there are companies on Alibaba who sell to the big board companies.
The shipping data shows Tum Yeto gets tons of skateboard decks plus skateboard completes from Huizhou Woodsen Sports.
Huizhou Woodsen is one of the top deck sellers on Alibaba. Their MOQ is only 2-50 decks based on product. Their blank decks and factory look pretty impressive in their videos.
If I was Tum Yeto I would be pissed off that the factory I’m using is selling blank decks in bulk. This is where the anti-blank animosity comes from.
Is that these guys?
Woodsen
China
http://www.woodsenskateboard.com/
https://www.instagram.com/woodsen.skateboard.factory/
Without being too biased, those generic Toy graphic boards shapes and concave are nothing I would write home about and people I know who got one were not impressed with the quality of the product. The mall stores that stock them have them at just under pro wood prices but they are more budget wood quality. Best giving it to a kid who at least can enjoy a skateboard without needing to get too deep in all the ins and outs.
Either way, yes they do have a presence and look like they produce a lot of boards.
As to the brand or company, I think when they go for the cheapest product they can, I don't think they would really be at all worried about others buying the blanks from the same woodshop, as the big company distribution is still much wider and only the small percentage of people who seek out blanks really benefit from it, in the same way that small time hot minute start ups are often around for a minute, then gone the next, during which time a bunch of cheap boards with sub par graphics are often released on to the local scene in an effort for said individual to get his brand out there. Seen way too many of those over the years - good on them for trying, but maybe stick with what you know, but that is another matter, even though it sort of ties in with the theme of this thread.
Never started my own brand, although quite a few people had asked me if I wanted to over the years, but I have skated a lot of blanks (and still do) but it is the quality of the wood that I am after more than anything - shape and concave are everything, graphic (and brand) are second to that, which is why I am so passionate about the woodshop info.
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Go to ImportYeti.com and you can see that DLX, Dwindle, NHS, Supra, etc all get their shipments from the same groups of Chinese woodshops.
* Sorry if it sounds like I am having a bit of a rant. I didn't mean it like that and am always curious and interested in other info too.
So many links from that to find quite a few woodshops and the distributors that receive the boards, maybe more so getting shipments of various brands, not so much for themselves, eg Supra Distribution gets Girl boards, which are made in China.
Even some of the other "unknown suppliers" of grip, wheels, etc that you can work out from their brands are interesting to see as well. Given most things are produced in China or other Asian countries - grip tape from Taiwan - all the links are there to find almost any of the distributors or brands if you know what you are looking for.
Skate brands / Distributors (sample)
https://www.importyeti.com/company/crailtap
https://www.importyeti.com/company/nhs
https://www.importyeti.com/company/baker-boys-distribution
https://www.importyeti.com/company/deluxe-distribution
Woodshops / Manufacturers (sample)
https://www.importyeti.com/supplier/hk-evergreen-tree-trade
https://www.importyeti.com/supplier/huizhou-chop-chop-woodshop
https://www.importyeti.com/supplier/zhongshan-jeeping-wooden-industrial
https://www.importyeti.com/supplier/huizhou-excel-sporting-goods
You could probably go in and out between those links for a fair while, but it just shows some of the industry players, as you said, many similar transactions.
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Pro's are ok.
In a perfect world I'd get nothing but Coakley and Brandi bloards because those are my guys. ...but I can't help but buy shop bloards.
In my world the most important thing to support is your local.
I think they both might be on shop anyway
And in a perfect world all of the Theories brand boards would be BBS like they were pre C*vid and I’d still be only saying Traffic boards.
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I’ve been skating them for a few months. No complaints.
Do you or anyone else on here know the wheelbases/lengths of the popsicles?
I love 9s but the 9x33 is huge. 9x32 like the Baker/Kader would be better.
I think they made both
9x32/14.5wb is sexy as fuck
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I’ve been skating them for a few months. No complaints.
Do you or anyone else on here know the wheelbases/lengths of the popsicles?
