CredFingerboards wrote:

Well you can control where your clothes are made, you just gotta look and probably pay 3X what you paid for them now. Same goes for a Fingerboard. Buy one from Germany for 3X or buy one from China for a fraction of the cost.

Clothes are nothing like fingerboards. Most people buy clothes that are aesthetically pleasing only thinking about price not caring about where the money goes or where the garment was manufactured.

People buy fingerboards on precise details according to their preferences and craftsmanship. People hate China stuff because A) it's fuckin' shit B) the mark-up is higher than a kite and C) companies that sell china shit usually do nothing for the scene, so people hey imma buy from a company which has put hard work into their products and give back to the community, because i want my money to go to a good cause for the scene.

There is also the fact that China clothes are different from each other. China fingerboard shit is the same no-matter what company you choose, so there is no effort put in by any of the company owners to go out and actually design a product, where as china clothes have been designed by the vendor and they have then commissioned a factory in china to make the clothes. In effect china stuff is the same, fucking over priced if you look at the mark up, and drags sales away from the real companies.

Finally high street clothes shops are businesses so they are in it for money and have thousands of employees. Fingerboarding companies are owned by one or maybe two people who are compelled to do it for their love of the sport.

Stop comparing fingerboarding to other shit, you are trying to change it into a huge money making scene where companies are nearly transnational. Fingerboarding is based around a small and dedicated community, everyone makes things for the better of the scene, not themselves. China companies try to disrupt this peace, and make fingerboarding something way bigger than it is. Let the scene grow at it's own pace, don't try and damage it with mass produced product filled money conscious china companies.

yawn.

cred, i would stop.

Moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoney, hmm.. OH, MASS-PRODUCED PRODUCTS SO I DON'T HAVE TO DO SHIT.

Billy Mackean wrote:

CredFingerboards wrote:

Well you can control where your clothes are made, you just gotta look and probably pay 3X what you paid for them now. Same goes for a Fingerboard. Buy one from Germany for 3X or buy one from China for a fraction of the cost.

Clothes are nothing like fingerboards. Most people buy clothes that are aesthetically pleasing only thinking about price not caring about where the money goes or where the garment was manufactured.

You can easily compare clothes and fingerboards.. But keep in mind that the fingerboard scene is so small, that most of the products are somewhat exclusive.

People who has clothing as an interest often buys clothes made and/or designed in a western country. Just like serious fingerboarders buys fingerboards often designed and made in western countries.

MaxL wrote:

CredFingerboards wrote:

Keep on supporting the scene! While I keep trying to destroy it

If you are trying to justify China products...

MEME ALERT

Spoiler:

Seriously I've read your agruement and I agree with Simon 100%.

Just because it's easier to do doesn't mean it's right. The love that is put into Fingerboarding cannot be replaced by the "love" you have by just manufacturing some goods in China that you probably didn't design and are just using to make money.

I like to think of Fingerboarding as a world where money isn't the whole idea (even though so many capitalist pigs like yourself seem to disagree) we need to charge money because it costs money to make things but we aren't doing it to make money. We are doing it because we fucking love fingerboarding. That is why we don't buy vachina shit or tech deck. We love fingerboarding and want to support the people who share this love with us.

Every china company I have encountered doesn't share this love and it's obvious through their cheap products and ridiculous mark-up.

I would take you more seriously as a company if you made 5 really amazing decks that were a super limited release that were made by your own two hands with every detail thought fully out. Instead you're just mass producing stuff in hopes that you can make money from this.

Here's a tip for anyone who wants to start a fingerboarding company: get a real job and pursue it as a hobby if you are thinking about this as a legitimate way of making money you're out of your mind. Do it because you love it. Do it because you love that feeling when you finally land that trick clean, or when you get a really awesome deck in the mail and because you want to share those feelings.

If you had spent anytime looking at any of our posts in this forum you would see that even legitmate companies that manufacture their own decks but associate themselves with seedy companies never take off here... Why would your company be any different? Why should I give a shit about your Vachina company over any other Vachina company? Seriously give me one solid good reason but I don't think you can without making some bullshit analogy to something else, give me a solid reason why you as a fingerboarding company should exist in the fingerboard world.

