BUFFALO, NY - When you think about skateboarding you probably think of California skate parks, or Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 for your Nintendo 64. So what business does a San Diego skateboard company have to do with Niagara Falls and Buffalo?
“We’re actually a longboard manufacturing company, which is completely separate from skateboarding," said Matt Morinello, current Flexdex owner. "We like to try and compare it to skiers and snowboarders.”
Flexdex was initially founded in San Diego in 1995. Current owner Matthew Morinello bought the company and moved it from California to Western New York.
“I made the decision to move back home to my hometown in Western New York," said Morinello.
Flexdex longboards aren’t meant for tricks, if you’re not privy to the nomenclature. So you won’t be seeing your son or daughter pulling a 900 on a locally made Flexdex board at the local skate park.
“We found that longboarding is primarily for transportation purposes, exercising and just plain fun,” explained Morinello.
What makes the Flexdex board unique is the way they use polycarbonate for some of their longboard designs
“One of our products is made from a bullet resistant material, the other one out of fiberglass. So we’re actually proud to say that we have bullet resistant extremely durable boards so we run them over.”
Or drop a forklift on them. They really do bend right back into place and can withstand a tremendous amount of force. Sources also tells us that one reporter who may or may not be narrating this has stood on one and it held up quite fine.
The polycarbonate is sourced from a supplier in Pennsylvania and is milled locally at a machine shop on the east side.
“Through a very strenuous and selective process," explained Morinello, "we managed to come across an excellent machine shop which we have now partnered with"
The machine shop uses the the CAD designs from the Flexdex archives to cut out the board designs. Flexdex still uses one of the original designs from 20 years ago when the company was founded.
Flexdex manufactures a variety of longboard designs not only made from polycarbonate, but fiberglass, birch wood and plastic. Some Flexdex models also offer LED lights built right into the deck.
Flexdex recently fulfilled a large order to merchants in the middle east nation of Qatar, and they continue to expand their reach domestically. All of this made easy with the assistance of a shipping company located in the same building of the Flexdex Niagara Falls facility.
"With an excellent logistics company behind me, we're able to get product anywhere in the world without thinking twice about it so that's really a huge advantage to us," said Morinello.
While Western New York might not seem like an ideal location, Flexdex is showing that it’s possible for a skateboard company to thrive in the land snow and cold. And to show that the world, each Flexdex board is marked with the familiar Buffalo brand.
