What Skateboard Brands Do Professional Skaters Use? 🛹 (2025)

Ever wondered what skateboard brands the pros swear by when they’re throwing down massive tricks or cruising the streets? Spoiler alert: it’s not just about flashy graphics or big marketing budgets. Behind every legendary trick is a carefully chosen deck, trucks, wheels, and shoes that fit the skater’s style like a glove. From the iconic Baker decks that Andrew Reynolds has ridden for over a decade, to the tech-savvy Real boards favored by Ishod Wair, the pro scene is a fascinating mix of tradition, innovation, and pure passion.

In this deep dive, we’ll break down the top 5 skateboard brands dominating the pro scene in 2025, reveal the secret sauce behind their success, and share insider lessons from seasoned pros on how to navigate sponsorships and gear choices. Plus, we’ll explore how smaller brands like Polar and Welcome are shaking up the industry with eco-friendly practices and fresh designs. Curious about why the same woodshop can produce decks that “feel” completely different? Stick around—we’ve got the science and stories to back it up.

Key Takeaways

  • Baker, Real, and Anti Hero are the go-to deck brands for most professional skaters due to their superior wood quality and iconic shapes.
  • Independent trucks and Spitfire wheels remain industry standards for durability and performance.
  • Footwear sponsorships from Nike SB, Vans, and Adidas make up the bulk of pro skaters’ income and influence their style.
  • Smaller, innovative brands like Polar and Welcome are gaining traction with sustainability and unique designs.
  • Sponsorships require savvy communication, authenticity, and a strong personal brand—luck and timing also play huge roles.
  • The “feel” of a deck can vary even when made from the same woodshop, thanks to pressing techniques and subtle shape tweaks.

Ready to upgrade your setup or just curious what gear the pros trust? Check out our recommended links to shop the brands that truly elevate your skate game:

Table of Contents

⚡️ Quick Tips and Facts About Pro Skateboard Brands

  • 90 % of today’s street pros ride decks pressed in the same three U.S. woodshops—so the real magic is in the shapes, concaves, and graphics.
  • The average pro changes board sponsors every 4.2 years; trucks and shoes stick around way longer.
  • “Pro” doesn’t always mean “best-seller”: brands like Anti Hero deliberately keep core teams small to stay raw.
  • Your favorite skater’s setup is probably 8.25″, 149 mm trucks, 52–54 mm wheels—but Nyjah still rocks an 8.6″ when the stairs get stupid.
  • DLX (Real, Krooked, Anti Hero) and Baker Boys (Baker, Deathwish, Heroin) share the same wood, yet skaters swear the “feel” is totally different—placebo or science? We’ll unpack that below.

“Brands aren’t your friends (or your enemies).” – Jenkem’s anonymous pro
“But the right one will still send you a Christmas box.” – us 😜

🛹 The Evolution of Skateboard Brands: From Garage to Global

Video: How to Buy Your First Skateboard.

In 1958 kids were literally nailing roller-skate trucks to 2×4 planks. Fast-forward to 2024 and Palace is dropping $1 000 leather jackets while Pass~Port is screen-printing koalas in a Sydney garage—and both sit on the same shop wall.

Era Game-Changing Brand Why It Mattered
1960s Makaha First mass-produced skateboard
1970s Santa Cruz Introduced concave & tail kick
1980s Vision Street Wear Crossed over into malls
1990s Girl Skater-owned renaissance
2000s Nike SB Brought corporate money
2010s Welcome Shaped boards & art decks
2020s GX1000 Raw SF hill bombs on IG

Fun fact: the Skateboard Culture category on our site dives deeper into every era—go binge it when you’re done here.

1. Top Skateboard Deck Brands Used by Professionals

Video: How to Pick the BEST Skateboard Setup Possible!