{/ragepost}

Getting back to your reply Max. I appreciate your comments and all in general I can agree with you. My "Vachina" products are targeted to people who can't afford to pay $20-$30 for a pair of wheels alone. I'm between a Tech Deck and a a homemade board made with "love" that the scene seems to like. I will be real with you and let you know we had a great first month and apparently their is a market out there for this niche. Sure you can say we are taking business away from the companies that are more respected, but these are the people who can't afford to pay the higher prices nor have generous parents to provide the money to buy such products.

So I don't expect anyone on this forum to give a shit about my company, as the majority have the money to purchase a nice setup. We want to be a "Vachina" company, but we want to have some involvement with the community. I realize that might not be possible due the backlash against the China industry, so we may just have to keep quiet, collect our dirty profit money, and just be a China company. Our markup is small considering we are offering free shipping on all orders. Plus include transaction fees, packaging for the products, marketing costs, website costs..blah blah. It wasn't cheap to start and certainly we are in the red and aren't throwing around money nilly willy. It's not like we just picked these products up off the street and collect all profit, it's far from it.

In conclusion, we are a "Vachina" company that would like to be a hybrid in the "Scene". I don't think that is going to happen, but we may give it a go in the future. Again if you want "Vachina" products at an affordable price, give us a go. I'm all for supporting FlatFace, so go there first please. We aren't here to bring the down the scene and all that, we are a small fish in the "Vachina" industry.

Thom McInally wrote:

Moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoney, hmm.. OH, MASS-PRODUCED PRODUCTS SO I DON'T HAVE TO DO SHIT.

Thanks.

Banlyst wrote:

Billy Mackean wrote:

CredFingerboards wrote:

Well you can control where your clothes are made, you just gotta look and probably pay 3X what you paid for them now. Same goes for a Fingerboard. Buy one from Germany for 3X or buy one from China for a fraction of the cost.

Clothes are nothing like fingerboards. Most people buy clothes that are aesthetically pleasing only thinking about price not caring about where the money goes or where the garment was manufactured.

You can easily compare clothes and fingerboards.. But keep in mind that the fingerboard scene is so small, that most of the products are somewhat exclusive.

People who has clothing as an interest often buys clothes made and/or designed in a western country. Just like serious fingerboarders buys fingerboards often designed and made in western countries.

Exactly my thoughts.

So do you make your decks from scratch or don't you?

cartledge wrote:

So do you make your decks from scratch or don't you?

Our current stock was made for us. The deck design was developed to our requested specifications and manufactured in the scene's favorite country, China. However, we are also working on another deck style in house that we would hope to make available to the public once we have more development funds. The pictures we posted in our company thread were legit and as you can see we have some work that needs done. That will come with time hopefully.

I think the point being made here is the ones who put in the work so diligently are the ones who earn and deserve to gain a monetary value for the work they put in.
(not saying everybody who decides to make a deck should get the money)

But those guys that take the time and go through countless test decks,shapes, and molds so once they introduce there products to the world it's well received.
There the ones that these global manufacturers hurt when they do there mass production mayhem on the small yet growing practice of fingerboarding.
Then, when you throw exporters into the equation it just makes it harder for them to stay afloat.

It's good to know that you may be making strides in the right direction.

Keep the peace!

flexboreder wrote:

I think the point being made here is the ones who put in the work so diligently are the ones who earn and deserve to gain a monetary value for the work they put in.
(not saying everybody who decides to make a deck should get the money)

But those guys that take the time and go through countless test decks,shapes, and molds so once they introduce there products to the world it's well received.
There the ones that these global manufacturers hurt when they do there mass production mayhem on the small yet growing practice of fingerboarding.
Then, when you throw exporters into the equation it just makes it harder for them to stay afloat.

It's good to know that you may be making strides in the right direction.

Keep the peace!

This is exactly how I feel.

Right now you are selling some product that you didn't neccesarily design and are trying to make money off of it.

Meanwhile someone is busting their balls trying to perfect their deck designs and you are doing a minimal amount of work.