Skateboarding
Skateboarding
The Work Behind Thank You Skateboards: Torey Pudwill's Grind
We’re catching up with Torey Pudwill and his brand, Thank You Skateboards—the man who wears many hats, but never without his Red Bull beanie.
Since we've connected with Torey Pudwill in a past interview, loads has changed.
"Yeah, you know what’s changed? Skateboarding has changed. The whole world has changed. The market has changed. We’ve seen a lot of brands come and go, and the same goes for skate shops. We’ve seen a lot of ups and downs for them too, and those are things we can’t control. All we can do is keep pushing through and doing everything we can to continue fueling the skateboard industry from our side."
Torey's typical day in the life as a business owner of Thank You Skateboards and Grizzly Griptape is very atypical. "It’s definitely A to Z. It’s very atypical—not only do I own the business, I run the business. I wish I could say I have a whole team of people working for me, but it’s not like that. I’m doing all the groundwork myself. I have to make sure everyone who's part of the brand is stoked, along with everyone we do business with. I maintain a solid track record and keep the relationships strong—with our vendors, employees, and manufacturers. I wear about seven or eight hats—everything from overseeing the website, making spreadsheets, running the finances, writing checks, doing in-house production, printing the boards, even sweeping the floors. You name it—I like to do it all. I’m a pro skater too, so sometimes I have to switch into a totally different mode—now it’s time to hit the streets, battle this trick, and get the footage. You’ve got to flip it like a switch. There’s no real balance between the two—you’re just doing both."
"I’ve tried to balance being an entrepreneur, running two companies, and being a pro skater. I realized just how incredibly difficult it is—the workload becomes endless, and you end up swamped and frustrated. I’d have a tough day out in the streets and come home empty-handed, then still have to turn on the motivation to make sure all my emails were handled. Sometimes, you just want to chill, but there’s no time to chill. Good thing I don’t like going on vacation (laughs), because I stay grinding."
Torey Pudwill at Work
© Seu Trinh
For Torey, design starts with a feeling, not a formal background.
"As far as designs go, I have my struggles with it—because I’m not an artist, I’m a skater. But I know what I like and what I don’t. I find a lot of inspiration just by sniffing around the internet or diving into the history of skateboarding, looking at artwork that’s been sitting on the shelf for decades. Sometimes an idea pops into my head, and I’ve got to bring it to life somehow. I collaborate with my main man, Josh Clements, who’s been our Thank You artist since day one. Working with him has been great because I believe in him and trust his vision. I give him creative freedom to do his thing, to add his own touch. I always have input and I’m constantly referencing things. I’ve even tapped into learning a bit of Photoshop—scrapping things together, building a graphic from top to bottom—then I hand it off to Josh to finalize. I also check in with all the riders to see what kind of ideas they have, so they can add their own spin to the graphics. That’s what’s really cool about this brand—because normally, when you skate for a company, you don’t get any say in what your board graphic looks like. But here, it’s fun—we all get to create something together."
Watch Now: How Torey Pudwill & Daewon Song started Thank You Skateboards
Giving back isn't optional - it's the whole point!
From the start, the brand was built on something deeper than decks and graphics. "Why wouldn’t it be important to give back? If we have the ability to do that as skaters, then we need to do it. Put out that positive energy. It doesn’t always have to be about raising money—raising awareness is huge. It’s the same as paying homage to the legends. We just want to raise awareness about what they’ve done for the game, what they’ve gifted us. It’s good to let people know why we’re here as skaters, and where the skate community has come from. Hopefully, we can inspire other skaters and brands to give back to our own kind."
Torey Pudwill
© Seu Trinh
Starting a business is one thing—seeing it through is another.
"Ask a lot of questions and figure out why you want to start a business. You have to be aware of how much time you can dedicate to it, because starting a business is one thing—but actually seeing it through is a whole other level. You’ve gotta put everything you have into it, because it’s yours, and no one’s going to care about it as much as you do. At the end of the day, go for it—because you’ll never know unless you try. Here we are, almost seven years later, and I’m still doing it and moving forward. You have to give a business time. It won’t always succeed right away, but that doesn’t mean you give up. You just try harder."
