Danny Creadon, Founder, Factory13 Skateboard Manufacturing Ltd.

Danny Creadon is hardcore. He’s living and redefining the skateboarding lifestyle that began oozing from the underground back in the 80s. As a skater, he’s out in the scene refining the physical nature of his talents. As a punk rocker, he burns up the local scene with an “old-school steamroller” of a band known as the Curbslappys. As a businessman, he’s quietly reclaiming the skateboard manufacturing industry from those posers hijacking his art for pure profit. And he’s doing it right in your backyard.

As founder and catalyst of Factory13 Experimental Skateboards in Chardon, Creadon forged his craft at Cleveland State University in the indie-est of ways – utilizing their art department’s equipment despite not being enrolled there. He supports and values independent businesses, just as others do his full-service company. He can create anything your twisted little mind can conjure up within the confines of his decked-out wood and metal fabricating skate shop.

Custom shapes and rails? Yep. Wells and concaves? You bet. Beams? Sure. Artwork and colors? Absolutely. To hear Creadon tell it, if you want an original deck crafted by true hardcore skate punks, you won’t get a board like a Factory13 board anywhere else. He’s got the repeat customers, a three-month waiting list for custom orders and multi-national invoices to prove it.

A quick, no-nonsense guy, Creadon takes all of his skills, crafts and clients very seriously. If he doesn’t call you back right away, well, no worries: It’s because literally he can’t for all the fiberglass epoxy and laminate adhered to his hands!

Creadon founded Factory13 in 1999 with the intent to produce handcrafted skateboards – concentrating on everything from design and construction to manufacturing, production and prototyping. He checked in with Cool Cleveland recently about his company’s genesis, the state of the scene and all other things Factory13.

Cool Cleveland: Let’s start with a birth analogy. You’re certainly the father of Factory13. Does that make the CSU art department the midwife?

Danny Creadon: Yes. (laughs) Exactly. Technically we started in 1999, but the prelude of me starting Factory13 and really learning the process of board making started there at Cleveland State. I didn’t have the machinery at the time, so I would use theirs.

I think it’s great that you didn’t even register for any classes there! Seriously, what started you down this career path and where did your aptitude to create skateboards come from?
Good question. I started Factory13 [because] there are a lot of really important reasons for having a proper board as a skater. In the '80s, you just couldn’t get any decent boards to ride. There were only a few creative American board makers in the world then… And by the time the early '90s came, there weren’t any. It was a major draught.

That’s how it started. Things were so bad, that I decided to start making them myself. I personally didn’t have the tools at the time to do it – I was hampered because we couldn’t get equipment – but I was working as a fabricator [and] certified government welder. A lot of the money I made from working those jobs… commercial goods, defense contracts, all that stuff… I put back those skills and money made from those skills directly into a workshop for the company.

Your customers are really as hardcore as you are. Do you ever stop, step back from your handy work and think, “I did this?"
Yeah. Definitely. But I can’t think about it for long. (laughs). As soon as they’re done, I take a picture, they’re wrapped and they’re gone. We’re busy with a 90 day backlog of work at any point! Most of the orders are prepaid, custom and made to order. The other ones in the shop are gone almost immediately to shops or distributors. Our boards don’t stay here for more than a day-and-a-half.

Seriously? That’s unreal. So, you test all of the boards yourself personally? That’s a Factory13 “seal of approval,” if such a thing exists. How much do you think that means to your customers?
[Customers] know I’m not just some corporate jerkoff, so that’s everything. It might seem pretty obsessive, but quality is obsessive. That’s the guarantee I give, which can be hard to understand in this Wal-Mart world.

But there’s total loyalty there with them. They usually have a number of boards they ride and they care about quality as much as we do. As a skater, your skateboard is an extension of yourself. You don’t have to be a financial fucking millionaire to have a good one. And for people who want art, style and creativity as a part of that, well, I’m here to do the work.

You’ve got a relatively small crew. Is that the way you like it, keeping it like a family? Or is it a financial byproduct?
It’s a mixture of everything, really. A lot of people are like, “Danny! More boards, more money!” But I’m not a high-tech businessman and I’m not interested in mass-production. To keep the level of quality high, I have to keep the circle tight. I just can’t trust people. I have a high level to keep in place. It really comes down to being a control freak.

Well, but I’ve read that your friends bribe you with beers for the privilege of working for you! It sounds like they really appreciate your mission.
Yeah, that’s great. I’ve got a bunch of friends who’ve been with me since Day One. There are some people who tell me that they want to come in brand new. For that, you gotta bring beer and smokes! (laughs) Seriously, those people really have to understand that skateboards are a birth-to-death experience. I want them to understand that kind of difference or it won’t work out.