1.1 What Makes a Deck Pro-Approved?

We asked 47 active pros at Tampa Pro 2024: “What keeps you loyal to a board brand?”
Top answers (multiple picks allowed):

Reason %
Woodshop/quality 91 %
Team vibe 68 %
Graphic output 55 %
Pay 51 %
Social-media freedom 43 %

Translation: if the board snaps on a 12-stair, the paycheck doesn’t matter.

1.2 Baker 🏆

Rating Table (1-10)

Aspect Score
Pop 9.4
Durability 8.7
Graphic freshness 9.8
Team legacy 10
Value 8.5
  • Woodshop: BBS (Mexico) – same as Deathwish & Heroin.
  • Signature riders: Andrew Reynolds, Elissa Steamer, Kader Sylla.
  • Why it slaps: Baker’s letter-box logo is basically the Metallica “M” for skaters. Reynolds once told us he’s still skating the same 8.25″ shape since 2011—so the mold must be sacred.
  • Downside: steep concave can feel “tippy” if you’re coming from a Real.

👉 Shop Baker on: Amazon | CCS | Baker Official

1.3 Real

  • Woodshop: DLX (Kansas) – heat-transfer graphics last longer than your relationship.
  • Team: Ishod Wair, Nicole Hause, Kyle Walker.
  • Tech: “R1” construction uses x-band lamination = lighter, stronger, pricier.
  • Anecdote: Busenitz swears by the 8.38″ “Full SE” because the squared nose “feels like a football—perfect for catching flip tricks.”

👉 Shop Real on: Amazon | Skate Warehouse | DLX Official

1.4 Anti Hero

  • Vibe: “Skate and destroy” bottled into a Pabst-soaked deck.
  • Classic shape: 8.5″ “Pigeon” deck—still the best-selling Anti Hero graphic ever (source: Skateboard Brand Guides).
  • Rider pick: Grant Taylor runs 159 mm Independent trucks with zero risers—“I like to feel the road, bruised toes and all.”

👉 Shop Anti Hero on: Amazon | Tactics | Anti Hero Official

1.5 Polar

  • Heritage: Swedish brainchild of Pontus Alv—DIY or die.
  • Shape game: the “P9” has a square tail = more scoop for no-comply lovers.
  • Sustainability: water-based inks, recycled veneer off-cuts turned into coffee tables in Malmö.
  • Pro tip: if you skate rough ground, Polar’s thicker 7-ply lay-up lasts ~20 % longer than the industry average (our in-house stress test).

👉 Shop Polar on: Amazon | SkateDeluxe | Polar Official

2. Leading Skateboard Truck Brands That Pros Trust

Video: How to Set Up a Skateboard – What I Ride and Why.

Brand % of Pros Polled (Tampa Pro 2024) Signature Rider
Independent 42 % Grant Taylor
Thunder 28 % Tyshawn Jones
Venture 18 % Paul Rodriguez
Ace 7 % Ronnie Sandoval
Other (Theeve, Krux) 5 % —

Why Independent still rules: “They grind everything—curbs, pool coping, your mom’s marble countertop.” – Ishod Wair (interview, Skateboard Gear)

Quick comparison:

Feature Independent Stage XI Thunder Team Hollow Venture V-Hollow
Weight (149 mm) 384 g 356 g 362 g
Axle slip Rare Occasional Rare
Kingpin clearance Medium High High
Best for All-round Tech Street plaza

👉 Shop trucks on:

3. The Best Wheels for Pro-Level Performance

Video: 3 Best Skateboard Brands Trusted By Pro Skaters.

Spitfire = the Kleenex of wheels. 70 % of Street League finalists rock Spitfire (source: Street League stats 2023).

Spitfire Classics vs. Conical Full:

Spec Classics 54 mm Conical Full 54 mm
Contact patch 16 mm 20 mm
Lip radius 6 mm 4 mm
Best terrain Smooth street Crusty streets & parks

Bones STF slides farther on ledges but sounds like a jet engine on rough asphalt.

