0:04

Our branding was barred from Sub Zero, the preeminent Philadelphia

0:08

skate shop of the nineties, where I spent a lot of time and a little

0:11

money when I was a kid. The shop's owner and one of my childhood

0:15

heroes was kind enough to give me his blessing for the logo and to share

0:19

his incredible Shane Von Hartleben

0:22

started SubZero as a response to his passion for skateboarding, a

0:26

knack for pre Internet guerrilla marketing, and an innate urge

0:30

for extended family. Shane's family history is

0:33

unconventional, and what he lacked in structure, he made up for in motivation to

0:37

build his own at 17 years of age.

0:41

This isn't an episode about cycling per se, but I guarantee you'll

0:45

appreciate Shane's thoughtful messages is in clear perspective on living life with

0:48

purpose. Along the way, we have a great time discussing some of the

0:52

similarities between the 2 sports and how Shane got his business

0:56

going as a teenager. In the name of community and

1:00

family, please enjoy. Shane started SubZero, which was

1:10

a skate shop that has a special place In my heart,

1:14

really, as a kid, I spent a lot of time there.

1:18

The the team that Shane got together, the the sort

1:22

of Shop team, were my idols. Shane Shane

1:25

was an idol of mine as a as a younger guy. And sure

1:29

enough, you know, the the SubZero logo is sort of

1:33

Indelibly marked in in my mind

1:37

as as just, a really special Sort

1:40

of era of of my life, but it also had a had a impact

1:44

on on the skate world. And and I I so

1:48

I used Shane's logo as inspiration for the Hill Climber's

1:52

logo because of of what, you know, of of that time in my life and

1:55

what it meant to me, But also the logo itself has has

1:59

kind of this, like, illuminated manuscript, like,

2:03

storybook aesthetic to it. So, you know, when when

2:06

I would whenever I thought, you know, the logo could be a good

2:10

inspiration, it just felt like a perfect fit. So I wanted to ask Shane,

2:14

as a as a as a young guy, as as a 18 year old,

2:19

did you did you know, or did you have a notion that it would

2:22

leave a legacy on on someone like my myself?

2:26

And if I'm if I'm having this kind of

2:30

sentimental connection with with Sub Zero than I than I think

2:33

1,000 or maybe tens of thousands of people are as well.

2:38

What legacy did you think you were you were forming at that time?

2:42

I had some awareness. You know, when

2:45

you Think of yourself in your teen years. It's easy to think

2:49

like, jeez. What what do you really know at that

2:53

young of an age? But I I believe that I

2:56

had gears turning, which, you know, wheels and gears turning at a

3:00

very young age with learning some things

3:04

With family dynamics. Yeah. Right? And That that made you a little

3:08

wiser than your years. Yeah. And, to have an opportunity

3:11

like this to share, I'm open book, and I went through a lot

3:15

of difficult things in life. Difficult is subjective kind of

3:19

way to say it, but, you know, for it

3:23

To be crystal clear, life's quite an adventure.

3:27

And, you know, I may have not even been here, and what I

3:30

mean by That is to be a young baby that was,

3:34

you know, placed for adoption. Mhmm. Right? Had a few months that I

3:38

was in an orphanage, You know, and didn't really have the direct

3:42

connection with a biological mother. And then to

3:46

learn these details from my adopting family

3:49

Super early in life, and I believe I was, you know, 5

3:53

years Mhmm. Young and a 2 year,

3:57

older than than me Mister, so 57 being told about

4:00

family dynamics and, you know, being clear that we're

4:04

loved equally as family 100%,

4:08

I know the gears were turning at that point looking at other

4:11

people's families and biological

4:15

differences. And so

4:19

To look back, I really feel like I had a,

4:22

like, empathy and an ability to measure certain things.

4:26

So to not get off topic, I did have an awareness

4:30

that things were coming together, and here's why. My

4:33

relationship Friends and other skateboarders

4:38

meant so much to me. I was spending More time with

4:42

them than I had had with any family. Mhmm.

