Zero Skateboards turns 30: what is left of the original brand?

At the end of September 2026, Zero Skateboards put three boards back on sale that you might have ridden in high school: Thrill of It All, Misled Youth and Dying to Live. Black dipped, laser engraved, 74.99 dollars each. Thirty years after it was born, Jamie Thomas's brand is selling its own history as an anniversary edition.

In the same catalog you find a Ryan Sheckler pro model and boards signed by Bam Margera. Two names the 1999 Zero would never have put next to its skulls. So the question comes up, and it stings a little: what is left of the brand that used to scare parents?

1996, Zero Division: when Zero Skateboards sold t-shirts

At first, Zero didn't make boards. In 1996 it was a clothing brand, Zero Division, distributed by Tum Yeto. Tum Yeto was also the home of Toy Machine, Jamie Thomas's team at the time. That year he was in Welcome to Hell - 1996, the Toy Machine video that marked a whole generation.

Then he left Toy Machine and became the first pro of his own brand. He told Jenkem in 2014: his passion was the team and the marketing, and that's why he started Zero, after helping Ed Templeton with that side of things at Toy Machine. Not a money guy. A rider who wanted to pick his friends and decide how to show them.

The brand still presents itself today as an answer to the mediocrity of skateboarding at the time, made for the underdogs. Thrill of It All - 1997 laid the foundations. Misled Youth - 1999 set everything on fire: huge handrails, punk, skulls, and a Thomas part that still racks up views on the official channel.

An answer to the mediocrity of skateboarding at the time, built for the underdogs. — Zero Skateboards, on its own history

2004-2006: three King of the Road wins in a row and Chris Cole on top

The early 2000s were the golden age. Dying to Live - 2002 came out with John Rattray's part set to "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by the Proclaimers, a song choice nobody forgot. New Blood - 2005 followed, with Garrett Hill skating to "Another Girl, Another Planet" by the Only Ones.

On the road, Zero crushed everyone. From 2004 to 2006 the team won Thrasher's King of the Road three times in a row, ahead of Girl, Toy Machine, Baker, Flip, Habitat and Real. In 2007 it declined to defend the title and went on tour with Mystery, the other brand in the house.

And then there was Chris Cole. Two-time SOTY with Zero under his feet. Only four skaters have ever won the title twice. In 2011 Cole became a shareholder in the brand. The kid from the team buying into the company: that's the picture of a brand that believes in itself.

Black Box, Tijuana, Fallen: the empire that rested on one man

Behind the boards, Thomas built a machine. In 2000 he founded Black Box Distribution to distribute Zero himself. In 2003 he opened a factory in Tijuana, Mexico, to make the decks for all his brands. The same year Fallen was born, his shoe brand, set up with DC Shoes.

Black Box ended up carrying Zero, Mystery, Fallen, Slave, Threat, Destroyer and even New Balance Numeric shoes. In 2006 Thomas received a regional Entrepreneur of the Year award from Ernst & Young. The punk from Misled Youth was now signing balance sheets.

On November 8, 2013, Cold War premiered at the La Paloma theater in Encinitas. Before the 40-minute video, Thomas brought every Zero rider, past and present, on stage. Thrasher covered the night. In the photos it looks like a celebration. Looking back, it looks like a goodbye.

The whole roster, past and present, on the same stage. Seven months later, the house that kept them going gave way. — Encinitas, November 2013

June 2014: 15,000 dollars and the end of Black Box

On June 24, 2014, Jenkem published an interview that hit like a bomb. The magazine wrote that Zero, Fallen and the other Black Box brands had been hurting for a couple of years, with constant team changes and persistent layoffs. Thomas confirmed it: Dwindle would take over sales, finance, production and distribution for Zero and Fallen.

He dropped a line that says it all: the crew had been "shook to the core" by what the industry did to Fallen over five years. In the same interview he owned an ugly episode. Trevor Colden wanted to leave Mystery for Skate Mental. Thomas demanded 15,000 dollars to release him from his contract, and the rider paid it out of his own pocket. "I never felt good about it," Thomas said.

In October 2014, Chris Cole told Jenkem he was leaving Zero. We already covered why Chris Cole left Zero after 13 years. Black Box was dissolved the same year. In 2016 Zero left Dwindle and went back to being run by Thomas alone. The brand celebrated its 20th birthday with a photo show in June.

2026: Sheckler, Bam and the reissues, today's roster

Zero never stopped filming. Damn It All - 2020, Painkiller - 2021, then Heaven's Gate - 2024, the latest full length. That's nine full videos in thirty years, plus short formats like Nob0dy - 2025. Few brands born in the 90s keep up that pace.

The big move of 2026 is Ryan Sheckler. Pro at 13 for World Industries in 2003, he launched his own brand, Sandlot Times, in 2022, before it shut down. In March 2026 he joined Zero. On his official site he wrote that he is "so hyped and honored to be on Zero". His first three models are called Cross, Bold and Beloved Christ.

Next to that there's the Bam Margera capsule, with signed decks on preorder, limited to one per household. There's Kanaan Dern and his gold pro model. And there's still Jamie Thomas, who keeps releasing boards under his name, like the Life and Death. The decks are made in Mexico, between 74.99 and 79.99 dollars on the official shop.

So, what is left of the original brand?

Three things hold, and they're not decoration. First, Jamie Thomas himself. Thirty years later the founder is still there, still pro, and back in sole control since 2016. Few skate brands can show the same face in the 1996 photo and the 2026 one.

Then the skull. The Single Skull, the 3 Skull Blood and the Classic Bold are still on the shelves, almost untouched. Finally, the long video: nine full lengths, the latest in 2024. Zero never swapped its parts for 40-second clips.

What's gone weighs just as much. The Black Box empire no longer exists. The team that crushed King of the Road has left. And above all, the underdog spirit has switched sides: the brand founded for outsiders now signs the two names best known to the general public, Sheckler and Bam.

So the answer is clear: Zero's backbone holds, the skin has changed. The founder, the logo and the video culture are original. The roster and the attitude are not. And the 30th anniversary capsule says it better than any press release: when a brand reissues Thrill of It All, Misled Youth and Dying to Live, it knows where its center of gravity is. Between 1997 and 2002.

What was your first Zero board, and would you buy the 30th anniversary reissue for 75 dollars? Tell us in the comments ↓