Chris Humphris: Graphic Design BA(Hons) graduate
Alex Brinnan, BA(Hons) 3D Design
Chris Humphris, BA(Hons) Graphic Design
Most skate brands come from, or at least should come from, a love for skateboarding and ours is no different in that respect. We only started making longboards after we got into sliding and wanted our own kit. It all took off from there.
As we learnt tricks we designed new kit. Then we were approached by a local retailer about selling our boards in his shop, and Faltown was born.
Sliding, a burgeoning sport in the UK, involves loose fluid skating downhill, with your hands close to the ground - something that the steep gradients and curves of Falmouth are perfect for.
Faltown now sells skateboards around the world and America is really important for us. Sliding is huge over there and thanks to our website, which now gets over 600,000 hits a month, Faltown is becoming a recognised and reputable brand.
Both our courses had a strong practical business focus which proved invaluable. We could apply what we were learning directly to the company.
And it’s not just skateboards: Faltown has developed all the essentials for sliding – including the first DVD ever released to focus its attention on the growing discipline of downhill sliding.
Funding from the South West Investment Group, The Prince’s Trust, Objective One and UCF gave us the leg-up we needed to get Faltown off the ground. Cornwall is a great place to start a new business, with so many young people starting out, it is a very positive environment and the support provided both financially and educationally is outstanding. Plus the incubation scheme the University College runs is just brilliant. They lease out facilities and equipment to graduates to give new business start-ups the helping hand they need.
Studying at Falmouth turned my life around. If someone had told me when I started the course that I would be running my own skateboard brand I would probably have laughed at them. But here we are.
For more information about Faltown please visit: www.faltownskateboards.com
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