Zaturdays: Baker, The Realest Company In Skateboarding
Posted on Saturday, July 4, 2015 by Paul
There’s a certain level of hypocrisy in skateboarding that we all do our best to overlook. Like when we find out that funding from a multinational corporation in fact supports our favorite underground, “skater-owned” company. Or when we discover that the super core pro’s signature product is flying off the shelves at Hot Topic. The thinking goes that even skateboarders have to take the easy money sometimes and there’s no way around it so let’s just pretend it isn’t happening.
9 out of 10 focus groups hated this ad.
But then there’s Reynolds, Greco, Ellington and the rest of the dudes at Baker Boys Dist. In the 15 plus years of Baker’s existence I can’t point to one instance of what skaters my age might have called a “whack move.” Their record is like, pristine. Of course Reynolds is from our area and we’ve known him for over 20 years so maybe we’re biased a little but that doesn’t really change the story here.
Scorsese he is not, but nobody captures the hijinks like this guy.
Time after time these guys have done the rad thing for reasons that suggest they did them because they just wanted to, not because of what it would do or not do for the brand. Remember when TK quit to ride for Element and then when that didn’t work out they welcomed him back to the team? Same thing when Antwuan went to jail. What about when they revoked Spanky’s board and then reinstated it? How about having Sammy Baca, Cyril Jackson, and T-funk all on the same team and having it make sense. And lets not kid ourselves, Beagle is no Ty Evans, but we wouldn’t have him any other way. And what does Neckface have to do with any of it? Let me say this, if there were some board of directors looking at market trends, profit margins, and other businessee type stuff, none of those things would have been “green lighted.” The same B.o.D. would have also made Reynolds skate another 10 Tampa Pros at least, which would have actually been pretty great. But hey, back to back wins was enough for him I guess.
Too edgy for Hot Topic.
I interviewed Reynolds a few years back about running his own company, and I asked him how the strategy for selling a Baker skateboard changed through the years. His answer was the best ever and summed up perfectly how the company has stayed so on point:
“We just do the same thing we’ve always done. If someone does an awesome trick, we put it in an ad, if someone does something funny, we put it in an ad. Whatever. If the kids like it they like it. If they don’t they don’t.”
Seems that the kids like it.
Shoulda been a photo of Biggie wearing a Reynolds shirt.
- Paul Zitzer
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