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Steve Douglas
London boy Steve was a pro for Schmitt Stix in the late 80's and early 90's before setting up a partnership with his former mentor and team manager Paul Schmitt and forming NEW DEAL and expanding it until ten years later where he is now one of the biggest manufacturers and distributors of skateboarding equipment world wide with GIANT DISTRIBUTION.
He had 3 decks for Schmitt Stix
English Brewed Through the
tea in England Keyhole
And two for New deal
Family & Street fight
Here's an interview with Steve where he tells his 'Local boy makes good' story,
Name and job title?
Steve Douglas, President of Giant skateboard distribution and 411 video productions. My main duties consist of overlooking all the companies under the Giant skateboard distribution umbrella in the USA: Element, New Deal, Black Label, Destructo, Destroyer, Monster, Speed Metal bearings, 411 Video Magazine, On Video.
My goal is to improve in every area of the company and to strive for the best from the conception of a product to the production, the sales, the shipping, customer service, and the consumers that keep us all in business.
In the United Kingdom I am a partner in New Deal Skates UK Limited and Warrior Distribution. My job is to be the US contact to all the companies, which entails helping the companies that I believe are the leaders get distribution rights and do the best possible job with those companies in the UK market.
2) Can you tell us when, how, and why the company started, and the origin of the name?
New Deal skateboards started in 1990. I got the name form a shop in the UK called New Deal skates, a local shop from an area that I grew up in, in Harrow. The 2 owners, Ray and Gary, helped me out while I was in England in 1989. In the states we [Schmitt Stix team] were desperate to do our own thing away from Vision. Things happened and I pushed Paul Schmitt to start the company or basically he would not have a team left as the whole team was over the old situation.
My goal was to start a whole new way of doing distribution, giving it to as many old ex pro skateboarders as I could and getting away from the fat businessman that never skateboarded.
England was the same situation. I called Ray and Gary and asked, "Can we use your name?" They said yes but we want to be the distributor. I ran it past Paul [Schmitt] and he said maybe, then I suggested that I myself would be a part of it, and Paul said "Great." I called back Ray and Gary and they were like "Great," so we all took out loans, and we started.
After a couple of years I had the idea to start an umbrella company of Giant skateboard distribution and under it start up all the other brands.
3) How long have you been involved with skateboarding, inside and outside of the industry?
I have been skateboarding since I was 10 years old. I grew up in England and wanted to be pro (I won every contest I ever entered under 16) so I moved to the USA where I did [turn pro] in 1987. In 1991 I retired after I was nearly killed when I went head to head into an 18 wheel semi after hitting a Suburban at 80mph. I kept skating, but after that my body was far from the same and when I had back surgery, that stopped my skating days. Now I am only able to push around, but as my Granddad said, "You had a good innings." When things happen in your life you have to get over them I learnt that early on when moving away form my friends and family by myself when I had just turned 17.
4) What do you see as the goods and bads of the industry right now?
The good: All the public parks and the fact that all forms of skateboarding are going on-you have street, mini ramps, parks, old cruisers-we are appealing to a large amount of skateboarding. On the product side people are trying to make differences in every category. These are some of the positives. TV coverage, I think, is positive overall, and that the top pros are making some GOOD money again.
The bad: There are still blank boards, but we as an industry promoted this with letting our riders ride them. As far as the TV coverage, I just think the purse should be way, way bigger. These contests have the big corporate names so they should have to pay the big purse. Someone's making a lot of money and it should be the riders that get more. It would be nice if the skateboard industry could get along better together but I don't think that will ever happen. It's such a shame because there are a lot of smart people that know and love skateboarding
Wanted more photos, interviews & stories about Steve especially early stuff.