another one of those companies that found itself too far ahead of the curve to ever catch on... I think Sanch's Profile squad might have lasted 6 months.
I don't recall Henry ever having a full ad... which always struck me as a little odd considering he was essentially the main draw of the company. I know he was going through a rough phase at the time but that couldn't have been (and obviously wasn't) a very good marketing strategy.
...though he did give Ahmed Hunt his one chance at skate immortality (always heard that dude was supposed to be crazy good.)
My man Cheaps came through with a scan of a Henry Profile shirt I've definitely never seen before. Thanks.
Anybody know the real story behind this company?
Video links (apologizing in advance for any screw-ups):
17 comments:
This post is crazy, I don't even remember that company but what an ill line-up. Such a great group. I love those young SF days. Especially living 45mins from it, it was like a dream come true going to SF to skate.
Fit was before Profile? Or vice versa? I don't think I've ever seen a board from either of those companies. Actually, I did see a few Fit boards at a shop in Montreal back in the day. Boards were super skinny and deep concave. Weird combo.
After Blind, it didn't seem like Henry could maintain a board sponsor. One of the greatest "what ifs" in skateboarding is Henry on Girl.
I agree, Henry on girl, wow, would've been the bomb. I love his epicly later'd, that was a great episode, and I loved seeing him do those back tails at 3rd and Chop, he was lookin great on the board.
-anonymous 2-
I shot that Karl Watson switch crooks! I think it was my first full page photo in a magazine... I didn't have a fisheye and i only had one flash. Profile was out of the same place that did Experience, Sam Smyth was the team manager.
Profile came before Fit. But in between the two, Henry rode for Platinum--even though he was kicked off Blind for socking Rocco in the eye. On Slap, he said that on Platinum, he only dealt with Tommy Caudill, the XYZ dude.
ah, "Black Rain"...both nonsensical and racial...did Ahmed Hunt have any other coverage besides that ad?
I agree with the two Anonymous comments about Henry on Girl. But I always thought he'd be more suited to the Chocolate team at the time - Gino, Sanch & Keenan - killer combo!
@frozenincarbonite
So Ahmed's tag was Rain. Thus, the Black Rain in the ad. He had a part in the little promo video they put out. I think he kinda stopped skating not too long after that. I'll see him every once in a great while downtown somewhere.
From what I remember, Profile came out before FIT. I had the little promo video they did. It was actually really damn good. They were all killin' it. I don't think Henry had a part though. I could be wrong.
Yeah, Profile came out of the same place as Experience. A lot of people probably don't know that Cream came out of there too. At one point I think it was Cream, Profile, FIT, C/O Wheels and maybe some other stuff all under the same roof. Not distribution, but same guy backing all the companies. I think he may have spread things a bit too thin and got a little over ambitious. In the end, I think everyone did pretty well themselves. Might have been interesting to see what could've happened if they had the right foundation.
so so good.
lil stevie was/is the illest!
^^^ JayCee...
Experience, Cream, Profile, FIT, C/O Wheels... on paper, those seem like some companies with some really good riders and you're right... it seems like they could've done better if they had a better distro.
The city I grew up in, Ottawa, actually got a bunch of the first Experience boards in... Drake Jones and Jaime Thomas' first pro models. We also got a bunch of Blue shit. Looking back, seems kinda random for smaller companies to make it into a Canadian city with 2 skate shops.
I look at your site from time to time and it always blows me away when i come across a photo i shot and completely forgot about! the first Profile ad (reflection in the mirror) henry asked me to shoot this before lee was officially on the team, the ad ended up running in the mag but lee didn't end up riding for them. Wow that seems like forever ago! Keep it up! always cool to see new posts.
Thanks Dennis... always wondered why Lee was in that shot.
Big fan, man. Congrats on your recent stuff with Huf. Super good.
Experience, Cream, and Pure Wheels were the other companies under that roof. I was one of 5 guys working there. That's including the owner Roger Davis. I team managed, did sales, and packed boxes. I was 18 or so. We had a warehouse on Minna street, in SF, 400 block I think. There was a mini ramp until the other sales guy broke his ankle on it and threatened to sue Roger. No business plan. We just freestyled shit. Had a pretty good time. Henry left the company and we tried to keep it going. Didn't last too much longer. But there is a really good promo vid out there with RBL's "Bammer Weed". I was jobless for almost a year before we got FIT going. Rain was the shit. He came from Hunters Point to EMB to check out the tagging scene down there and got hooked on skating. Super sick style.
y'all could've pretty much called the company IBC. that'd be sick. he sam, saw some dude rocking your Nikes in In-N-Out last night with FJ. hella random. I remember when y'all were working down there at Experience...damn i wish my macbook was working, i really need to update shit.
Sam, you left out 'Beef Tongues' and whatever the name of that short lived bolt company was. Oh and as I remember it was "Blackass Rain"... Same as Blackass Bill and Blackass Guy.
I am looking for this triple cream/profile/experience skate video. It had this really weird edited first part with a nice mixtape style soundtrack. Later there was a part all filmed in San Fransisco with the song bammer weed by rbl posse. I want to find this video bad... if anybody knows anything about it, I would appreciate hearing something. Thanks.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5rIh7GXAjJU
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