4:46

And I moved quite a a number of times. So the number of

4:49

friends that, you know, I've, come across in all these

4:53

different, you know It it was your steady variable. Absolutely. Your steady.

4:57

Yeah. Absolutely. And that's also where to the skateboard became,

5:02

crystal clear to me, like, okay. You could take a guitar with you,

5:06

a keyboard, or an Instrument with you typically is somebody with a

5:09

bicycle is very similar, but a skateboard, it's, like, you know, as

5:13

easy as grabbing your back. Way easier than a bike. Let me see. Yeah. It's

5:17

so easy. And, you know, I definitely had lots

5:21

of hours years with bicycles as well,

5:24

motorcycles as well, Tons of different musical instruments. And

5:28

if somebody asks me, oh, Shane, what do you do? And I say, oh, well,

5:32

I'm an instrumentalist. Instantly, they're like, oh, that's awesome.

5:35

You know, what musical instrument do you play? And, I play many

5:39

of them, but my skateboard is an instrument, my bicycle,

5:43

Oh, my intricate superbike that has tons of technology. It's

5:47

an instrument. You know? So that's where my relationship

5:51

first. My skateboard was my best friend. And and and I was gonna ask

5:55

about that too. Like, what what about skating grabbed? Like, when you were and when

5:59

did you start skating, and what about it grabbed you? So

6:03

I'm 2, 3 years old, and my sister has a little plastic free

6:06

former that she barely road. I'm kneeling on it. I'm sitting on

6:10

it. I'm laying on it. You know? I'm just putting myself in

6:14

motion. Right? Paddling out like you're surfing. So

6:18

I count all of those years. I count that.

6:22

So leading up till 5 and getting, like, a

6:25

dashboard that has some width and is Able to roll more smoothly

6:29

and have a lot of actually ability to have, like, foot placement, not be

6:33

as sensitive on something that's only what that plastic California

6:36

Freeformers is probably, like, 4 and a half inches wide. You know, it's

6:40

really not manageable. Not wide enough. So I count All of

6:44

those days years where you hear people reference their skating

6:47

and they narrow it down some. I'm gonna hear people say like, oh, I

6:51

stopped for a while. Like, get out of here. Once you start once you signed

6:55

up for skateboarding and you didn't need ink Yeah. To sign up, like, once you

6:59

started Skating, like, it can be with you as long as you wish.

7:03

But yeah. So it it I've I feel like

7:06

By the time I was 10, you know, getting

7:10

taller and getting, and more capabilities and coordination and things of that

7:19

nature. I definitely just felt so connected with

7:22

it and driven to Progression.

7:26

Yeah. And, moving all the time. Like, I played all the

7:30

activities like any other kids And had an

7:33

appreciation for them being, like, you know, I guess

7:37

if I could say traditional athletics, But

7:41

skateboarding just it's all you. You don't need to

7:44

throw a ball to someone that's catching it. You don't need someone to throw a

7:48

ball to you to catch it or kick it to you or whatever the category

7:51

is of traditional type athletics and sports. Skateboarding just

7:55

seems Brutally honest. Ready for this? It seems

7:58

modern, and it seems like, next level and

8:02

progressive. I don't think that could really be argued because

8:06

What what's changed in any, like, 100 year measure of

8:10

most athletics are Yeah. You know, just more athleticism.

8:13

But, you know, wow. Did Did you see that throw or catch or pass or

8:17

whatever? Like, that guy really tackled that guy or would a block

8:20

in basketball. Whatever category that sounds like Tory, it's

8:24

not. I promise you, but it seems ready for the word. This is

8:28

gonna sound sensitive to a lot of people's ears. Antiquated. Yeah.

8:32

Old school. Yeah. Like, it's like, that's it? I mean, someone

8:36

can pitch a ball so fast that hitter can't

8:40

make contact, but, like Yeah. That's it. What

8:43

else? You know? Skateboarding is vast. And

8:47

I I skated,

8:50

And I I did have years because I I I did stop, unfortunately,

8:54

but from when I was 10 through when I was 15 or 16,

8:59

and, you know, some some of the best times of my life. And

9:03

when I go, you know, per what Shane is referencing, when I go

9:06

on Instagram. Thrasher is one of my favorite Instagram.

