are small wood wakeskate companies dead....?

[sprocket america]

so if companies like ERA,OAK,DEVOTID, and now with rumors of NEW having wood issues are either not producing skates or just closed all together.... what is the future for wood .....

[88skisupreme]

sounds like you know the answer already

[-=AlexXx=-]

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

[-LoGiK-]

Sattelye , Verge, L13, Cassette,

I'm sure many more.....it happens in other sports all the time.

Company's try to start and close within the first 5 years, that's entrepreneurship for ya

[sprocket america]

well L13 is on "a break" right now and Cassette i mean whats new with them...Sattelye's web page is just a video....and they are ridding like 3 differnt decks.... i would say gator and 12 gauge...the verge is a bi-level....and is onr size i think...but im not sure...

[tad]

What's ERA?

[sprocket america]

[andrewt]

Pretty sure New is a manufacturer now. Which is why a few companies all have the same shape (new's shape, with a couple plys added to the bottom)

[bob.]

tad, Era is the definition of innovation, hydro-funnels ftw n00bsauce.

sprocket america, Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm 94% sure New manufactures Remote wakeskates.

[price.dan]

sprocket america, he knos what ERA is, he's being sarcastic. TAD is a local kook, don't take him seriously, he's been around since the dawn of time.

We just don't recognize ERA as a wakeskate company b/c they are a joke. Between bad mouthing Integ and attempting to create their revolutionary funnel tunnel sh|t, they shuda stuck with the basics and just made a decent reliable board. Whata surprise there outta the game already

[sprocket america]

o ya i know who tad is...and ive know about era for a long time i skated there skateboards along time ago...and new does do remote i never said they didnt...i just hurd they are haveing wood issues...thats all....and when they did the funnel 05-06...i mean the sport was only 5 year old at that time...so i cant hold tryin out new ideas against them u know....

[jcoffey]

sprocket america, i joined the board in 2008 and remember the big post on hydro funnel so it was pretty recent lol

[wakemitch]

It seems hard to have a wakeskate company. They demand full time work but dont generate enough revenue to make it a full time job for most owners. There seems to be a lot of costs (labor being a big one) and wakeskates dont sell enough units to make decent numbers. This means the companies have to have a larger margin which gets their prices higher. This makes their prices on par with the other companies, but doesnt give them the room in their margin to sell to shops. Shops dont want to sell boards if they arent making 30-40% margins so its hard for the little guys to get in the shops. Most shops can sell CWB, LF, and Hyperlite all day fine so they dont need to sell some random brands board that makes them less money. Shops also dont like competing with manufacturers that sell direct.

Selling direct from the manufacturers website can only get them so far. Distribution is key. If a kid is shopping for a skate at a shop or a big online store he can browse and see different decks that he might not have known about. You have to know about a company first to find their direct site and order from them. That limits the potential customers by a lot. Not everyone is on ws.com

Basically getting the boards in shops and big online stores is key. People need the chance to browse. Remote was smart to not sell direct. At the shop i work at I was able to sell Remote skates to kids who never heard of them, they came in for a hyperlite or byerly but were stoked to see what else was out there.

Im not sure how the small companies can get their margins down without going overseas, but that is what it will take. I'm not sure how Remote does it, but it seems to be working really well. I want to see more companies grow and compete with the big guys.

I may seem bias because I work at a shop, but I think getting the boards in front of more people is what it is going to take. Luckily my boss is pretty cool and trusts me when I bring in small guys. I know he doesnt like the margins, but pro shop sales are pretty bad in norcal anyways, haha

[-=AlexXx=-]

No1 who made NEW boards (ie. keith, barret, franky) makes Remote boards, different people use the NEW facility to produce them for remote, good wood, slayshtank ect....

Please correct me if im wrong i know crap changes rapidly.... but ya.





wakemitch, Is rich still making boards over on the west coast for Keith?

[sprocket america]

If it's in the new facility why does it matter who pulls the lever....I mean come on man....

[jcoffey]

sure it does. theres a good amount of hand on craftsmanship that goes into a wood deck in a company that doesn't have product mass produced. If you 'pulled the lever' people would prolly complain about the quality of the boards.

[sprocket america]

i mean ya...but the skates all look the same that come out of that place no matter what sticker they have on the bottom.....and ive squished wood plenty of times and shaped it aswell and im not saying that its not a handmade deck...just kinda have similar trates....and we own one of all them differnt companys decks...and they are all good products that we have rode hard...so please dont take this as me being negative in any form...

[i dunno]

is oak still going to produce skates?

[miller]

As someone that had owned a small wooden wakeskate company I learned that what wakemitch, says above is true.

I still believe that a quality wooden deck can be produced and sold at reasonable price. It is just a fine line.

[thatwasrad]