Inline skaters and skateboarders are a special breed of enthusiast, always looking for that next big thrill, and Ryan Farrelly, founder of Freeline Skates, has just the thing for them. “We call Freeline Skates ‘The Next Ride’ and with good reason,” he says. “There’s nothing out there in the marketplace that compares to them.” Farrelly got his start at an early age, skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding and surfing up and down the West Coast. He and his friends used to bomb down San Francisco’s windy hills at night, and as he was putting a new set of wheels, called “trucks,” on a board one night, he got an idea. Why not just try riding the trucks without the board? “The first time I tried it I taped them to my shoes and wiped out,” he says. “Then the tape broke and I tried it just by standing on them. And that was it.”
Farrelly’s Freeline Skates allow riders to go faster and longer than inline skaters or skateboarders, as riders can lean up to a 45 degree angle and gravity and physics help them grip the road. A free spirit himself, Farrelly prefers to wholesale his line to independent retailers and small mom and pop shops as opposed to the big box stores. “The small retailers ‘get us’,” he says. “So we in turn support them with special promotions and drawing traffic. Skate and sport shops especially like us because they want to carry the next big thing.” There are two versions of the Freeline, with the “Groms,” or entry level pair, wholesaling for $51.50, and retailing for anywhere from $99 to $119 a pair. The heavy duty size, the OG’s, wholesale for $78 and retail for $149 a pair, and the company will provide a POP countertop display including pictures and promo copy. “Just remember, they’re fun, easy, fast and portable,” says Farrelly. “Who wouldn’t want a pair?”
For more information:
Freeline Sports, Inc.
Freeline Skates
10 Hughes, Suite A-107
Irvine, CA 92618
Toll Free: 877-RIP-ITUP (747-4887)
Tel.: 949-770-3478
Website: www.freelineskates.com