Krooked

Krooked Skateboards was founded in 2002 in San Francisco by skater Mark 'Gonz' Gonzales as a skate-deck brand specifically focused on what Gonzales described as 'a deliberately-art-and-skate-anchored skate-deck-and-streetwear vocabulary.' Gonzales is widely regarded as one of the most influential skaters in the history of street skating (along with Natas Kaupas, he is credited with inventing modern street-skating in the 1980s-1990s) and his deliberately-art-driven approach to skate-deck-graphic-design has anchored Krooked's broader cultural position since 2002. The Krooked Skateboards vocabulary settled around several recurring elements: the iconic Krooked skate-deck programme featuring deliberately-art-anchored graphic-design compositions by Gonzales (his hand-painted-and-hand-illustrated skate-deck graphics have become culturally-iconic skate-art objects), heavyweight cotton tees and hoodies with the brand's iconic 'KROOKED' typography logo applied to deliberately-Gonzales-art-driven graphic compositions, the long-running Krooked × Nike SB, Krooked × Vans, Krooked × Hockey, and Krooked × Civilist collaboration capsules, and a colour palette anchored to washed-black, washed-navy, ecru, oxblood, plus the brand's recurring use of saturated red, electric-blue, butter-yellow, and the iconic Gonzales-art aesthetic colour combinations. The brand is independent and held by NHS Inc. (the Santa Cruz-based skate-industry parent company that also operates Independent Trucks, OJ Wheels, Santa Cruz Skateboards, and several other defining post-1970 skate-industry brands). Krooked Skateboards distributes through skate-shop wholesale globally — including Supreme, Slam Jam Milan, Civilist Berlin, FTC, the broader US-and-European skate-shop network, and the Japanese skate-specialty retailers Beams, Ships, United Arrows, and the broader Japanese skate-specialty distribution. The brand has been one of the defining post-2002 American-anchored 'art-and-skate' brands.