Girl

Girl is one of the few skate brands you can explain through its videos as much as its boards. Rick Howard and Mike Carroll started it in California in 1993, alongside Megan Baltimore and filmmaker Spike Jonze, after breaking away from Steve Rocco’s World Industries (and Plan B). The reasoning was simple: give pro skaters more creative control and a longer career instead of leaving them as parts in a company run from the top down. Three decades on, it’s still one of skateboarding’s most influential and collectible names.

History

Girl came out of a split. In 1993, Howard, Carroll and a handful of other riders left Rocco’s orbit to build a skater-owned company for skaters, chasing creative control and longer careers instead of being cogs in a top-down operation. Today the brand sits at the center of the Crailtap distribution house in Torrance, California, next to sister brand Chocolate and, over the years, Royal Trucks, Fourstar clothing and Lakai footwear. The logo, one of the most recognizable in the industry, is drawn from the figure on a women’s restroom sign and was designed by in-house art director Andy Jenkins.

A brand that doubled as a film crew

This is where Girl separates itself: the company doubled as a film crew. Co-founder Spike Jonze — later an Oscar-winning director (Being John Malkovich, Her) — put the brand on the map, and its full-lengths, several co-directed with Ty Evans, became landmarks of the genre. One early-2000s release debuted green-screen “invisible skateboard” effects never seen before in a skate video, and in a famous cameo scene the trick pinned on Owen Wilson’s character was actually skated by Eric Koston wearing a blond wig. Later came a joint full-length shared with sister brand Chocolate. Between them, these videos are as much a part of the brand’s legacy as the wood.

The riders

The original 1993 team was already a statement: Jovontae Turner, Eric Koston, Guy Mariano, Rudy Johnson, Tim Gavin, Tony Ferguson, Sean Sheffey and Jeron Wilson, with co-founders Howard and Carroll skating out front. Over the years the roster ran through heavy street names of the 2000s and 2010s: Brandon Biebel, Cory Kennedy, Mike Mo Capaldi, Sean Malto, Rick McCrank, Alex Olson and Jereme Rogers. In 2019, Breana Geering of Vancouver became the first woman on the Girl pro team.

Who it’s for

Girl is a purchase with pedigree: a premium deck from a skater-owned company, with one of the most iconic logos in street skating and a legacy that reaches well beyond the wood. Line it up against the rest in the deck catalog.