Free Former skateboards

Free Former… Thanks to Yong Ki from Solitary Arts for sending this my way. I guess he came across a bunch of these, they’re brand new. I’ve told the story before… my uncle once worked here and I would get these as gifts… Here’s a link to my clubmumble interview where I mention Free Former – and here’s a excerpt. It’s a nice looking plastic skateboard. Clubmumble.com Solitary Arts.

What’s your favorite skateboard brand of all time? It doesn’t have to be one that’s still in business.
I’d say Free Former since my uncle was a designer there when I was a little kid. It was the era when Ty Page was their pro skater, doing old style skateboard tricks that made it on to shows like CHiPs. For Christmas and Birthday gifts, I’d get a new skateboard. I got them for a few years until Free Former rode off into the sunset when skateboards went from plastic to wood. As many of the old schoolers know, Free Former wasn’t a good brand, and it may very well have been the worst brand ever, but that’s actually a hard honor to achieve. I still think it was all cool. Other than that, because I’m on the westside of LA, I grew up with Dogtown and the Suicidal Tendencies culture of skateboards and clothing. Those kids were all over my junior high school wearing hand drawn button down shirts with skulls all over them, flipped up bill baseball hats that said Suicidal, and blue bananas. I wasn’t one of them, but their aesthetic was amazing. It’s the very brand that killed Free Former.