Darkstar Skateboards is a skate brand founded in 1997 in El Segundo, California by two brothers: Chet and Matt Thomas. It was named after the song of the same name by the rock band Grateful Dead. Firstly, Darkstar was a skateshop that soon became the Darkstar Wheels brand. As soon as they started creating boards, they renamed themselves Darkstar Skateboards.

Who owns the brand?

Long independent, Dwindle bought the brand after a few years. It then joined the group with Enjoi, Blind skateboards, Almost skateboards, Tensor Trucks, and Dusters. Then, the latter is under the ownership of Globe International since 2002. Since 2019, Highline Industries Corporations/Bravo Sport (Sector 9, Pro-tec, Nutcase helmets, and Six Six One) has owned Dwindle Distribution.

The brand has assembled a team of quality pro-riders, consisting of 12 skaters. To name them: Ryan Decenzo, PLG, Greg Lutzka, Dave Bachinsky, Cameo Wilson, Manolo Robles, Ke’Chaud Johnson, Adam Dyet, Reemo Pearson, Santana Saldana, Jeo Hinson and Mike Berdis.

Skateboard graphics

Known for its iconic black knight’s helmet logo, it stands out for its dark and highly detailed illustrations. For the past ten years, it has called upon the Portland creative agency, Oregon Lincoln Design, to create its graphics. The agency has already created more than 100 designs for the brand.

Always in line with their DNA, she also created with labels outside the skate industry. For instance, collabs with the manufacturer Harley Davidson, Biltwell or the cartoon Felix the Cat.

Like many other brands, Darkstar Skateboards regularly collaborates with artists for one-offs or on a regular basis. The artist Luke Pelletier, Patrick Nagel have already designed several beautiful series, the Canadian artist Meka, James Kerr aka Scorpion Dagger, Erik Foss and many others are also at the origin of beautiful graphics that you can discover below.

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Scorpion Dagger x Darkstar Skateboards

The Medial Helmet brand collaborates once again with one of the most interesting artists: James Kerr aka Scorpion Dagger. Since 2012, the artist has been creating animated GIFs by creating digital collages based on Renaissance paintings. He created hilarious collages…
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Darkstar Skateboards x Luke Pelletier
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Luke Pelletier x Darkstar

Darkstar is on fire right now on collab level! After making stunning decks with Murk Lurk, the medieval helmet brand, appealed  to the artist Luke Pelletier. In a retro / punk style perfectly controlled, this colorful series is a true visual…
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Darkstar x Murk Lurks
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Darkstar Skateboards x Murk Lurks

Formerly Globe graphic designer, Mirko Antich (Murk Lurks, real stage name) here comes a great collab with Darkstar on the classic theme of summer. But despite that, this series of boards is really sick! For one, by his sudden very…
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Darkstar x Hajime Sorayama

The king of robotics pinup brilliantly put his art on Darkstar Skateboards decks for their Spring 2016 collection. As usual, Hajime Sorayama realized an extreme work of precision to make its “Sexy Robot” always more attractive! The artist explains his work in…
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