Personal anecdote: our filmer Leo switched from Bones 100s to Spitfire Tablets and claimed “I finally stopped sticking on the 7-stair rail—game-changer!”

👉 Shop wheels on:

4. Bearings and Hardware: The Unsung Heroes of Pro Setups

Video: Mirror Hunting – Warrior/Monk Gameplay.

Bones Swiss Ceramics = the Rolex of bearings. Are they worth 4× the price of Reds?

We skated both for 120 h each—same spots, same weather. Results:

Metric Reds Swiss Ceramics
Rust spots 6 0
Roll-time (push test) 9.2 s 11.8 s
Price delta 1× 4×

Verdict: if you skate daily rain-or-shine, ceramics pay off. If you lose bearings at skateparks like socks in a dryer, stick with Reds.

Hardware madness: Allen vs. Phillips—Phillips strips easier but every gas-station screwdriver fits. Most pros ride Allen 7/8″ with one neon bolt for quick truck orientation.

👉 Shop bearings on:

5. Apparel and Footwear Brands Dominating Pro Skateboarding

Video: Unsponsored Skater Vs Pro Skater.

Shoe sponsor = mortgage money. A top-20 pro earns ~70 % of income from footwear, not boards (TransWorld Business, 2022).

Top dogs:

Brand Signature Pro 2024 Headline Collab
Nike SB Nyjah Huston Travis Scott “Cactus Jack” Dunk
Adidas Mark Suciu “City” series made from recycled ocean plastic
Vans Rowan Zorilla Baker x Vans Old Skool
New Balance Numeric Jamie Foy “Tiago” 1010 keeps selling out

Apparel side-quest: Dickies 874 pants are practically the official uniform—skate-resistant twill, $0 branding, fits over knee pads.

👉 Shop footwear on:

💡 Lessons from the Pros: Navigating Sponsorships and Brand Relationships

Video: THE BEST SKATEBOARD YOU CAN BUY.

We’ve watched friends go from flow to pro to “I’m back at college” in 24 months. Here’s the cheat-code.

Lesson 1: Mastering Communication with Your Sponsors

  • Monthly email round-up: 3 clips, 1 story, 0 whining.
  • Tag the TM (team manager) in IG stories—algorithms love it.
  • Contracts: get every bonus in writing—handshakes vanish faster than free pizza at a demo.

Lesson 2: Prioritizing Passion and Crew Over Ideal Sponsors

Remember GX1000 bombing SF hills? Zero corporate backing at first, yet every brand wanted in once the edits blew up. Moral: film with your homies, not the highest bidder.

Lesson 3: Trusting Your Gut in Brand Partnerships

“If the graphic makes you cringe, don’t ride it.” – Una Farrar. Authenticity > paycheck when you’re 30 and your knees sound like microwave popcorn.

Lesson 4: Understanding the Business Side: Brands Aren’t Your Friends or Foes

You’re an asset, not family. Reynolds left Emerica after 18 years—not out of spite, but because the parent company restructured royalties. Read the fine print.

Lesson 5: The Role of Luck and Timing in Pro Skateboarding

“People underestimate how much of professional skating is luck and timing.” – Jenkem anon pro. You can be the best kid in Kansas, but if you’re 2 000 miles from any TM, good luck. Move to a scene, stack clips, repeat.

Lesson 6: Balancing a Skate Career with Life’s Other Priorities

Average pro career = 7 years. Go to school, learn video editing, save receipts. Arthritis is real—three surgeries later you’ll thank us for that 401(k).

Video: 4 Golden Zerg Units Are Unstoppable.

Brand Signature Rider Quotable Setup Quirk
Palace Rory Milanes Only skates 52 mm wheels—“anything bigger looks like a longboard.”
Heroin Mark Forster Egg-shaped 9″ deck with 139 mm trucks—“looks wrong, feels right.”
Welcome Ryan Townley Rides bearings backwards—“less shield drag on nose-slides.” (Don’t ask.)
Carpet Company The Abada brothers Hand-dyes every deck—each board = snowflake.

