Josh Rio and the man behind Picture Wheels, Ben O’Neil, have announced the launch of their own wood company, Holiday Skateboards. There’s a rad press release they sent out giving us an idea of what they’re about… It finishes with, “It’s Aussie but we have big ambitions, welcome to our permanent holiday.” Definitely a good vibe coming from the guys! Check below the cut for a clip and to hear some answers about the new company from the man at the helm, Josh Rio.
You’ve picked the perfect business partner in Ben O’Neil, he’s a seasoned entrepreneur. How did the partnership come about? And what was the reason for starting the company?
I started riding for Picture Wheels, about three years ago. Ben’s always counted on me to give him a no bullshit opinion on all aspects of Picture from products to advertising and I think that helped me build up a report with him in regards to business. I ended a sponsorship with another skateboard company and Ben approached me and asked how I’d feel about starting up a new board company. I declined originally because the timing just wasn’t right, a year later he approached me again and we sat down and planted the seed. From there we have gone from strength to strength, solidifying a vibe and image we want to project. As we go along I think we will evolve and hopefully rise to the forefront of Australian board companies.
Where are you sourcing the wood from? Why?
We decided to use bareback wood, its USA wood which I think is important. We could have gone straight for the Chinese wood syndrome and just try whore it out, but I told Ben from the beginning I wanted to do it legit and not cut corners. I sampled the wood and its solid. The shapes are good and we got some really nice bright block graphics coming out for the launch… I’m hyped to see what the feed back will be.
Where will be the first outlets to get the boards?
They will be going into Skatebiz and Street Machine at first, then we will be getting them into all the stores that stock Picture then we will go from there. Hopefully as the brand builds and everyone gets hyped on to it we could get them into the majority of skate shops. I think once kids realize that this is an Australian wood company doing things right, we will be successful. Well here’s hoping otherwise Ben might put me on a permanent holiday!
