Active Drops Blanks In Hopes To Increase Demand On Graphic Decks
Active Ride Shop and Active Mail Order takes a stand to stop selling non-graphic skate decks in hopes of increasing consumer demand for graphic and pro decks.

Ontario, CA – December 21, 2006 – Today, Active Ride Shop and Active Mailorder announced its’ plans, starting January 1, 2007, to discontinue selling blank (non-graphic) skateboard decks in hopes to increase consumer demand for graphic and pro-decks.

The huge commitment came after years of mixed feelings from the skateboard community on the damaging impact on what the sales of blank boards means to skateboarding. One-side claims the selling of blanks hurts the industry by not supporting the companies that help expose kids to skateboarding through its’ talents and branding. On the other-side, the skateboard market is a competitive market where there is little to no margin and the retail price is typically too high for consumers.

President and Owner, Shane Wallace said, “These days, the distribution of a blank deck is the demise to everyone that relies on selling skateboards. Blank deck sales make up a good portion of our skateboard sales, however, it’s also supporting a sector of the market that is spinning out of control. We have retailers and independent sales guys poaching our retail stores to under cut our business, and before we know it, we’ll be undercutting each other to make on each board. It’s just not healthy.”

Blanks make up a large portion of Active’s skate hard good business and will have a large impact on sales, regardless, Wallace states, “that the choice was a response to our love for skateboarding and Skateboarders, our team and our vendors. The success of increasing demand for graphic boards depends on the support we receive from our team and our suppliers. You see, the first five years of our mail order business, we never featured a blank board in our catalog. Back then I can honestly say we received no support from anyone for the sacrifices we made. However, times have changed and so have the mind-sets about skateboarding. We have faith, this time around, we will have the support, especially from our team, needed to help us maintain our business.”

Starting January 1st, Active will only be selling branded skateboards, which will include Active branded decks. When asked what is the difference between selling blanks and Active branded decks, Wallace replied, “The retail price of an Active branded board is more than blanks, which helps narrow the price gap between Active brand boards and other branded boards. Active branded board sales also allows our company to support hundreds of young skateboarders – who are the future of skateboarding - that depend on us supporting them with decks to help them continue to push the progression of skateboarding and to help expose new kids to skateboarding. Without Active branded decks, these kids would not be able to afford 4-6 boards a month and would be forced to stop skating.”