Jason Salfi

  Does your company make skateboard attire and accessories? If so, are those green?

We make t-shirts and sweatshirts from organic cotton, but our focus is really on boards and decks.

  Are skateboarders likely to be pro-environment?

  Not more than any other group. In the past, skateboarders have been seen as cultural iconoclasts and progressive thinkers. There is definitely a conciousness among skateboaraders and they are always willing to learn.

  How would you describe your customer?

It's a really broad, diverse group of people. From 11- to 12-year-old kids to 45-year-old women. It amazes me that kids that dress totally differently and talk differently from each other all gravitate toward longboards. We get a lot of attention for being a triple bottom line company, but we focus as much on high quality as on sustainability.

  What is the biggest challenge you have faced?

  Staying in business. Margins are tough in this industry, but getting better. It is a challenge not to compromise values in the face of competition from other manufacturers, especially overseas manufacturing. But things are going really well today.

  How are you green?

  My wife and I share a car, a Prius. Driving a Prius is kind of cliché at this point, but it's the fact that we share a car. I get to work by biking or skateboarding everyday. In the winter, I either bike or carpool.  

  This is the first year that we are part of a CSA (community supported agriculture) pretty close to our house. My three-year-old daughter gets to go to the farm and pick produce once a week. It is great to interact with the community and become friends with people who are not like us. We don't like to be with people who are just like us.

  More than anything, I try to relate to people on a human level and be a good teacher. I have been engaged in environmental justice or sustainable buisness my whole life, but I realized I was doing all this work outside my home. It is most important to instill good values in my child and raise her in a conscious matter so that she lives a good life