Alien Workshop

Alien Workshop (AWS) is an independent American skateboarding company that was founded in 1990 by Chris Carter, Mike Hill, and Neil Blender in Dayton, Ohio. Following periods under the ownership of the Burton snowboard company and original team rider Rob Dyrdek in 2012 , the company was acquired by Pacific Vector Holdings in October 2013. Alien Workshop produced skateboard decks, wheels, apparel, and other skateboard accessories prior to its closure in May 2014. In 2015, Alien Workshop was revived with an all-amateur team and distribution through Tum Yeto. They released a series of new skate decks and Bunker Down, the brand's sixth video. As of 2016, Alien Workshop, led by Mike Hill phased out working with Tum-Yeto and moved all operations back to the Mound Laboratories in Miamisburg, Ohio. After a tumultuous ownership history they have returned to operations as an independent company.

Carter, Hill and Blender decided to form a company based in Dayton, Ohio, United States (U.S.), at a time when the skateboard industry's core was located in California. Early team rider Duane Pitre recalls attending a meeting in California and feeling excited about the concept of an innovative Midwestern company, which initially adapted the logo of the eatery that the Californian meeting occurred in. The nascent company's first video was titled Memory Screen (1991), and featured a team that consisted of Dyrdek, Pitre, Bo Turner, John Pryor, Scott Conklin, Steve Clear and Thomas Morgan.

Following the release of Memory Screen, the company's focus on video production was equivalent to the products it was producing and Timecode was released in 1997, featuring new team riders Josh Kalis—who would remain with the brand for over 10 years—Lenny Kirk and Fred Gall, who would later ride for Habitat. While Memory Screen was 41 minutes-long, Timecode's duration was only 21 minutes and consisted of full parts from three out of the nine skateboarders in the video.

Around the year 2000, the company hired Joe Castrucci to oversee the production of the Photosynthesis video—Castrucci would later oversee the development of the Habitat skateboard deck brand, which joined Alien Workshop under the DNA Distribution parent company that was created internally, and enlisted Alien Workshop riders, such as Kerry Getz and Danny Garcia, for the new brand. DNA Distribution, also known as the "Sovereign Sect," also consisted of the Reflex (bearings) brand—Guy Mariano and Kareem Campbell are two professional skateboarders who were sponsored by Reflex.

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