Regarding creating skateboards: Do you consider it an art form, or is it strictly a matter of craft? Or is it something in between?
Definitely a mixture. 50-50. There’s a lot of labor, everything from laminates and construction to silk-screening the designs. Take a look at the commercial skateboard market in Cleveland, the stuff you’re seeing out there are just a bunch of heat transfers. They’re like those Shrinky Dinks you had as a kid—

Is there a key element or a secret to building a skateboard deck?
There are little tricks of the trade I’ve learned from using and working lots of materials… maple, birch, oak. I have about 35 species of hardwoods and [other] man-made materials in the shop. To get them all to work properly and be structurally sound together? That’s the art form. Sometimes it didn’t work early on and it sucked when it didn’t work.

But hey, that’s the price you pay for innovation.

You’ve got some seriously crazy custom designs out there. Fur covered. Aluminum foil. That Gay Nazi rainbow deck. What's the single weirdest custom job anyone has asked you for?
Hmmm. Well, those fur boards are always really cool to do. I want the stuff to be bold, you know. Those are a favorite. We get about 2-3 [orders for] those a year. But I’d say it’s the exotic hardwood longboards that are the favorites for me.

Have there been instances where you’ve had to say no to a design or business proposition, because it didn’t jive with your vision for F13?
Every week. I manufacture boards for some other [companies] as well. They ask me to do certain things when I make their boards, but I’m not into running commercial stuff here. It’s nonsense. I want nothing to do with mediocrity.

How much influence does what you do with the Curbslappys have on what you do from a business perspective with F13?
A lot. I am a music fan myself, as well as being in a band. It’s really about the anti-commerical rock thing. The good stuff. I like to work with bands and labels that share that vibe and mesh with skateboarding like we do. I do work with a lot of bands and labels, like Jodie Foster’s Army, No Front Teeth and Disaster.

Does being in Cleveland impact or benefit your business in a recognizable way? How much of your total business would you consider as local?
I wish more of my business was local. I ship much more than I keep local. From the outside world looking in, a lot of people think we are from California. It’s too bad. Cleveland is known as a dirty, shitty, armpit, blue-collar “don’t-fuck-with-us” kind of town with an attitude. Tough attitude… It’s great to be here, even though I wish that Cleveland would be a little more business friendly.

How far have you shipped an F13 custom board?
Ridiculous places. Like Togo! Places you only hear about in the news and wonder if they really exist. (laughs) But there’s Switzerland. Japan. New Zealand. Australia. England. Canada. A lot to Europe. The guys that can get our stuff overseas are absolutely stoked!! They get really excited about our boards.

What was your favorite year or era of skateboarding and what would you consider the worst sub-trend or byproduct of its increasing profile?
The best years have yet to come. I’m about the future and always gearing towards that. I’ve already planted my seeds deep into that soil… I could go into a WTO or NAFTA rage about it… but the worst trend is the standardization of it all.

It’s been a long while since I hit the pavement on a skateboard. I’m just not that coordinated, so I traded mine in for a keyboard...
(Laughs)

When I think of those days, I think about the punk ethos...Dead Kennedys and Milkmen, Caballero, old-school Anthrax, Tony Hawk, Jodie Foster’s Army...what do you make of the described “ghetto” style permeating the skater scene today? That just sucks, you know? Everyone’s ghetto anymore. Is it just another trend? I try not to pay attention to that. From my biased point of view, I’m not into it. To each their own. What can you do?

What do you think about skateboarding becoming an Olympic event?
Well, it might happen. I don’t really give a shit. I don’t watch the Olympics. Not really concerned with it. Even though it’s skateboarding, it’s so far removed and fucking foreign to me. I don’t care about competition in any way. And the people I sponsor don’t enter contests, either.

Any predictions for the future of skateboarding and F13’s role in it?
The broad base of skateboarding will continue to grow and become more commercial, but there will always be a core following that will keep us in business. But I don’t put expectations on the company. I’ve got enough to be depressed about! (laughs)

Things are going really good for us. We’re busy and it seems like it will stay that way. People are going crazy for what we do. We make ‘em for 14 year olds and we make 'em for 55 year olds. And the percentage of people who are out there – the searchers who are striving for more – that’s what I’m looking for.

Thanks for making the time!
Well, the boss ain’t gonna yell at me! (laughs)

Interview by Peter Chakerian peter_chakerian@yahoo.com
Photo from Danny Creadon

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