Quasi

Quasi exists because Alien Workshop didn’t. A decade after a rushed rename saved it from a trademark fight, that fallback name fronts one of the most respected independent brands in street skating: run out of the Midwest, built on premium Canadian maple and artwork people actually frame.

History

When AWS collapsed in 2014, team manager Chad Bowers regrouped with three of its pros, Gilbert Crockett, Tyler Bledsoe and Jake Johnson, and launched a new company in March 2015 under the tagline “no more corporate blues”. It was called Mother Collective, briefly: a cease-and-desist from a company that had trademarked “Mother” forced a rename, and after the lawyers found that no variation of “mother” or “mom” could be claimed either, Bowers settled on Quasi. Vans came knocking in 2020 with a collaboration built around Crockett’s pro shoe, later expanded into a capsule with the Old Skool, Skate Gym-Q and apparel. From the start it has been a video brand in the old sense, with a full-length anchoring each era of the team and Thrasher following the premieres closely.

Dayton, not California

Quasi runs out of Dayton, Ohio, and the Midwest identity isn’t a footnote, it’s the whole point. Distribution goes through Keen Distribution and the boards are sold through core skate shops rather than mass retail. Bowers also has zero patience for the “new Alien Workshop” label. Asked about the lineage, he shot back: “Does Primitive look like Plan B? Magenta like Habitat?”

Boards people frame

Bowers art-directs the graphics himself, often building them from Will Gaynor’s paintings. The result is abstract, collage-style artwork that gets collected as visual work as much as skate gear. The recurring “Proto” model, a kind of blank canvas that has shipped in foil versions, sums up the approach, alongside boards like Bledsoe’s “Shaman” and Al Davis’s “Genesis One”, which Sidewalk gave a full review. Construction matches the art: premium Canadian maple pressed at PS Stix, Paul “The Professor” Schmitt’s woodshop, though some individual models have been listed as BBS-made, so the pressing can vary by run. The line covers standard popsicles plus less conventional shapes.

The team

Founding pros Gilbert Crockett and Jake Johnson are still on the roster, now riding alongside Dick Rizzo, Justin Henry, Josh Wilson, Bobby De Keyzer, Dane Barker, Jon Rowe (pro since 2023), Jason Nam, Cooper Qua, Will Marshall, Kris Brown and Brian O’Dwyer. Tyler Bledsoe, the third founder, featured through “Grand Prairie” in 2021 but isn’t on the “Hard Reset” roster; Al Davis is another historic name from the “Mother” era.

Where it lands

If you want top-shelf Canadian maple under a graphic worth keeping, stack a Quasi against the other decks in the comparator and see where it lands.