9:10

Yes. What the the progression of

9:14

of the tricks and and the advancement of the

9:17

Skill from when I was skating, you know, 20 years

9:21

ago, more than 20 years ago, to to

9:24

these young cats is is mind blowing, and it's it's

9:28

so exciting. And and that's one of the parallels here with with

9:31

cycling, until you get into

9:35

the the sport and it is an individual pursuit where there is,

9:41

Self discipline, you know, the the iterative progress you

9:45

make is is what drives you. Until you get into

9:48

that Phase of of, involvement or

9:52

indulgence, however you wanna look at it, you it's very difficult to have the

9:56

context about what's going on. So An outsider would look at

9:59

the Thrasher Instagram from today and not know what the difference

10:03

is between the skate videos that I was watching in in the

10:06

nineties. And and that's part, you know,

10:10

that's part of why I think this this whole thing you know, we're we're interviewing

10:14

Shane, you know, with his History in starting a skate shop, and this

10:17

is a cycling podcast, but I I think the parallels

10:21

are clear and also pretty fascinating because these are These

10:25

are not typical sports. Right. They're very

10:28

difficult to to master. And I think

10:32

the other, aspect is, You know,

10:36

skateboarding has always had this this counterculture,

10:41

legacy. Cycling, not as much, But

10:44

what I love is that both are are off the beaten path and

10:48

require, the participant to to do

10:52

something that's not Basketball or, you know, or or baseball.

10:55

Absolutely. We're like a different It's a

10:59

different animal. Different animal. Yeah.

11:06

Can you can you paint the picture of how you how you started Sub

11:09

0, my understanding were were was you were really young, and just what

11:13

what's the story? So I left high school A little early, so

11:17

that's not to promote leaving school or education in any way. Yeah. But that

11:21

is the tale of the tape. From Being a freshman in high

11:24

school, there were problems leading up to

11:28

being a freshman in high school with family. You know,

11:32

Mother and father, divorce, you know, family separation, everything like

11:36

that. But when I was a freshman in high school, I lost my father, and

11:39

that was a Definite turning point for not

11:43

having so much focus with school, but there was a

11:46

positive. My mother was able to get a new home.

11:50

We had moved many times when I was living with my father, when I was

11:53

living living with my mother. So when my mother said to my sister

11:57

about being able to get another home, versus being in apartments

12:01

all the time. She said, what are, you know, some

12:04

things that you guys would like to see? So that was definitely, for my

12:08

sister and I, the same answer, which was having some yard

12:12

where, you know, we could, my sister wanted to, you You know, plant

12:16

flowers, have a flower garden, things like that, and I wanted to have a

12:19

ramp. So freshman year, very

12:23

Unfortunately, losing my father, but within that same, you know,

12:26

next year, my mother got a house. I got a yard.

12:30

She agreed to allow a skateboard ramp have to be built. Mhmm.

12:34

And, needless to say, my attendance again, I'm

12:37

promoting not to, you know, go a different direction in education,

12:41

but my attendance was horrible. A lot of change happening in those

12:45

years. So, after leaving school a little early,

12:49

you know, I had a lot going on with Heavy

12:52

skateboarding involvement where I was communicating with companies. I was getting

12:56

product through, you know, people I would reach out to With ads and

12:59

magazines informing these early relationships, and, ultimately,

13:03

that led in the direction of opening up SubZero. Yeah. I

13:07

I had, very little sort of context for the

13:11

story. This is it's remarkable. So you,

13:15

as as basically a teenager, we're kind of in the scene.

13:19

You had relationships with the different companies and and were kind of like a

13:22

marketing vehicle for for some of these brands, it sounds like.

