DB Longboards are a board company based out of Washington, US. Inspired by the Northwest’s winding hills, beaches, concrete and snow covered mountains DB Longboards continues to chase their founding ideal; pursuing adventure and riding the best boards possible. We spoke with Matt McDonald, Marketing and Media Manager at DB Longboards, to find out more.
1. Tell us about DB Longboards. How did you start up?
DB Longboards was founded in 2003 by Richard Docter, Bryce Hermansen, and Tim Mackey. It originally started manufacturing foam top longboards and flatland skimboards out of a garage in Tacoma, Washington. The business quickly grew out of the garage and moved to a 2000 sq ft barn. Working nights and weekends the guys pushed through college and, upon graduating, pursued their passion full time. In 2010, the guys out grew the barn and moved to their current 6000 sq ft shop just South of Seattle, WA.
Inspired by the Northwest’s, beaches, concrete, and snow the guys continue to chase their founding ideal; pursuing adventure and riding the best boards possible. You’ll find our founders and employees riding the product on the hills, waves, beaches and mountains all over the Northwest.
People always ask what does DB stand for? DB boards bare the name of their original birthplace, Dash Point, Washington. The first boards were fondly referred to as “Dashboards”, the name stuck and has come to represent our hand-made boards crafted in the Northwest.
2. What type of decks do you create? What’s been the most popular?
We create all kinds of decks ranging from classic pintail and drop-through cruisers to high-end downhill and freeride longboards like our Keystone. We also produce standard skateboards of various shapes and sizes. Our Coreflex Compound, which is a drop-through deck, has been the most popular deck this year that features urethane blast tips, composite technology and is super fun for cruising, freestyle and even free-riding. Our Keystone has also been very popular among the downhill skateboarding crowd.
3. What makes a good deck and what sets you apart from other manufacturers?
Fine attention to detail and innovative technology. We use only the best materials and components when it comes to building our products. Rest assured, every board we build, from our cruisers to our downhill decks, comes with the same calibre of world-class components, thoughtfully assembled and tested so that our final product is uncompromising.
A 100% of the scrap that we produce is repurposed into downstream products. From our off cuts to our scraps, there is zero landfill waste produced from one of our longboard decks. Our scraps are used by companies, like Skate Grips, that turns old decks into climbing holds. In addition to our repurposing program we strive to use only Low VOC and water based chemicals to keep the earth and our employees happy and healthy.
4. You also offer a custom design service. What’s been the most unusual design you’ve created for a client?
We have an online customizer where we see a ton of really cool designs featuring custom grip jobs and colour combinations of wheels and trucks. We have also created some very functional skateboards and some that were not so functional over the years.
5. Tell us about some of the best place you’ve been to skate? What made them special?
Locally, the Maryhill Loops road outside of Goldendale, Washington that hosts numerous freerides and the Showdown at the Loops race is one of our favourite spots. Also, travelling to California to the hills of Santa Barbara is such a fun area to skateboard. Both of these places are special due to the breathtaking scenery and amazing road combinations. It doesn’t get much better than that.
6. How would you encourage more people to skate?
We hope all of the photos and videos we share online get kids stoked to go outside and skate. It’s such a great way to get outside and have some fun with your friends. We also like to put on skate demos.
Last summer we had a “Get Off The Couch And Skate Demo” outside of Seattle to encourage longboarders to come outside and enjoy the weather with other like minded individuals. We are also working with Alchemy Skateboarding for a Go Skate Day Event in Tacoma in June that should help encourage local groms to come out and skate.
7. What’s your plan for 2016?
To keep innovating and creating new designs and technologies to help improve the life and functionality of our skateboards and longboards while having as much fun as possible.
Featured image: Carving Keystone’s Rowena Crest. Photo: Coutesy DB Longboards
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