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Rodney Smith is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and skate company founder from New York City.[1][2]

Career

Shut Skates

Smith founded Shut Skates in 1986 with Bruno Musso.[1] Shut Skates was New York City's first skate company and the world's first entirely street skate-based company.[2] Shortly after its founding, Shut Skates moved its operations from Southern California to New York City, due to the urban, street-savvy attitude of the streets of the East Coast, compared to the former's emphasis on surf culture. The brand went dark in the 1990s when Smith co-founded Zoo York with Eli Morgan Gessner and Adam Schatz. SHUT relaunched in 2006, and in 2007, the company reopened their flagship skate shop on the Lower East Side.[3] The storefront space served the community for 10 years, closing in 2017 with the business moving online.[3]

Zoo York

In 1993, Smith, Eli Morgan Gesner, and Adam Schatz founded Zoo York.[4][5] In 2019, the trio that founded Zoo York was brought back into the company.[6]

All One Universe

In the 2010s, Smith founded skate and lifestyle brand ALL ONE, also known as All One Universe.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b "Rodney Smith". X Games. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  2. ^ a b "Vans & Shut Syndicate/Rodney Smith". Transworld SKATEboarding. 2011-06-01. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  3. ^ a b Perler, Elie (August 21, 2017). "SHUT Skateboards Shutting Down its Orchard Street HQ". Bowery Boogie. Archived from the original on 2021-06-25. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  4. ^ "The History of the Zoo York Mixtape". Red Bull. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  5. ^ "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ZOO YORK?". Jenkem Magazine. 2018-10-01. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  6. ^ Palmieri, Jean E. (2019-09-03). "EXCLUSIVE: Zoo York Brings Back Founders to Create Halo Collection". WWD. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  7. ^ "6 Black-owned Skate Shops". BLK OCEANS. Retrieved 2022-09-21.
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