13:26

Very accurate. And, you know, my drive to

13:30

progress in skateboarding and still have this

13:33

dream of being a pro skateboarder much like I'm sure

13:37

many people do. The shop was definitely

13:41

an interest for us, community and local people and

13:45

people I was skating with and, as well,

13:49

though, a personal devotion to where I knew it would be able to, like,

13:53

Push my skateboarding and my progression. So it was 2 in 1. It

13:56

was definitely not, an intention of, like, being an entrepreneur.

14:01

It had no drive of art. I should be able to, you know, earn

14:05

a living here that had literally nothing to do It

14:08

was literally a 100% devotion to skateboarding. And that

14:12

feeling of having, as heavy of involvement possible

14:16

leading to opportunities for progression of skateboarding

14:20

and relationships within skateboarding and so that was

14:24

the real dream to touch as many places

14:28

on this wonderful planet and to do that with other

14:31

skateboarders. And and, again,

14:34

incredible part of the story because it's really it's more about community

14:38

than than even entrepreneurship. Yeah. And and

14:42

that's, pretty pretty uncommon. That sounds

14:46

very, very unique. I mean, it so and that that was actually one of the

14:49

questions that I wrote down was, Did did you know that Sub Zero was gonna

14:53

be this community? And it sounds like that was that was the spark. It

14:57

was definitely I feel, You know, planted as

15:00

a seed with the right energy, good soil, good people.

15:04

Yeah. And, you know, when people say In the right time, the

15:08

right place, the right people involved, 100%

15:11

accurate. So was there was there kind of a moment or a

15:15

spark When you were like, okay. You know, I've

15:19

got all the pieces. I I really wanna do this. And and, what

15:22

what was How did you get there? What was the motivation there? It's

15:26

interesting. Looking back, everyone knows time flies.

15:30

Right? And looking back, you know, I can definitely,

15:34

memory is strong. I remember how I felt through all the different processes.

15:40

I would wanna give credit to everyone involved. You

15:44

know? Environment is everything. So, You know, if you're with good

15:47

people and progressive people in whatever particular category,

15:51

obviously, cycling is is a very important one with you. Mhmm. And me as

15:55

well, anything that's in motion and feels Amen. Amen.

15:58

100% onboard. And, no pun

16:02

intended with onboard. Right? But Anything with motion and energy,

16:06

and I've always been a complete positive person and a

16:09

believer. And, yeah, just all

16:13

was able to take place with genuinely a lot of

16:17

people taking the reins and taking the responsibility, And things

16:21

definitely formed and shaped, because of a lot

16:25

of strong people involved. And and did, I mean, as far as

16:28

the nuts and bolts, like, Did you take out loans?

16:32

How'd you finance everything? What what were the

16:36

trials and tribulations from from an operation standpoint early

16:40

on. Started from a very low position. So, literally, I had a partner

16:43

in the very beginning, which was a mentor of mine. His name is

16:47

Adam Holly. Adam is a skateboarder and snowboarder.

16:51

I learned quite a bit from Adam before opening the shop

16:55

together. Mhmm. You know, he was already having some support

16:58

in skateboarding with Santa Cruz and some other companies.

17:03

He's I'd say It's funny when you look back

17:06

and, you know, you could say someone was a generation

17:10

before us and the measure of years different in

17:13

age may only be a few. I think Adam's maybe 3

17:17

or 4 years older than I am, but that's the difference of,

17:21

you know, being in high school or being in college. Which

17:25

is a huge difference. It is. And and being in college to

17:28

being 30. Is it? Absolutely. So I learned a

17:32

ton from Adam This is incredible. I mean, you you were starting when you

17:35

were 18 years old, 17? 17. Yeah. Incredible.

