By Hali Estrada.
“THOSE WHO FORGET THE PAST ARE CONDEMNED TO THINK THEY ARE ORIGINAL”.
When I started Skateboarding and making my first “Skateboarding clothes” in 1988 there were no Skateshops in Lima and if some stores got Skateboards they sold the complete thing and the quality was extremely bad. It took a couple years for “Surfshops” to start selling just the boards and parts, Skateboarding was getting popular and they saw a demand, but needless to say Surfshops never got the best boards or the latest ones but we had to buy them there cause they were the only ones selling quality Pro Boards. At that time Boards were really expensive in Lima, around $80 with NO Griptape and we had to make them last as long as we could, it was a very bad time and we literally used our boards until they had a 1 inch tail. After some years price got better ( but only a little ) and a couple guys were importing good boards but they weren’t Skateboarders so you never got the perfect size or the best brand or the latest model, only one store got close to be a real Skateshop because they got advice from one of us, but to our despair it closed after a couple years. Some more years passed and Surfshops kept the prices between $70 and sometimes $100 per board, It wasn’t until 1997 when we decided that it was enough and we started importing boards, my brother was in USA and he made our first contacts, I was extremely happy the first time I got the first 10 boards in the mail, they were just blank boards but they were the best quality and the right size. We kept importing boards until 1999 when I moved to USA. It was January 2002 when armed with the latest version of the crappy Corel Draw I started designing the first Choncordia Pro Model.
Peter Chlebowski was a tiny kid when I met him, I remember him landing perfect Switch Heelflips and Switch Frontside Kickflips in 1993 wearing huge pants that I made for him, he was probably 3 feet tall and even though a lot of us were landing those tricks at that time he impressed me more than any other kid, he was incredible. Peter grew up to be one of the best Skateboarders in Peru and In 2002 we turned him Pro for Choncordia.
In 2002 Peter was the first 100% Peruvian Professional Skateboarder living in Peru with a Pro Model selling in USA Stores, this maybe doesn’t sound that extraordinary to a California kid but its a big accomplishment for a Peruvian Skateboarder and he deserved it. After 10 years Peter is still one of the best Skateboarders in Peru and he not only kills it but he is also a humble down to earth guy and Im glad to still call him my friend after so many years. In new years eve 2012 I told him I wanted to Re-Issue his old Board for the 10th Year Anniversary, he was more than happy with the Idea so I got the old Corel Draw file and converted it to Illustrator….. and here they are :).
It comes in the original Green Color and also in 3 new color combos, back in 2002 I didn’t make the fonts so this time I made an improvement, the graphic is exactly the same but the fonts are my take on the original 2002 fonts. Only 25 Boards will be made in each color so get yours while you can :). Im also working on a video with the whole story of Peter, it will be done next week so make sure to come by to check it out, you won’t regret it :).
CFL.
