By Hali Estrada.
Everything started a long time ago in 1988, thats when we fell in love with our “useless wooden toy”; Back in those years I was part of one of the first Skateboarding Crews in Peru; The Discordia. We used to get together early in the mornings at my house to watch videos before going to Skate all day, it was a ritual for us, we wanted to do the tricks we saw in those videos and we also wanted to look like those Professional Skateboarders, their style and their clothes were so different than what we were used to, but It was really hard to find the right clothes in 1988 cause nobody was making clothes specially for Skateboarding; Then in 1989 we saw how “Ban This” and “Hokus Pokus” started a revolution in Street Skating, I think thats when Skateboarding literally became our life.
The style everybody had in those videos was inspiring for me, I wanted to look like those guys so one day I decided to buy some fabric and with the help of my Mom I sewed my first pair of Skateboard pants, later that day my friends asked me to make some for them too and only a couple of days later to my surprise I sold my first pair of Pants.
At that time the best Skateboarding Crew in Peru was the “Chongo”, they were amazing, but little by little my Crew got to their level, we were constantly pushing each others, we became friends and together we improve our techniques until one day we decided to combine the 2 Crews in 1 big family, from then on we were known as CHONCORDIA.
In 1991 “Video Days” came out and in 1992 “Tim and Henrys pack of Lies”, “The Questionable Video” and “Love Child” followed, changing street Skateboarding once again. I remember it was an exciting time for us and I watched those videos more than a thousand times. I was sewing since 1988 so by 1992 my skills making clothes allowed me to copy the clothes used by the best Skateboarders in the world, not only the pants used in “Questionable” ( The pants Howard wears in the video ) but also the Hoodies and Tshirts, matching the colors and fittings.
After 1993 Skateboarding lost popularity and a lot of my friends quit Skating, our childhood crew was almost gone and only the truly passionate were left, Ironically it was the beginning of the best time in Skateboarding, it became super technical and even more exciting, the progression to Switch Tricks was natural, for me at least it made sense, we were already doing Nollie Flips so The first time I saw my brother Gunther land a Switch Hard Flip and a Switch Inward Heelflip was for me not only shocking but also the obvious next step.
It was 1995 and Skateboarding was evolving super fast and even more people from our original Crew quit Skating, the new generations were starting to appear and we were becoming the “old guys”, but my childhood Crew name was always in my heart and wherever I went I told young people about it, by that time I was selling more Clothing and I started to embroider CHONCORDIA on the pockets without even realizing it was the beggining of a lifetime endeavor. To my Parents sadness I quit studying Economy at the University and I started to learn Silkscreening, Pattern Making and Illustration, my skills with the sewing machine were better and my parents understood that this was my call so they encouraged me to keep going and they still doing it to this day.
By 1996-97 Choncordia Clothing was well known in Peru and Kids that otherwise would’ve forgot or never even knew the name of my childhood Crew were wearing the stuff I was making with the word Choncordia embroidered or printed on it, I started Sponsoring kids and Choncordia wasn’t just a Crew anymore, it was a real Team with the deepest strongest roots than any other one in Peru, being part of the Family was a privilege.
At the end of 1997 my Brother Gunther had the chance to come to USA for 3 months, at one point in his trip he went to San Francisco and it was a dream come true for him; When he came back to Lima he got some contacts and the drive for bigger things; by July 1998 we got our first blank Boards arriving in Lima, we didn’t have to overpay $80 anymore at Surfshops, we were gonna ride blank Choncordia Skateboards now. He traveled again in 1998 and in 1999 I left Peru and joined him. The first Choncordia PRO-Model came out in 2002, The Peter Chlebowski PRO-deck was not only a dream come true but the First PRO Model of a Peruvian Skateboarder released and sold in USA. By 2003 I started to design more and more and the “San Pedro” Team deck came out by June along with stickers, tshirts and the first jackets. By 2004 we were already installed in OC California and in 2006 I bought 2 industrial sewing machines to start producing better and more customized tshirts, pants and Jackets that I sold at Skateparks whenever I went to Skate.
By 2007 I left Orange County and made the move to Los Angeles with my Sewing Machines and Silkscreening equipment; in 2008 I had the chance to make and design the actual Fabrics so By 2009 I was designing not only the Clothing but also the fabrics, building the websites, doing all the Illustrations for the banners, stickers, Tshirts and sewing and printing each piece of garment one by one…. all from my little Studio in Los Angeles.
In 2011 I started designing Boards again and we found the perfect Woodshop right in California to make great 100% Made in USA Boards; So by February of 2011 the first PRO-Models of Sebastian Arrieta, Giancarlo Zavalaga and Jesus Olcese came out setting the beginning of another new chapter for our little Company. We are proud to say that we are one of the few Skater Owned Companys in the USA, we are not a big Company making huge production runs in China and all our stuff is made right here, by us. We are just Skateboarders, we’ve been doing it for more than 25 Years and we will never quit. Choncordia Skateboards took many years of work, dedication and love for Skateboarding and unlike other little Companys that die or simply disappear we will always be here because this is who we are.
Its been a long time since my first Ollie and Im sure I’ll never stop; Skateboarding is full of art, originality, color and mainly freedom from wherever I see it and it became a healthy obsession for me growing up, it inspired me since day one and Choncordia Skateboards is the result of all that inspiration. Every time I Skate alone or with my friends, every time im done sewing a hoodie, drawing a new Board graphic or silkscreening a tshirt in my little studio im grateful that I can keep doing what I love and thankful to all the fun times, inspiration and ideas Skateboarding gives me with it’s talented, Skateboarders, Artists and Entrepreneurs, it’s been a long time and im still having FUN :).
Hali Estrada, Frontside Noselide, Stoner Plaza, Santa Monica, CA.
Photo: Gunther Estrada, 2012.
