Shred Skateboards are as sustainable as they are fun and easy to ride. Photo: Shred Skateboard Co.
Editor’s Note:This feature is brought to you by Shred MFG.
Shred Skateboard Co is in the business of saving the planet, one recycled skateboard at a time. Did you know that a six-foot surfboard creates 12 pounds of trash in the manufacturing process? That’s twice as much waste as the board itself often weighs! As surfers, we’re often looking for ways to make our favorite pastime gentler on the earth, and for Marcelo Gagliardi, this seemed too big of an enviro-friendly opportunity to pass up. So he started Shred Skateboard Co, a company that closes the loop on surfboard manufacturing waste by turning it into skateboards, keeping thousands of pounds out of landfills while creating functional pieces of art.
Gagliardi has worked in the surfboard industry for the past 14 years with companies like HaydenShapes, Lost Surfboards, and most recently, Ryan Harris’ Earth Technologies. It was at Ryan’s eco-board workshop that the idea for Shred Skateboards was born. Ryan’s board factory takes all the waste from its surfboard-production process like fiberglass, foam, and dried resin, and puts it through an industrial shredder, turning it into a granulated mix that they call “shred.” The question is what to do with that shred once it’s been made. Marcelo’s answer? Make skateboards.
Shred (left) is turned into a durable composite core (right) that’s wrapped in fiberglass and resin. Photo: Shred MFG.
“Through our patented process we combine foam dust with ‘shred’ and make a 100 percent recycled core that, like a surfboard blank, we wrap with fiberglass and infuse with resin,” says Marcelo. The result is a super durable and high performance skate deck that has “a flex pattern similar to wood, with slightly more spring back through turns.” They pair these decks with Paris Trucks or Alpine Surf Trucks to produce complete skateboards at a very competitive price point. And to sweeten the deal, every purchase helps rebuild kelp forests through the SeaTrees initiative.
Shred has two main models so far, the “Electrical Ninja” surfskates, and the”Sprat” mini cruisers. Photo: Shred MFG.
The decks are fully customizable with the potential to choose from a few different shapes (with more coming soon) and add custom graphics or resin art. The vision for the future at Shred Skateboard Co is to actually work with different surfboard shapers to turn the waste they produce when shaping surfboards into skateboards inspired by that shaper’s own surfboard designs.
Read on for some more in-depth answers from Marcelo on Shred’s skateboard-manufacturing process and the boards they produce.
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Photo: Shred Skateboard Co.
What does the process from raw surfboard “shred” to the finished product look like?
As you probably know, surfboards start from foam blanks and at every turn throughout the board-building process so much waste is created…foam dust, stir sticks, disposable gloves, fiberglass, paper towels, dried resin, the list goes on… All the waste streams at our shop get separated and sent through a shredder, hence the name “Shred.” Through our patented process we combine the foam dust with the “shred” and make a 100 percent recycled core. At that point, the core basically becomes like a surfboard blank, which we wrap with fiberglass and infuse with resin. We sand and finish each board by hand, and then apply Lucid Grip, which is a recycled product derived from glass bottles. We use Alpine Trucks for our surfskates and Paris Trucks for our cruisers.
What are the main differences in performance between a traditional wood skateboard and your skateboards?
Actually, I would say the performance is pretty similar. Our boards have a flex pattern similar to wood, with slightly more spring back through turns. One thing that is surprising about our boards is the durability. Even though they’re constructed like surfboards we use heavy duty tri-ax fiberglass. They don’t “ding” and if you manage to break one by running it over with a semi or something, you can send it back to us, we’ll put it through the shredder turning it back into raw material and give you a discount towards your next board.
Alpine Surf Trucks come with interchangeable bushings to customize for a tighter or looser ride. Photo: Shred Skateboard Co.
Tell us a bit more about the surf truck you use for your boards, what do you like about it?
We use Alpine Trucks from Brazil. They have a completely different approach to surfskate trucks than what you normally see. They have integrated a bearing into the kingpin along with an interchangeable bushing that allows the rider to swap out densities in order to fine-tune the feel. The way that both the front and back trucks work together to generate speed and transfer energy into powerful, tight turns is the closest feeling to surfing that I’ve felt. They are also more stable when it comes to regular pushing so a beginner can hop on a board and not feel too squirrelly.
You’re still a relatively young company, what’s the vision for the future?
We want to come out with a bunch more shapes that are fun and functional. We also want to work with different surfboard shapers, not only for their designs, but also to pull waste from their factories to put into their models. You really will be riding a piece of their surfboards in your skate. In addition to skateboards, we’ll be coming out with surfboard fins that contain shred and recycled materials. We’ve also been working with other companies to figure out a way to turn their waste into cool products. We’re working with a yoga block company, and we’ve made prototypes for the BMW Design Group.
Learn more about Shred Skateboard Co here or give them a follow on Instagram.
