Work in Skateboarding, an interview with
Interview by Suziie Wang When did you start Pass~Port and why? I started Pass~Port in 2009, Ideally I started the company because at the time there wasn’t really anything exciting happening in the Australian scene…even internationally nothing was really tickling my fancy… What were you doing for work when you started the brand? I worked in a skate shop, did some solid years at the “BIZ.” Can you give us a rough timeline of how long it took you to launch Pass~Port? I would say it took a solid year of sourcing product, sampling designing graphics, talking to potential team riders. They were the major things anyway, everything takes time but when you are first giving birth to a company. Anything you would have done differently? The only thing I would have done different is the partner that was involved me in the time if we would have written some sort of shareholders agreement. Everything was a little loose back then, that sort of bit from behind. What’s your opinion on product quality in relation to a successful business? The quality has to be there, I think that is one of the key factors to a successful business.
If I am sampling a new piece, I will keep sampling it until it is exactly what I imagined. This practice will cost a lot of time & money, but I think its well worth it. Any tips on the process of finding the right manufacturers? We are pretty lucky in the skateboard industry, as most people are happy to recommend who they are using now, whom they have used in the past. These things do take time, but its definitely not as cut throat as other industries, where you would not get any support from “competitors.� How long after you started Pass~Port did it take for you to be able to pay yourself a full time wage? I would say after the 4th year I was starting to pay myself so I could at least pay the rent & put food on the table. BUT never
Tribute Fatima Board series
bother start a skateboard company if you want to make lots of money‌aint gonna happen. Did you study or gain a business degree, or have you learnt everything on the fly? I studied Graphic design, so that definitely helped on the creative side. But no business courses, literally just winged it. As mentioned a lot of support from other people who were already existing in the industry. Is it worth gaining full business degree before you jump in or can you get by with just doing a short business course? Really comes down to support and knowledge from others who are already in the industry.
Convicts Board series
In a competitive market what strategies do you use to keep your product different? How have you applied them to Pass~Port? You need to have a little bit of tunnel vision some times. No time to worry about what other brands are doing. Just stick to what you’re into & keep pushing that 100%. Any tips on the marketing aspects when you first launch a business? Be creative & do something different, no one wants to see the same old shit, when a new brand is launched. That’s what really gets me down, when there has been all this talk of something new & once it’s released its just recycled shit from year ago. What do you think is the most useful marketing tool for your brand? I would probably say our clips. People get pretty stoked each time we bring out a new clip. Most sites are happy to post anything we create up, pretty stoked to see it on sites in USA, Japan & Europe etc. How did you get Pass~Port boards into the U.S stores? Kelly Williams who runs Permanent Distribution hit me up. He had been pretty interested in the brand since it started & already was distributing a few smaller brands, plus Modus
- also an Australian brand. So I guess that’s what got me pretty stoked to get him involved. We slowly worked through everything in way of pricing, logistics etc & started to get things going. What do you look for when working with a Distributor? I think with nearly every distributor I have today, they were the ones that approached me. That’s the biggest thing by far, if someone is going out of there way to approach you about the brand, you know they are keen. All the distributors we have are skateboarders, majority of them work a full time job on the side as well. So you really gotta have the soul/passion to get into the small company-distro game. Why is having good creative board graphics important to your vision of Pass~Port? I think the more interesting/controversial the graphic the better. The first deck I ever bought was a world industry deck, purple wood grain with a devil lady with both her tits out, it was just so intense, no other sport or thing I was doing at the time was that full on. I just think everything has to be on point & what you think looks right on the bottom of a deck. Why do you think there is a small resurgence of small skater owned brands right now? They have soul.
He seriously is an all rounder & it fits in really well with what I am trying to do. There are so many different bits & pieces that need to happen each day. With a small company, there is no way you have an art director, a warehouse manager, an accountant, a logistics manager, a sales rep. You just sort of work out what can & can’t be done in a day & you both just tackle it. What skills do you think a person needs to become a successful business owner? Confidence is key. What’s been the hardest thing so far about starting a business in Skating? I would have to say cash flow. Unfortunately with the current “economic climate” the majority of stores just don’t pay their bills on time. That really effects how often we can literally get new ranges underway, sad but true. Any advice to pass on for someone starting a business that you wish you had known? Don’t trust anyone, even the guy you start a business with who says he is a good mate of yours…
First person to join you & the Pass~Port team, what was their role & why did you want to fill that role in particular? The first person to join was Sammy Thornton. He helps me with everything from packing orders to working on animations.
www.passportal.com.au
Pass~Port posse