Chris Pastras (left) and Jason Lee, owners of Stereo Skateboards
While I was at the show on Thursday, word got out that actor
Jason Lee was chilling in the Stereo booth. As people would be with any
celebrity, they were excited to have caught a glimpse and see him actually working
the show. Knowing that Stereo hadn’t been at ASR recently, I decided to see if
I would be able to talk with him and get an update on the company. I took a
step inside and was lucky enough to have both partners, the aforementioned Jason
Lee and Chris Pastras, sitting together.
The two gave me a quick breakdown of the last few years
which goes like this: Being bought by Giant Distribution in 2003 (the company
was founded in 1992) Chris and Jason took a step back to focus on their
personal careers and let Giant run the show. But, the two bought back the
company in the summer of 2006, and made their first appearance as an
independent company at the show this January 2008.
The obvious next question would be, “Why ASR?” to which Jason
said answered matter of factly, “We wanted to be with the hardgoods.” The statement demonstrates the importance of
hardgood companies previewing their line at ASR.
What is also important to Chris, is being able to have one
on one time with the buyers. He said that the great thing about ASR was that
they could, “. . .connect with distributors and shops face to face. As much as we'd like to, we don’t always have the time
to do that individually. It also gives us an opportunity to open new doors and
new accounts."
Knowing that a tradeshow can be grueling, I asked Jason what
brings him to the show—I pointed out that he’s a celebrity, and doesn’t need to
be sitting in a booth making sales for three days. Jason replied that “Stereo
is a passion project, I wouldn’t have been doing this for 15 years otherwise.
Bottom line, I’m still a skateboarder.”
Enough said.
To check out Stereo
Skateboards, click here for more info.
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