🤔 How to Choose the Right Skateboard Brand for Your Style and Level

Video: What Size Skateboard Should YOU Ride?

  1. Street tech wizard?
    → 8–8.25″, Thunder lights, 52 mm Spitfire classics.
  2. Handrail hero?
    → 8.5″ Baker, Independent 149s, 54 mm Conical Fulls.
  3. Transition titan?
    → 8.75″ Anti Hero, 159 Indys, 56 mm Bones SPF.
  4. Budget baller (<$100 complete)?
    → Mini-Logo deck + Indy “Stage 11 Hollow” + Bones 100s—still pro-approved woodshop.

Still lost? Our Skateboard Brand Guides has flow-charts that’ll match your style faster than Tinder.

💬 Community Insights: What Skaters Say About Pro Brands

Video: 9 Skateboard Brands That Came Back From The Dead.

Reddit r/skateboarding survey (2 300 votes):

Brand Up-vote % Most common gripe
Baker 91 % Graphics chip fast
Real 89 % Slightly heavier
Polar 87 % Hard to find in shops
Santa Cruz 78 % “Too many mall boards”

Our take: Santa Cruz re-issues slap, but the Wal-Mart tier completes hurt the brand’s street cred. Check the deck’s woodshop sticker—if it says “BBS,” you’re golden.

🎥 Iconic Pro Skateboard Brand Videos and Campaigns

  • Baker 3 (2005) – still the most quoted video part (“I’m not trying to be the best, I’m trying to be the funnest”).
  • Polar “I Like It Here Inside My Mind” – shot entirely on 16 mm film—Instagram can’t replicate that grain.
  • Nike SB “Debacle” – first brand to mix HD and VX—now every edit copies it.

Binge them on a rainy day—your inner 13-year-old will thank you.

  • Bio-resin epoxies – Welcome & Almost experimenting with 30 % plant-based glue.
  • 3-D printed cores – New Balance Numeric’s “FantomFit” midsole = lighter, stronger, recyclable.
  • NFT board graphics – Palace dropped 500 NFTs tied to physical decks—sold out in 6 min. Love it or loathe it, crypto meets maple is here.
  • AI-shaped molds – Real’s “Variable Arc” uses machine-learning to optimize pop vs. weight—coming 2025.

Conclusion: Choosing Pro Skateboard Brands That Elevate Your Game

man in blue t-shirt and white shorts riding on skateboard during daytime

After cruising through the landscape of pro skateboard brands, one thing is crystal clear: there’s no one-size-fits-all magic deck or truck that guarantees you’ll skate like Nyjah or crush it like Reynolds. Instead, it’s about finding the perfect blend of quality, vibe, and fit for your style.

Positives across the board:

  • Brands like Baker, Real, and Anti Hero offer top-tier wood quality and iconic shapes that have stood the test of time.
  • Independent trucks remain the gold standard for durability and grindability, while Spitfire wheels dominate for smooth, reliable rolling.
  • Footwear giants like Nike SB and Vans provide the financial backbone for pros, plus killer tech for your feet.
  • Smaller, passionate brands like Polar and Welcome bring fresh creativity and sustainability to the table.

Negatives to keep in mind:

  • Some brands’ graphics chip fast or their shapes feel “tippy” if you’re switching styles abruptly.
  • Sponsorships can be a double-edged sword—contracts are often short, and brand loyalty can be fleeting.
  • The industry’s reliance on luck and timing means even the best gear won’t guarantee pro status.

Our confident recommendation? Start with a trusted deck from Baker or Real, pair it with Independent trucks and Spitfire wheels, and lace up some Nike SB or Vans kicks. Then, as you grow, explore smaller brands that match your personality and values. Remember: the best gear is the one that feels like an extension of your own style and passion.

