There are numerous small board brands that help build, support
and promote regional skate scenes in Canada. Originally from Windsor, Ontario
and currently Toronto-based, Change Skateboards is one of those companies.
After owning and running a skateshop and indoor park in
Windsor, James Denomme decided to team up with graphic artist Jeff Rae and
local Windsor skater Jesse Tessier to form Change in 2002.
"We really had the scene going well in Windsor," says the 26
year-old Denomme, who co-owns and heads up sales for the board brand. "We
started up Change the last year I had the shop and park – I decided I wanted to
focus more on the board company and leave retail. We wanted Change to be a
focused, independent company."
Here, James Denomme drops some knowledge on Change, I.O.S.S, and backing his Windsor skate
brethren.
James Denomme.
What's the story behind
Ian's Old Skate Shop?
I took over a skateshop in Windsor when I was 15, and I ran it
for about 8 years. Originally it was called Ian's Skate Shop. This dude had it
for a long time and started it in his basement. Then he moved it to downtown
Windsor and it was always a go-to skateboarder-owned shop. He gave that up, so
I bought his inventory off him. I got a really small space and changed the name
to Ian's Old Skateboard Shop
(I.O.S.S) because he had all the signage, so we just added "Old" with marker, pretty much [laughs].
We never really changed the name, and it grew from there. Eventually we rented
out a warehouse space in Windsor, kept the shop in there, and opened up a small indoor
park. It was close to 5000 square feet.
After leaving the shop
and indoor to fully focus on Change, what became the initial motivation behind
the company?
Everyone's heard of Windsor but they've never really been
there. It doesn't get a lot of attention from the Canadian skate industry. I
found that we really needed to support the dudes that are really pushing it in
Windsor. That was the main idea, and I think that's why we had Jesse Tessier as
our first team rider. We wanted it to be a skateboarder-owned company that
really supported its own people. That was it.
How would you describe
the artistic direction of the company?
Over the past 5 years, it's mostly been co-owner Jeff Rae's
work. He's done wheel graphics and board designs, constructed the website, and
laid out any ads we've done. We also get input from the riders, and we work
with other artists. There's a board series we're going to do called "Street
Corner" where we asked a few Toronto skateboarder/artists to pick out their
favourite intersection in Toronto and give us their individual interpretation
of it. We ended up with some pretty interesting stuff from Wes Loates
and Jeff Rae. We're looking for a third graphic for that series from an
artist/skateboarder, so hit up change@changeskateboards.com
if you're interested.
I know this is a touchy
subject for some board company owners, but does Change house-press or outsource
its manufacturing?
We work with a North American manufacturer. There was a period
of time when a lot of big board brands started outsourcing their manufacturing
to China, and there was a big hate-on for that because of the quality control
and labour practices. At that time, we started making stickers that said "Friends Don't Let Friends Ride Chinese
Skateboards" and stuff like that. We got heat from people claiming it was
racist, but it had nothing to do with that. We've always stuck with North
American manufacturing for pretty much everything. It's all about trying to
produce the most high quality stuff, as locally as possible, so we can be involved
in the whole process and get exactly what we want.
How do you get the
product out there and how wide spread is its availability?
It's definitely Ontario-based at this point, and it's
available in skateshops in Toronto, London, Chatham, Thunder Bay, Windsor, and
a handful of shops in Michigan as well We've also been in Quebec a little bit.
What can you say about
the guys on the Change team?
Everyone on the team is really easy to get along with and
really loyal:
"We got lucky with Mitch Pryma. When I had the shop, I
bugged the Fallen rep from Centre Distribution to send me sponsor-me tapes he
was getting because they didn't have the budget to add to the team. We came
across Mitch's tape and contacted him. He ended up taking a Greyhound down from
Orangeville to meet the crew in Windsor, and we put him on."
"I grew up skating with Jesse Tessier, and he owned part of the
company initially. He became our first team rider and he hasn't really stopped
progressing."
"Max Fairley is from Brampton. He's younger, and was introduced to
us by Chris Quick, who filmed our ‘Midnight Lumberjacks' video."
"When I used to have the
indoor park in Windsor, I got to watch Hill
Sulpher grow up and progress over the years. Recently, Hill got on
Black Label so unfortunately he will be leaving us after 5 years of riding for
Change. I'm sad to see him go, but also really excited for him."
2009's Midnight Lumberjacks is Change's second video?
Fireworks, Dancing, and
Cartwheels [2006] was our first one. We had Dallas Ives on the team at the
time, and he actually had last part in the
video. With Midnight Lumberjacks,
pretty much everyone on the team, including filmer Chris Quick, lives in the
same house [the Windsor
Hut] in Toronto. They push each other all the time and were super focused
on the video for over a year.
Check out Change's
product here, and keep tabs
on all the company's happenings via their blog right here.
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Related:
Inside Out: The Windsor Hut (video)
Lost: Hill Sulpher's Cover Virginity
Open House: Studio Skateboards