I love 9s but the 9x33 is huge. 9x32 like the Baker/Kader would be better.
I think they made both
9x32/14.5wb is sexy as fuck
All the shapes with dimensions are listed here in the Woodshop thread:
https://www.slapmagazine.com/index.php?topic=120409.msg4016120;topicseen#msg4016120
Yes the 9 is the long one, 9 x 33 with 15 wb.
I recall seeing the shorter 9 being used by Black Label more recently, as well as someone posting about a skate shop that had those dimensions, can't remember exactly who though, somewhere around SF or similar place but it could have been someone like Black hole skate shop, but that was from a while ago now.
A few options to try at least.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Clpa-ANJQv9/?img_index=1
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I’ve been skating them for a few months. No complaints.
Do you or anyone else on here know the wheelbases/lengths of the popsicles?
I love 9s but the 9x33 is huge. 9x32 like the Baker/Kader would be better.
I think they made both
9x32/14.5wb is sexy as fuck
All the shapes with dimensions are listed here in the Woodshop thread:
https://www.slapmagazine.com/index.php?topic=120409.msg4016120;topicseen#msg4016120
Yes the 9 is the long one, 9 x 33 with 15 wb.
I recall seeing the shorter 9 being used by Black Label more recently, as well as someone posting about a skate shop that had those dimensions, can't remember exactly who though, somewhere around SF or similar place but it could have been someone like Black hole skate shop, but that was from a while ago now.
A few options to try at least.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Clpa-ANJQv9/?img_index=1
Thanks G
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Just adding on to that:
Might have been Old Skull skate shop as they have BBS boards and someone had one in the setups or big boards thread a while back.
They had the very out there graphic, but it was BBS wood and they still show the 8.75 in stock with 14.5 wb, whether it actually is or not, I don't know.
https://www.oldskullskateboards.com/old-skull-jimbo-skull-two-deck-8-75-assorted-stains/
Any which way, the first page of the Woodshop thread also has a shop boards list too, which I try to keep updated, although I think shops change up their boards more often than big brands do.
https://www.slapmagazine.com/index.php?topic=120409.msg3729105#msg3729105
It still doesn't quite help with the way shorter Baker Kader board shape, which was 9 x 31.8 or so with 14.25 wb on it, which might work for some, but was also difficult to get hold of after that initial run and then seems like very few come up after that, maybe just the OG logo or a T Funk board or two I think.
Compared to the generic board shapes that BBS / Generator has, the big brands are the ones who dictate what comes out in various other shapes and sizes, which means they might be harder to track down or more expensive, but at least it would be worth it for you, rather than riding something that is too big, or just not quite right in whatever standard dimensions there are.
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all, thank you for the infos. im currently (still) writing about my paper/research. sorry for the long log out i forgot my password. OOT, anyone ever have issues (beef) with medias like (@)shredder.news or (@)vasemedia?
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I just can't stand looking at a blank... and stickers don't do the board justice..
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I just can't stand looking at a blank... and stickers don't do the board justice..
idk but blank always has its own simplicity for me. there's bunch of good simple graphics, i know, not to mention there's a lot of artist who makes good board graphic too. but the blank canvas with slide marks satisfies me more.
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I just can't stand looking at a blank... and stickers don't do the board justice..
idk but blank always has its own simplicity for me. there's bunch of good simple graphics, i know, not to mention tera's a lot of artist who makes good board graphic too. but the blank canvas with slide marks satisfies me more.
Au contraire, Mon frere: there is nothing quite like the spectacle of destruction wrought upon a deck with a beautiful graphic on it.
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Awe fuck, I barely remember this.
But you know who made blanks look cool?
FUCKING PROS!
So many older skate videos had pros riding blanks. Or you see and add with a pro on a blank with a sticker and the minimalism of it, looked cool. Also, I remember there was a rumor that pros rode better boards than what was sold in stores, that’s why they didn’t have graphics on them.
Yes, the white tee blank board trend in 93. The world guys used to jack the storage closet. Red tops and yellow only I think.