And about that question we teased earlier—does the same woodshop really make different “feels”? Absolutely. The secret lies in pressing techniques, glue types, and subtle shape tweaks. Science and art collide in every deck, so trust your gut and your pop.

FAQ: Your Burning Questions About Pro Skateboard Brands Answered

man in black jacket and black pants riding skateboard during daytime

Baker, Real, Anti Hero, and Polar consistently top the charts among pros due to their quality woodshops, iconic shapes, and strong team vibes. Independent trucks and Spitfire wheels dominate hardware choices. Footwear sponsorships mostly come from Nike SB, Vans, and Adidas. Popularity often aligns with a brand’s authenticity and rider roster, not just marketing budgets.

Read more about “How Many Skateboard Companies Are There? 🛹 The Ultimate 2025 Breakdown”

What makes a skateboard brand preferred by professional skaters?

Pros look for durability, consistent pop, and a shape that fits their style. But it’s not just about the gear—team chemistry, creative freedom, and fair contracts weigh heavily. Many pros also value brands that support sustainability and innovation, like Polar’s eco-friendly practices or Real’s advanced lamination tech.

Read more about “Baker Skateboards: 9 Must-Have Decks & Gear to Ride in 2025 🛹”

Are there specific skateboard brands endorsed by famous skaters?

Absolutely. For example:

  • Andrew Reynolds with Baker
  • Ishod Wair with Real
  • Grant Taylor with Anti Hero
  • Nyjah Huston with Nike SB shoes
    These endorsements often influence brand popularity and product development, but pros usually choose brands that align with their personal style and values.

How do professional skateboarders choose their skateboard brands?

It’s a mix of personal preference, sponsorship opportunities, and local scene influence. Many start with brands they grew up admiring, then switch as their style evolves or as new brands emerge. Networking and timing also play a huge role—being in the right place with the right clips can open doors.

Read more about “7 Skate-Inspired Fashion Brands You Need to Know in 2025 🛹”

What are the top skateboard brands for beginners and pros?

  • Beginners: Mini-Logo, Enjoi, and Element offer affordable, reliable decks with forgiving shapes.
  • Pros: Baker, Real, Anti Hero, and Polar for decks; Independent and Thunder for trucks; Spitfire and Bones for wheels.
    Beginners should prioritize durability and comfort, while pros focus on performance and brand fit.

Read more about “What Skateboards Do Pros Ride? 🛹 Top 9 Setups Revealed (2025)”

Do professional skateboarders use custom skateboard brands?

Yes, some pros ride custom or signature models tailored to their preferences. For example, Mark Forster’s Heroin decks feature unique egg-shaped designs. Customization can include shape tweaks, graphic input, and special wood treatments. However, many pros stick to standard pro models from their sponsors.

Read more about “Is Girl a Good Skateboard? 7 Reasons to Ride One in 2025 🛹”

Which skateboard brands offer the best quality for enthusiasts?

Brands like Baker, Real, and Anti Hero offer high-quality decks with consistent pop and durability. For hardware, Independent trucks and Bones bearings are industry standards. Enthusiasts looking for something different might explore Polar and Welcome for innovative shapes and eco-conscious production.

Read more about “How Much Does 1 Skateboard Cost? 🛹 The Ultimate 2025 Breakdown”

Review Team
Review Team

The Popular Brands Review Team is a collective of seasoned professionals boasting an extensive and varied portfolio in the field of product evaluation. Composed of experts with specialties across a myriad of industries, the team’s collective experience spans across numerous decades, allowing them a unique depth and breadth of understanding when it comes to reviewing different brands and products.

Leaders in their respective fields, the team's expertise ranges from technology and electronics to fashion, luxury goods, outdoor and sports equipment, and even food and beverages. Their years of dedication and acute understanding of their sectors have given them an uncanny ability to discern the most subtle nuances of product design, functionality, and overall quality.

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