Almost Skateboards

Almost Skateboards was founded in 2003 by Mullen and Song after leaving their previous companies, enjoi and Artafact, respectively.[2] Mullen explained in July 2014 that he knew in his "heart" that the founder of enjoi, Marc Johnson, wanted to leave the company. After he received the news from a friend of Johnson's, Mullen—who had been thinking about collaborating with Song prior to Johnson's departure, as the pair had been skateboarding together over a long period of time—called Song:

I wanted so badly to do something with Daewon [Song]—Daewon was my first call: "Oh man, I have bad news ... but I got some other news. I got this idea—you wanna do something together? Start something new?" And, I could hear the excitement in Daewon's voice. So, that's why it started: I'd been wanting to do it for so long! But, opportunity never really came up—until then.[3]

The initial team also consisted of Cooper Wilt, Chris Haslam, Ryan Sheckler, Greg Lutzka.[4] The Almost: Round Three video featured all of the brand's original team riders and was released in 2004 to launch the brand.[5]

Lewis Marnell was introduced as the company's first amateur in 2006 through a bonus part included with the company's Cheese and Crackers video—the second Almost video release—that features Song and Haslam on a mini-ramp structure—Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up" is the soundtrack to Marnell's part.[6][7]

Sheckler left Almost to join the newly reformed Plan B Skateboards team in January 2007.[8] Torey Pudwill was announced as the company's new amateur in 2007,[9] and both he and Marnell were promoted to the professional ranks in 2008.[10] For Marnell's professional inauguration, Song and videographer Socrates Leal[11] filmed a spoof video part to welcome Marnell. The video, entitled "Almost Filmer Asshole", is shot through the lens of a "poacher" (someone who is attempting to film footage of another skateboarder—usually a professional skateboarder—when that person has not been given permission to do so) who throws Marnell's first professional Almost skateboard deck into the view of the camera, upon being caught by Song and Leal; the video was published on the Almost website and YouTube. Marnell's first board graphic featured a lion waving a Rastafarian flag.[12]

Like Sheckler, Pudwill left Almost to join Plan B in March 2010[13] and Pudwill's personal friend, Justin Schulte, was eventually announced as the company's new amateur rider after a trial period to determine if he was a suitable fit. Schulte had previously been sponsored by Element Skateboards, but had also been in contact with Song, who asked Schulte to let him know about his progress. An introductory video was released to welcome Schulte in February 2010.[14] Lutzka was the next team member to leave Almost, as he became sponsored by Darkstar in May 2010.[15]

German amateur skateboarder Willow was announced as the new Almost team member in November 2010 and a welcome video was also published on the internet. Willow had previously been sponsored by Flip Skateboards.[16]

The company released a short video in October 2012, in which Haslam surprises Willow with his first professional skateboard deck model at a signing in Germany.[17] On November 26, 2012, "Willow's World", a full-length video part edited by Mike Manzoori (Sole Technology), was released on the Transworld Skateboarding website to commemorate the team rider's professional status.[18] Youness Amrani was announced as the company's next amateur rider in April 2011.[19]

The company premiered its third video production, 5-Incher, in June 2012 and used the release to introduce new amateur rider Mitchie Brusco, as well as a "flow" team consisting of Matty "Schmatty" Chaffin, CJ Tambornino, Michael Sommer, and Issey Yumiba. ("Flow" denotes the status of a team member prior to their announcement as an amateur and typically do not receive any financial remuneration.) The video featured parts from all of the Almost team—with the exception of Mullen, who was recovering from an injury—and the world premiere occurred in Long Beach, California, US.[20] The company made no mention of Schulte's status and at the time of the premiere, he was no longer listed as a team member. The video was Marnell's final appearance in an Almost production, as he died in January 2013 from a diabetes-related complication.[21]

In August 2013, Almost collaborated with Nike SB and TransWorld Skateboarding magazine on a feature for amateur rider Amrani. Entitled "Marrakesh Express", the project combined a print article with a video part that was launched on the TransWorld website on August 9, 2013. Videographer Chris Thiesson accompanied Amrani as he skated and traveled between "Casablanca and Marrakesh by way of Rabat, Kenitra, and Agadir" in Morocco. Amrani was born in Morocco, but grew up in Belgium.[22]

The company commenced a series on Tony Hawk's RIDE channel, hosted on YouTube, in December 2013. Titled "Almost Famous," the series has featured skateboarder and artist Brian Lotti and a "craziest trick" contest.[23][24][25]

The company celebrated its 10th anniversary with an event at the Berrics indoor skate complex in early March 2014, at which Amrani was presented with his inaugural professional skateboard deck.[26] Leal, a longtime videographer for Dwindle Distribution, created a video retrospective of the brand's growth since inception, entitled "10 Years of Almost."[4] At the same time as the 10-year anniversary, the company released a collaborative series of skateboard decks with the DC Comics comic book brand.[27]

During 2014, Song won two contests held at and by the Berrics: "2 UP" in March and "In Transition" in October. The former was a manual (skateboarding with a full setup, but only using two wheels) contest that also involved the use of custom-made obstacles, and involved other professional competitors such as Brandon Biebel and Chris Cole.[28] The In Transition contest was created through the selection of a list of skateboarders who were each invited to film a transition (also known as "vert skateboarding," whereby the skateboarder rides a skateboard on a skate ramp, or other incline, and transitions from the horizontal plane to the vertical plane to perform tricks[29]) video part at a location of their choosing.[30]

• Rodney Mullen
• Youness Amrani
• Yuri Facchini
• Max Geronzi
• Tyson Bowerbank

• Ryan Sheckler (Sandlot Times Skateboards)
• Greg Lutzka (Darkstar Skateboards)
• Torey Pudwill (Thank You Skateboards)
• Lewis Marnell (deceased)[43]
• Chris Haslam (Brainchild Skateboards)
• Daewon Song (Thank You Skateboards)
• John Dilo (Jacuzzi Unlimited)
• Sky Brown
• Mitchie Brusco

• Fran Molina
• Aaron Kim
• Titi Gormit
• Mikel Vidal

Through the "Almost Famous" series, the brand introduced the "Almost Locals" for skateboarders who receive Almost skateboard decks to ride, but are not officially listed as team members—the traditional term for this status is "flow."[54]

• Filipp Lepikhin[55]
• Issey Yumiba[56]
• CJ Tambornino[57][58]
• Jean-Marc Johannes[59]
• Daryl Dominguez[60]
• Micky Mariano Papa[61][62]
• Christopher Chann[63]

Although Matty "Schmatty" Chaffin appeared in the "flow" section of 5-Incher, he has signed a deal with the DGK ("Dirty Ghetto Kids") skateboard company subsequent to the release of the film (this was publicly confirmed by James Craig, using the avatar "cliff", on the SLAP magazine message board in July 2012).[64] Chaffin was confirmed as a "flow" rider for DGK in a video upload that was released on November 30, 2012, in which he shares apart with Ryan Guiso as they skate Da Playground, an indoor training facility, owned by DGK, that is located in Atlanta, U.S.[65][66] Chaffin is riding for Mystery Skateboards as of June 30, 2016, where he has been assigned professional status.[67]

• Luis Cruz – Brand Manager[68]
• Eric Wollam – Designer[69]
• James Craig – Team Manager[70]