About Us/Frequently Asked Questions

Zeppelin Aero Works is a small, independent, 100% skater-owned and operated skateboard brand that produces premium quality skateboards and wheels inspired by the '60s, '70s, '80s, and early '90s.

 

The Owners

Zeppelin Aero Works is owned and operated by myself (formerly of The Cleveland Superboard Factory and Concrete Wave Magazine) and Laura Richards, my better half.

While I represent that aging industry veteran, middle-aged skater with well over forty years on board, Laura represents that middle-aged woman that just took up skating a couple years ago, making her a relative newbie.

It’s probably pretty unusual for a skateboard company to have ownership that represents both extreme ends of the skating experience spectrum.

But here at Zeppelin Aero Works, we consider that a real asset.

In our day jobs, I manage my father’s trucking company, and Laura is a high school Spanish teacher.

Zeppelin Aero Works is something that we do, for fun, on the side.


The Basic Idea

Zeppelin Aero Works is aimed squarely at the middle-aged, adult skateboarder (minus the Kevin Dukes Westfall and Cody Bellgardt models, which are proving themselves to be quite popular with teenagers and young adults). Zeppelin Aero Works just might be the very first skateboard company in history to specifically serve the adult skateboard market.

We make limited-edition, modern reinterpretations of the skateboards from the mid 1960's, through the late 1970’s and late 1980’s, with a little bit of early 1990’s, a few surf skates, and a couple of funny looking “street” decks tossed in for good measure.

We also make a line of modernized double radial wheels (the Helium SRs) and single conical wheels (the Helium SCs), along with a hybrid radial/conical design (the Helium SH).

In short: we make products that are either really hard, or absolutely impossible, to find anywhere else.


American Engineered, American Made: Transparency In Sourcing

All of our decks and wheels are made in the USA. Our boards are made at Madrid in Huntington Beach, California, while our wheels are poured at AEND in Hutto, Texas.

In every way, our products are made of the very best materials possible, by the very best craftsmen (and craftswomen) in the world. Everything that we make is made in small, discreet production runs, to extremely high standards. We're very passionate about what we do and what we make. 

We are very, very proud to be able to say this.

The quality of our products reflects this purposeful passion.

Price Versus Value

Although we don't make the most inexpensive (i.e., "the cheapest") stuff in the world... we believe that the long-lasting, highly durable, quality products that we make, along with our excellent customer service both during and after the sale, do deliver full value for the money spent. If and when you buy a Zeppelin Aero Works product, you can expect many months to years of enjoyment from that product; you might even find yourself handing it down to your next of kin when you pass.

"Quality", after all, is built to last a very, very long time.


The Art

That’s all done by me. For better or for worse, I’m the guy to blame for all of the art direction around here. Apologies...


Hand Screened Heat Transfers

We get asked a lot if our graphics are hand screened or heat transferred. The answer is: both. They are hand-screened heat transfers.

Likewise: we also get asked pretty often if we use spot colors, or the CMYK process in our graphics. Again, the answer is: both. Our graphics are a combination of spot colors and CMYK.

We use both formats in our graphics so that we can utilize as many colors as our hearts desire.

I tend to go slightly overboard with that, as you might expect. Most of our graphics would represent a minimum of twelve to fifteen spot colors; several graphics have combined upwards of thirty to forty individual colors.

When we decide to go completely nutty on a graphic, well, we go completely nutty on that graphic.

 

And we go completely nutty on graphics pretty regularly around here.


Indianapolis, Indiana or Phoenix, Arizona?

Again: a bit of both, really.

Zeppelin Aero Works was conceived in 2005 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Several of our graphics were drawn there, as were many of our shapes.

However: we didn't actually launch the company until 2020 from our new home in Phoenix, Arizona, where we still reside today.

The graphics that were drawn in Indianapolis carry the "Indianapolis, Indiana, USA" tag while the graphics that were drawn in Phoenix carry the "Phoenix, Arizona, USA" tag.

We like to give credit where credit is due.


Authorized Dealers

Zeppelin Aero Works products are also available at these quality skateboard retailers:

Sk8 Supply, San Diego, CA, www.sk8supply.com
SoCal Skateshop, Mission Viejo, CA, www.socalskateshop.com
Sidewalk Surfer, Scottsdale, AZ, www.sidewalksurfer.com
The Dark Slide, Des Moines, IA, www.thedarkslide.com
Old Skull Skateboards, www.oldskullskateboards.com


Our Warranty

All Zeppelin Aero Works products are guaranteed to be free of defects in materials and workmanship for ninety days from the date of purchase.

If you have any issue with any of our products, feel free to reach out to us at any time.

Please include pictures of the problem product. It helps us immensely, and will likely save you a ginormous pain in your butt as well.

 

Support Small, Support Independent, Support American

Laura and I make every attempt to do this at every turn (wherever it is plausible and practical to do so). We'd be extremely giddy if our friends, family, and followers followed suit.


Thank you so much! We appreciate each and every one of you!

 

 

Bud Stratford and Laura Richards
Owners, Zeppelin Aero Works