Baker

Baker doesn’t need an introduction if you’ve watched any street video in the last twenty-five years. Andrew Reynolds started it in 2000 in Los Angeles with artist Jay Strickland, after leaving the Birdhouse orbit (Tony Hawk and Per Welinder’s company) following a 1999 meeting. The slogan has been the same from day one: “Giving Skateboarding a Bad Name.” No interest in cleaning up the image. Raw street, controlled chaos, and a team that reads more like a crew of friends than a pro roster.

History

Baker was born the same year Reynolds walked away from Birdhouse, and it grew straight out of the mid-2000s street scene: while the industry chased big, polished productions, Baker went the opposite way, and outlets like Jenkem still point to the brand’s video output from that era as the one that set the tone for raw mid-2000s street. On the business side, in 2007 Reynolds, Jim Greco and Erik Ellington founded Bakerboys Distribution; that same year the brand signed with Blitz Distribution and by 2008 was Blitz’s top seller. Since 2011 everything runs through Bakerboys, which also handles the sister brands Deathwish and Shake Junt.

The Boss and his crew

Reynolds, known everywhere as “The Boss,” still fronts the current team: Dustin Dollin, Kevin “Spanky” Long, Bryan Herman, Justin “Figgy” Figueroa, Theotis Beasley, Rowan Zorilla, Tristan “T-Funk” Funkhouser, Kader Sylla, Zach Allen, Jacopo Carozzi, Casper Brooker and recent addition Zion Effs. In 2012 Riley Hawk, Tony’s son, joined the pro team and the story came full circle. In 2018 Elissa Steamer (yes, the one from the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater) became the first woman with a Baker pro board, after riding for the Bootleg offshoot back in the early 2000s. Greco and Ellington are historic names of the house who moved on to Deathwish, still inside the same family. One detail explains the whole brand: traditionally nobody gets on the team unless the existing crew approves. That’s why the roster reads like a group of friends instead of a contest lineup.

Boards, graphics and collabs

The Brand Logo deck, that red-and-white block-letter “BAKER,” is one of the best-selling graphics in skateboarding history and gets reissued endlessly in every colorway going. Strickland drew the original logo to represent a “motley company” of talented skaters, and the red, black and white flag motif runs across decks, apparel and collabs. The Team Boards line covers pro models for the full roster, built on traditional 7-ply maple. On the collab side, the standouts are the 2019 Vans x Baker capsule (Old Skool Pro, Slip-On Pro, Sk8-Hi Pro and Style 112 Pro) and the Emerica line (Reynolds G6 Vulc, Figgy Dose, Wino G6), plus the in-house projects with Deathwish and Shake Junt.

Who it’s for

If you want a deck with genuine street pedigree, standard pro pricing and a graphic everyone recognizes, Baker is a safe bet. Line it up against the rest in the deck catalog.