This is the basic Philosophy that
fueled our start and that still drives us today!!

Philosophy (What You Believe In)
& Controversy (Often Caused by having a Philosophy)

Updated September 2004

In 1991, I started as Acme skateboards in the garage of my house in Costa Mesa, California, and today I continue to sell skateboards from Costa Mesa, but out of our factory which we built in 1995.

After our garage startup, we soon began making Formula One wheels, then made Standard Trucks, and eventually acquired Scarecrow, sponsoring dozens of top pro skaters along the way. Eventually, we changed the name of the business to ABC Board Supply to best reflect what we now are, a company that makes, distributes and sell several brands of skateboards.  

We also have a section of our company we call the Ink Dispensary that prints stickers and other fun stuff for many companies you know, like Volcom. If you've ever had a Volcom sticker, chances are about 99% that it was printed in our factory, and we make stuff for a lot of other people all over the world, so the chances are pretty good that you've ridden something we've built, or pasted something on your board that came out of our factory even if it didn't have our name on it.

I started skating at the age of 10 and was sponsored when I was about 12 years old, which is now almost 30 years ago. My first sponsor was a company called Powerflex unitl I was around 15 or 16, and then I rode for Gordon and Smith, more commonly known as G&S until I was around 23. I turned pro when I was 18 and rode for G&S, and had many pro signature models on that company, and many good years competing with some of the best skaters to ever live like Tony Hawk, Christian Hosoi, Lance Mountain, Steve Cabalerro, Neil Blender, Billy Ruff, and many, many more. I started competing in the many skatepark pools that existed in Southern California at the time, and by the time I rode for Blockhead Skateboards from the age of 23 till about age 27, there was no more skateparks around and we mostly rode mini ramps and vert ramps. I also rode in most of the first pro street contests ever held, though I would never really try to make any claims as a street guy, but I was still there watching skateboarding change to where it's at today. After Blockhead, I started Acme 13 years ago when I was 28 years old.

 I am now 41 and still skate as often as I can. The rebirth of the concrete skatepark has really re-ignited my passion for skateboarding and I now have about 10 pretty decent skateparks within an hours drive from my house, and 2 or 3 of them are really amazing. I've become an advocate for skateparks and started a group in my local area to force our cities to build skateparks (www.skateparkcoalition.org). We are just about to break ground on the Costa Mesa skatepark that I have fought for years to get built, so hopefully I will have a concrete park very near my house in the near future, and I am not done there. I am also on the IASC (International Association of Skateboard Companies) Skatepark committee (www.skateboardiasc.org) and am working with some of the best people in the skateboard and skatepark industries to assure that skateparks are built better in the future and to satisfy the needs of all types of skating. I am really passionate about skaters having legitimate places to skate and will continue to fight for skaters rights, and I encourage you to do the same in your town.

I have been around the skateboard industry for almost 30 years now, and have watched a lot of change. The styles and terrain have changed over the years from downhill racing, barrel jumping, slalom, freestyle, quarter pipes, skateboard parks, vert ramps, launch ramps, and eventually mostly street skating. Street skating today is primarily a combination of freestyle(flip tricks and flatland), and vert(10 stair launches and big rails etc). The only thing that is sure is change, and the only foolish thing is to think it won't keep changing.

The skating styles have continually changed, and the best skaters were, and always will be the skaters who skated everything good, not just someone who can do one big trick in one spot. How that was promoted and sold to you has changed a whole bunch, and led to the reason that we chose to be different style of company. We were tired of the B.S.