Skate Debate: Made in China

Skateboard makers are hoping to fend off what may be a futile battle: China.

Chinese contract manufacturers are pursuing work from skateboard makers in Orange County and elsewhere, sending ripples through a tight-knit industry that until recently has been solidly based in the U.S.

Some

While the lure of cheaper production is strong, skateboarders can be a fickle lot.

"If your product's in Target and you're a skateboarder, that's failure," said Jim Gray, owner of Costa Mesa-based skateboard maker ABC Board Supply Inc., whose business is threatened by Chinese skateboard production.

Skateboarders are passionate about their sport and "prefer to buy skateboards that are skateboarder made," Gray said.

But the China issue may not resonate with all skaters, particularly younger ones. Spencer Dahl and friend Frankie Chavez, both of Irvine, said they don't know where their skateboards were made and don't really care much.

"Where it's made doesn't matter," said Dahl, while skating with Chavez at Irvine University Center last week. "As long as the board is good, it can be made anywhere."

And Dahl and Chavez aren't the types to buy a skateboard at Target. They know the width of their boards, the thickness of the wood used and the size of the wheels. Like most serious skaters, they buy their boards in pieces-the board itself, the trucks, wheels and pads.

Gray said one of his biggest gripes is that some companies may be selling boards once made in the U.S. but now made in China and aren't labeled as such. That has Gray spearheading an effort to encouraging labeling of where skateboards are made.

The lure of China is tempting for skateboard makers because most don't have factories of their own. They design boards and contract out for production.

Take Huntington Beach-based Blitz Distribution Inc. It distributes six skateboard brands including Birdhouse, Flip and Baker. Various contract producers handle production.

OC board makers produce half of the industry's 1 million in boards a year, according to Gray.

Costa Mesa alone is home to three companies: Select Distribution, which makes Vision and Lost Angel boards; P.S. Stix Inc., which makes Black Label boards, among others; and ABC Board Supply, which makes boards primarily for Alien Workshop, an Ohio-based distributor.

P.S. Stix recently began making boards in China, according to Gray. P.S. Stix is labeling where those boards are made, he said.

Paul Schmitt, owner of P.S. Stix, could not be reached for comment.

Select Distribution isn't making boards in China. In past reports, the company's owner Brad Dorfman has said he doesn't intend to go to China. Dorfman couldn't be reached for comment either.

Heidi Lemmon, executive director of the Venice-based Skatepark Association of the United States, said the industry is divided between companies doing business in China and those that are resisting. Her group supports U.S. board makers and is hoping the industry can hold out.

"We are hoping that the skateboard community is tight enough," she said.

So far, Chinese boards don't match the quality of U.S. counterparts, Lemmon said.

"That's not to say that they won't figure it out," she said.

Those companies that have gone to China have faced some hostility.

Dwindle Distribution, maker of Almost, Blind and Darkstar boards, released an inyour-face announcement defending its new Chop Chop Wood Shop in China. The release detailed nine points on why it moved to China and how making boards there was going to improve its product and lower costs.

Canadian maple wood would be used to make the boards, Dwindle said, not Chinese maple wood, which is considered inferior by some skaters.

Back in the "good old days" -the 1980s-U.S. skateboard companies controlled the industry. China was uninterested because of surges and dips in the popularity of skateboarding, said Becket Colon, owner of Performance SkS Products Inc. in Venice. His company designs new products for skateboard makers and is affiliated with three China factories.

But as skateboarding hit the mainstream, boards became a commodity, Colon said. Skateboards offer low profits, he said, with brands making most of their money on sales of T-shirts, hats and other products.

Jerry Madrid, owner of skateboard products designer Madrid Pro Designs Inc. in Huntington Beach, said he's lost some product lines to China. But he said he's holding fast to his high-end skateboards.

Madrid makes pro-level boards and turns out about 5,000 to 6,000 a month. They sell for about $60, versus $9 for a skateboard from Moorpark-based Variflex Inc. at Target.

"We produce our own boards and make our changes very quickly so China can't keep up with what we're doing," Madrid said.

For ABC's Gray, making boards is his passion and fighting China is about staying in business.

"I like doing this. I'm a skateboarder," he said. "I just have to make sure I am one of the survivors."