Only In America

[Second Division]

Pick up the New Balance Epic TR... They did a collab with Lost Art in Liverpool on a pretty rad shoe (it's not technically made for skating, but they changed the insole, and it looks like it skates pretty good). Made in the UK.

Or the Vans Arc Ad that someone said above...

And that's about it for Made in USA/UK skate shoes.

[Matthew_James]

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Girl is owned by the original 4 owners, Rick, Mike, Megan and Spike. It does use a Chinese factory to make their decks, however the wood comes from Wisconsin where the majority of all US branded deck wood comes from. If you know anything about deck production for US brands, nobody is making decks in large quantities in America.. so its really just whether or not you want to pick mexican manufacturing over Chinese, or vice versa. And lets not joke with each other.. with minimum wage going to $15 an hour, do you really think you are going to be able to buy US made skateboards any time soon?

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If you buy a Chapman board, you're getting a deck that's pressed in the United States.

What does minimum wage have to do with the price of decks? Do you think the people who operate the machinery to make your boards are the same unskilled laborers who take your order at Mc Donald's?

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If minimum wage goes up, so does other wages too. Its not just the bottom of the barrel that rises. Min wages rise, other peoples wages rise to account for the fact that the lowest paid are not making what others were before the raise, and prices raise because companies are shelling out more money and want to make more not less.

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When is the last time you saw deck prices rise? Ive been doing this for over 20 years and they've been $50 the whole time. The companies just gets squeezed more and more. Deck costs rise on the manufacturing side while wholesale/retail stays the same. Now add unscrupulous wood shops who will make decks for anyone.. .and the price point drops even more making it harder and harder for pro skateboarding to exist.

What Whiny Bitch said. Decks have been between $50-60 since time and memorial. People have tried making boards that were more expensive that were allegedly pressed with some sort of superiority, and they didn't sell. Skateboard manufacturers have barely passed the expense onto the board brands to offset the cost, which means it's only gotten more expensive to make boards. This has always been independent of wage adjustments/ inflation/ industry-wide market trends. That's because Skateboarders have stated with their spending money that they simply won't pay anything more for their wood. This wasn't a problem for the wood shops, as they were always able to make up for it with the increase in volume/ production.

So N0ah, lemme clarify what my question was eluding to since I did a shitty job the first go around. I'm basically saying that some of the bigger US based board manufacturers have invested in machinery/ technology to offset the cost of a labor force. It's becoming like any other industry, where they're employing a couple of skilled individuals to develop/ operate these pieces of equipment & they're laying off the unskilled jobs. Raising minimum wage would effect them only if these companies (and their competition) still had a use for unskilled labor, because minimum wage basically only works when alternative employment opportunities for similar jobs are made more attractive because of the wage raises, which means they'd be more inclined to go elsewhere for higher pay. However, in this particular industry since the manu's can't charge more for their product to pay people more, minimum wage increases only work to destroy these positions entirely & replace them with a handful of skilled laborers. And people working those skilled positions get raises to offset inflation annually, while it takes several years for unskilled laborers to get a single pay raise (which actually keeps them behind the rate of inflation). Raising minimum wage is kind of a myth that politicians like to use during election times that doesn't have an impact on anyone who isn't working a shit job.

Girl has their own wood shop, and they've had it back when minimum wage was half of what it is now. It isn't like Palace where they go to a place like DSM and have them screen their graphic onto some DSM wood. They pulled the trigger on that around the turn of the millennium when Crailtap became big enough where the ownership of a wood shop to make more sense than going through Paul Schmidt. Again, that decision had more to do with margins than wages. Going with an Asian manufacturer only makes sense when you're doing massive volume (which most skate brands will never hit). Most of the time, due to trade agreements/ currency valuation/ location, it makes more sense for those companies to do business with a North American Manufacturer. The likelihood of you closing your eyes and picking a deck off the wall that's made in North America at your local US skate shop is far greater than picking a deck made in Asia.

[patrick c.]

The likelihood of you closing your eyes and picking a deck off the wall that's made in Mexico at your local US skate shop is far greater than picking a deck made in Asia.

By the same token the likelihood of randomly picking a deck pressed in the US at most local shops is 0.

[BehindTheLens]

Alex Olson said Girl skateboards are made in China with Chinese wood, any truth to this?

what other companies are cutting corners "to stay competitive?"

I'm trying to buy decks from an American company that isn't owned by angel investment corporations,
that uses wood/work from fellow American companies.

Also, if i wanted to buy skate shoes not made by children working overtime in 3rd world countries, what skate footwear company does that?
Is there even such a company?

Do you have a local shop and have you asked them about there shop decks? Being the buyer for a New England shop I can say the vast majority of phone calls I field from companies trying to get our shop deck business are being pressed in the US (Chapman, Clutch to name a few.) Right now I'll admit we press our shop decks in Mexico but plan on doing some American made boards next.

Edit: I believe I'm wrong and Clutch is also Mexico, but there are plenty of decks you can buy that are made in the USA with a little effort put in.

