Omen Longboards: Synonymous with localism and doing things right

Omen Longboards is a brand that started with Carbon Matrix, a collaboration between a group of local Seattle skateboarders, including Nate Blackburn and Trevor Preston. Omen didn't have a physical location at the time, so Matrix outsourced to a local company. Due to the relatively low price (compared to other carbon boards), Omen gained notoriety fairly quickly. After just under a year, Omen secured space in a North Seattle garage and began producing the first Pike prototypes.

Omen is synonymous with localism and doing things right. All their research and development takes place in their own store in Seattle. In that same location, all their boards are built, their t-shirts are printed, and their videos are shot and edited.

Get the picture?

They stem from the shared ideas of local skateboarders, which is why Omen always insists that they are indebted to them and the Seattle skate scene. The important thing about this brand is that they never sacrifice the quality of their handmade boards to facilitate more sales, they never outsource any part of the production process and, with the sole exception of the Canadian maple they use for their boards, they never use any material that is not sourced in the United States.


What makes Omen boards different?

Using huge hydraulic presses and a multi-phase heating process, they give each of their boards a spectacular concave outline designed to facilitate one or more types of riding. Part of the reason they are able to give their boards a particularly dramatic concave is that the climate in Seattle is quite humid, so the lumber they store in the warehouse has a naturally higher moisture content.

This means they can subject a board to intense heat and pressure without it cracking as quickly as it would in a very dry environment. One of the most unique and immediately noticeable aspects of their boards is the graphics. While many companies use large adhesives to cover the board as the last step in production, Omen applies their graphics before they even press the board. Because they are using a completely in-house screen printing process, they have the freedom to use whatever color schemes they want and to easily change the graphics to customize the boards. It's a less efficient process, true, but this brand is convinced that the finished product looks better this way.

Their boards have a more unique look because no two are exactly alike. In addition, they hand paint all the exposed wood grain on the sides and wheel wells because they think it looks horrible and they don't like to see the layers of wood and glue exposed when the wells are cut.

When it comes to research and development, Omen Longboard is way ahead of its time, as they do research as few other companies do. Keep in mind that Omen grew out of the Northwest skate scene, so they are indebted to the skateboarders and fans that helped them get where they are.

That is why Omen manages to find a formula that can work for their target market. Because they go through their research process, first with the help of those skaters. They do a certain amount of testing to find out if they work or not, and it is on the street that they are tested. Omen is that and losing sight of it would send the company in a direction that no one there is interested in.

Omen's challenges:

Probably the most challenging aspect of starting a new company is generating interest in the product on a limited budget. Omen was fortunate to have the support of local stores early on, which helped them get their boards a good reputation. In the early days they were really experimenting with pressing and applying graphics, so they were forced to do a lot of tweaking and post-production work to produce decent-looking Pikes. Their original screens for the Pike were handmade from wood and warped within a few months, so for a while, they were tinkering with almost every board they made.

Definitely, Omen is a brand that has been growing exponentially and that, as we said at the beginning, is synonymous with American localism. Therefore, it would always be a good option for you to get started in a world of longboards that has been growing day by day. More and more people are joining this movement and see longboarding, as more than a sport, a passion. Longboard and Omen is the favorite combination.

Learn more about Omen and other brands on our Longboards USA page and find out more information that may interest you, and we even invite you to check out the hundreds of longboards we have for you.