World Industries
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| Private | |
| Founded | 1987 |
| Founders | Steve Rocco, Rodney Mullen, Mike Vallely |
| Headquarters | Santa Monica, California, U.S., United States |
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Key people
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Rodney Mullen, Steve Rocco, Mike Vallely, Frank Messmann, Scott Drouillard, Marc McKee |
| Products | Skateboarding equipment, clothing, shoes, accessories, videos; snowboards, outerwear, etc. |
| Owner | i.e. Distribution |
| Parent | Nuyna Guya Jore |
| Website | worldindustries.com |
World Industries is a skateboarding company that offers skateboarding products, accessories and clothing. The company was founded by Steve Rocco in 1987. In 1988, Rocco was joined by skater, Rodney Mullen, and then Mike Vallely in 1989. As of 2007, World Industries is owned by i.e. Distribution. It also makes and sells Longboards
In late-1989, Mark Gonzales approached Rocco with the desire to be involved in his own company. Gonzales was riding for Vision which was the largest skateboard company at the time. Gonzales and Rocco decided to name the company Blind, in contrast to Gonzales' former sponsor. Jason Lee, who was, at the time, a World Industries team member, assisted with the development of the brand.
In 1991, wanting to break from H-Street, co-founder Mike Ternasky formed the company Plan B with an exclusive production and distribution alliance with World Industries. In the deal, Plan B marketed itself from San Diego while World Industries did the rest, paying a royalty fee to Plan B.} Mike Ternasky was able to convince perennial freestyle world championRodney Mullen to switch to street skating thus becoming a member of the Plan B team.
In September 1993, Rick Howard defected with seven other riders from the fold of World Industries and started Girl. Mike Ternasky was killed in a car accident in 1994. Plan B and World Industries parted ways in 1997, and was run by Danny Way and Colin McKay, closing its doors shortly thereafter in 1998. In March 2005, Plan B was resurrected by team member and part-owner, Danny Way.
As a direct response to Plan B's departure, Rodney Mullen created A-Team along with Marc Johnson, Gershon Mosley, Dave Mayhew, and Chet Thomas.
The years of 1996 to 1999 were years of significant restructuring and explosive growth for the company, led by the newly appointed executives, and subsequent shareholders, CEO Frank Messman and CFO Scott Drouillard. By the end of 1998, World Industries and Blind had achieved the status of number one and number two brands in skateboard hardgoods. This was in large part due to the re-positioning of the brands with Marc McKee's hugely popular cartoon characters of Devilman, Flame Boy and Wet Willy for World Industries, and the "Blind Reaper" for Blind..
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