Call Me 917

Call Me 917 is Alex Olson’s brand, made in New York and named after the city’s area code. He built it after walking away from everything: in May 2013 he left Girl — “no one wants to be told that they suck,” as he put it to Jenkem — and passed through 3D, Brian Anderson’s company, which he quit before a single board came out. By August that year he was announcing his own thing, and he was specific about what he wanted: short runs, quality, real music, and no chasing whatever is selling.

History

The origin is tangled and worth spelling out. Olson started Bianca Chandon and Call Me 917 almost simultaneously, off the back of a phone number with an answering machine on it. The first boards came out under the Bianca Chandon name, but he didn’t want that to turn into a skate company — and, by his own account, he was using skateboarding to push Bianca Chandon without letting skate shops sell it. So he split the board side into its own brand. Aaron Loreth, who rode for it, describes it exactly that way: “when I started getting Bianca boards and it was turning into 917.” Which is why there is no clean founding date.

The videos are the brand’s high point, and all of them landed on 17 September: Country Club with Nike SB in 2016, The 917 Video in 2017 (36 minutes, filmed and edited by Logan Lara) and the second one in 2019. In 2021, Cyrus Bennett, Max Palmer and Aaron Loreth left to start Limosine with Lara. The brand is still going: 2026 brought a spring collection, new decks and a footwear collaboration with Padmore & Barnes.

The team

Riders who have passed through include Cyrus Bennett, Max Palmer, Aaron Loreth, Hugo Boserup, Vincent Touzery, Nik Stain, Aidan Mackey, Genesis Evans, Nico Chiat, Stu Kirst, Nolan Benfield and Cruz Mendez, plus Olson himself. Right now the brand doesn’t advertise a team or release pro models.

Boards

Everything in the deck range is a brand graphic rather than a rider model: logos, type and in-jokes, in the usual 8.25” and 8.5” widths plus the odd asymmetric or cruiser shape. There is as much apparel and headwear as hardgoods, and the collaborations lean toward fashion and footwear more than skateboarding proper.

Who it’s for

It works if you like the look and what’s behind it. Don’t expect a wide range, steady European stock, or the release cadence of a big company. If you need a specific width that’s actually available, start with the sizing guide and compare in the deck catalog.