[Lorn Au Arcos]

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Girl is owned by the original 4 owners, Rick, Mike, Megan and Spike. It does use a Chinese factory to make their decks, however the wood comes from Wisconsin where the majority of all US branded deck wood comes from. If you know anything about deck production for US brands, nobody is making decks in large quantities in America.. so its really just whether or not you want to pick mexican manufacturing over Chinese, or vice versa. And lets not joke with each other.. with minimum wage going to $15 an hour, do you really think you are going to be able to buy US made skateboards any time soon?

[close]

If you buy a Chapman board, you're getting a deck that's pressed in the United States.

What does minimum wage have to do with the price of decks? Do you think the people who operate the machinery to make your boards are the same unskilled laborers who take your order at Mc Donald's?

[close]

If minimum wage goes up, so does other wages too. Its not just the bottom of the barrel that rises. Min wages rise, other peoples wages rise to account for the fact that the lowest paid are not making what others were before the raise, and prices raise because companies are shelling out more money and want to make more not less.

[close]

When is the last time you saw deck prices rise? Ive been doing this for over 20 years and they've been $50 the whole time. The companies just gets squeezed more and more. Deck costs rise on the manufacturing side while wholesale/retail stays the same. Now add unscrupulous wood shops who will make decks for anyone.. .and the price point drops even more making it harder and harder for pro skateboarding to exist.

[close]

What Whiny Bitch said. Decks have been between $50-60 since time and memorial. People have tried making boards that were more expensive that were allegedly pressed with some sort of superiority, and they didn't sell. Skateboard manufacturers have barely passed the expense onto the board brands to offset the cost, which means it's only gotten more expensive to make boards. This has always been independent of wage adjustments/ inflation/ industry-wide market trends. That's because Skateboarders have stated with their spending money that they simply won't pay anything more for their wood. This wasn't a problem for the wood shops, as they were always able to make up for it with the increase in volume/ production.

So N0ah, lemme clarify what my question was eluding to since I did a shitty job the first go around. I'm basically saying that some of the bigger US based board manufacturers have invested in machinery/ technology to offset the cost of a labor force. It's becoming like any other industry, where they're employing a couple of skilled individuals to develop/ operate these pieces of equipment & they're laying off the unskilled jobs. Raising minimum wage would effect them only if these companies (and their competition) still had a use for unskilled labor, because minimum wage basically only works when alternative employment opportunities for similar jobs are made more attractive because of the wage raises, which means they'd be more inclined to go elsewhere for higher pay. However, in this particular industry since the manu's can't charge more for their product to pay people more, minimum wage increases only work to destroy these positions entirely & replace them with a handful of skilled laborers. And people working those skilled positions get raises to offset inflation annually, while it takes several years for unskilled laborers to get a single pay raise (which actually keeps them behind the rate of inflation). Raising minimum wage is kind of a myth that politicians like to use during election times that doesn't have an impact on anyone who isn't working a shit job.

Girl has their own wood shop, and they've had it back when minimum wage was half of what it is now. It isn't like Palace where they go to a place like DSM and have them screen their graphic onto some DSM wood. They pulled the trigger on that around the turn of the millennium when Crailtap became big enough where the ownership of a wood shop to make more sense than going through Paul Schmidt. Again, that decision had more to do with margins than wages. Going with an Asian manufacturer only makes sense when you're doing massive volume (which most skate brands will never hit). Most of the time, due to trade agreements/ currency valuation/ location, it makes more sense for those companies to do business with a North American Manufacturer. The likelihood of you closing your eyes and picking a deck off the wall that's made in North America at your local US skate shop is far greater than picking a deck made in Asia.



Not advocating foreign industry but just because something is made in China does not mean it is an inferior product. Even Kelly Slaters brand Outerknown uses China for production of board shorts. If you get boards made in Asia and opt for the cheapest possible route then you will not be in business long as your product will be shit. Production standards can always be put place to help with quality.

Never had an issue with Crail wood. No more issues than i have ever had with any other board. I do not know of a single company that hasn't had a bad batch of wood.

[stevedave]

Girl doesn't have their own woodshop.  They use PGI, which does Girl/Choc, Skate Mental, Think (formerly), and a few other brands.  They'll do boards for anyone if you can meet the minimums.  And the boards come directly from China and are screened in their facility here in the US. 

[El Chupacabra]

So I have a tiny brand that makes just about everything in the USA.
Our boards come from Michigan, the apparel from a downtown Los Angeles cut&sew operation, we print them ourselves and I make all the accessories by hand, generally speaking.
Its very tempting to go overseas. The prices are insanely cheaper. But, I tried a run of Chinese wood and had more than a 10% failure rate, usually delams, so fuck that.
Using USA wood has given me much better results. Way fewer boards come back broken.
I like to think they people making the decks actually give a shit about it, and they're not some sweatshop laborer making something they'll never use, or care about.
The biggest issue with boards is that manufacturing price has crept up, but the retail price remains about the same. Margins are slim and getting slimmer on hardgoods.
Apparel is a -bitch- to do domestically. I'm tiny, so I can manage it with super low minimums, but when you get into larger orders, 5 bucks for US vs 1.50 for overseas is a pretty substantial difference.
Anyway, just my two cents. Its possible to do it, but you don't make much money it seems.