History Of Tech Deck: He used the 3-inch boards to simulate
real skateboard tricks with his fingers. And, just like
real skateboards, he drew graphics on the bottoms of his
creations. His dad, Peter, a toy industry veteran, saw
his son's ingenious work and recognized that there might
be a market for these colorful mini-boards.
And so, Tech
Deck was born. But what would set
Tech Decks apart from other
mini collectible replicas? Steven had the answer! They
had to be like the "real thing." This meant real metal
trucks, real grip tape and real graphics. Visit after
visit to local skate shops helped identify the most
popular brands. But getting in to talk to these
manufacturers was no easy task. Call after call went
unanswered until Fate seemingly stepped in. A
n administrative assistant in the
elder Asher's office noticed Steven's Chet Thomas
signature skateboard and mentioned she went to school
with the skateboarding pro. Chet was contacted and was
able to arrange a meeting with industry leader World
Industries and a licensing arrangement followed.
Since
that time, more than 4,000 different real pro-model
graphic designs licensed from top skateboard
manufacturers such as World Industries, Blind, A-Team,
Birdhouse, Creature, New Deal, Element, Black Label,
Santa Cruz, Alien Workshop, Zero, Maple, Zoo York and
Foundation Skateboard have been added to the Tech Deck
line. Tech Deck has come a long way since that rainy day
in 1998. From Thanksgiving of that year, when first
introduced in limited distribution, until now, more than
35 million Tech Deck mini-replica skateboards have been
sold. And interest in collecting
Tech Deck mini-replica skateboards continues to
increase.
Links to Tech Deck history:
Wikipedia
Inventors of America
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This page updated:
10/29/2009
