Josh Kalis
| Josh Kalis | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 27, 1976 Grand Rapids, Michigan |
| Residence | Carlsbad, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Professional skateboarder |
| Children | 2 |
Josh Kalis (born April 27, 1976) is a professional skateboarder who specializes in "street skateboarding". Kalis was sponsored by Alien Workshop for a significant period of time before switching to board sponsor, DGK, in 2009.
Kalis was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, US.
Alongside Stevie Williams (founder of DGK), Kalis is well known for his involvement in the "LOVE Park" scene in Philadelphia, US, during the late 1990s. LOVE Park (its official name is JFK Plaza) is an inner-city public park situated at the intersection of 16th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard in Center City Philadelphia. Kalis can be seen skating the park in the following videos: Photosynthesis, The DC Video, and Time Code.
Prior to joining the Alien Workshop team, Kalis was planning to collaborate with fellow professional skateboarder Mark Appleyard on their own board company. Following his eventual recruitment to the team, Kalis and Rob Dyrdek then facilitated the recruitment of Anthony Van Engelen (AVE).
Alongside Dyrdek, Kalis has been a longtime rider with the DC Shoes skate shoe company and, as of March 2013, his latest signature shoe, entitled the "Centric S", was released in mid-2012—the Centric S was incorporated into the DC "Rediscover" campaign and Kalis' model received the tagline, "Rediscover Heritage".
Silver Trucks was a brand that was launched in 2003 under the guidance of Dyrdek, an original team rider. Kalis has released signature products with the company, including a skate tool, and other team riders include Brandon Biebel, Chaz Ortiz, and Nyjah Huston.
Kalis left Alien Workshop to join Williams on DGK; Kalis explained the decision-making process in 2009:
Me and Stevie were just talking one day and were saying, "Man, we gotta team back up on somethin'," you know? We were talking about how just stale skateboarding was and how people just don't really hang out with each other anymore. They just kind of skate for companies, whether it be because it's just a cool company or it's a solid paycheck. Whatever, you know? We were just talking about how skateboarding just lost its vibe of friendship and lifestyle, you know?
Kalis has released a signature collection through sunglasses company 9five Eyewear, entitled the "KLS Signature Collection"—an accompanying video was also released to launch the products.
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