17:39

Yeah. And all the things I did leading up To that point,

17:43

you know, in skate magazines, it used to be like, you know, send

17:47

a dollar and a self addressed stamped envelope and letter for a

17:51

sticker pack and all that So that's how I started everything reaching out to

17:54

these companies. Wow. Tracker, Kryptonics, GNS,

17:58

like, all these brands That started with just, like, a

18:02

flow of stickers, shirts, then I started getting trucks,

18:05

wheels, and those letters were me actually, like, communicating back

18:10

Polaroid pictures and, like, the most basic VHS

18:13

footage and stuff. So to say those were, like, early sponsorships,

18:17

I mean, It felt huge to me at that age,

18:21

but that's how it all started for sure. Wow. And Adam, had built

18:25

some ramps. He had the skills and had the people that were a

18:29

generation in front of him on hand. So when I was able to

18:33

get a ramp built And and we're talking about sort of,

18:37

skaters specifically, like a generation ahead Yep. Who had more

18:40

more resources, more experience passing it down. Absolute networking that I didn't even, you know,

18:43

I network that I didn't even,

18:47

you know, at the time, feel like, okay. These are, you know,

18:51

boxes being checked, But it was pretty obvious. You know? When

18:55

you see someone that has a skill with something that you're, you

18:58

know, applying all this, you know, time towards, It's

19:02

easy to, you know, wanna connect with them, ask questions

19:06

with them, be in their environment. So

19:09

I'm more aware than ever, like, how much I learned from those people.

19:13

Yeah. And it and it sounds like that really informed your

19:17

Leadership style, if you wanna call it that, you know, paying it

19:21

forward and and nurturing other people and

19:24

100%. Yeah. That's how I live my life Every day.

19:28

Mhmm. In fact, you know, I never have any interest in

19:31

coming across negative, of course, but I share

19:35

openly so so much with people.

19:38

And I'm thankful for all the gardens I've had, the people I've

19:42

networked with, But I genuinely feel that, you know,

19:46

the return, so to speak, not monetarily, not

19:50

even just And even necessary self value, but I

19:53

feel that, you know, the amount that you put out in the world and share

19:58

maybe I'm trying to be generous with this Number 25

20:02

to 50%. Those are very generous measurements to say that

20:05

people will see clearly what you're trying Show

20:09

them or be very open to hear what you're trying to share with them

20:13

for good reason versus, you know, maybe something being misinterpreted, but

20:17

Sharing is everything. I'm trying to, like, give

20:21

someone some incentive and motivation. Yeah. And how how

20:25

appropriate for this Podcast in this journey that that I've

20:29

started. I mean, I I have no no idea where this is gonna go, but

20:32

So high point. Thank you,

20:42

So you and your your crew and your,

20:46

you know, colleagues, starting SubZero were

20:50

were young young, People,

20:53

what was it like it as far as SubZero professionally

20:57

working with other teenagers, Other early 20

21:01

somethings. Was that mostly a good

21:04

thing? Did you run into some difficulty with with Folks as being

21:09

that young? Everything flowed. Honestly, there were

21:12

some real significant people that,

21:17

You know, took the responsibility for their

21:20

contributions. Right? So although

21:24

SubZero, It truthfully has been many things. Right? It

21:28

would be initially viewed as, like, oh, look at this retail store,

21:32

but we never, solely looked that ourselves as

21:35

a retail store. Honestly, from the very beginning, it

21:39

was strictly like a meeting spot,

21:43

But, certainly, you know, an origin of,

21:47

contributing, supplying skateboarders, skateboard product.

21:51

Right? But it Really just formed that way, but

21:56

we considered ourselves a team. And like I said

21:59

to me, it was a family, and it would take a little bit of time

22:03

to realize how important everybody has been in my

22:06

life, and ability to reflect

22:10

on how much the skateboarding world

22:14

has been more of a family to Me than, like, actual biological

22:18

or, you know, personal family. Thankful for family all

22:21

across the board. But yeah. So I'd say that

22:25

The people involved were so

22:29

driven that they were furthering their careers.

22:33

So SubZero was able to be a retail

22:37

shop, a team, a

22:41

brand. We definitely branded ourselves No doubt. Continually.

22:45

Yeah. Bursting at the seams, if you will, because

22:49

There were so many skateboarders that were deserving, you

22:53

know, their opportunities to be hooked up, definitely have the

22:56

product of which they would need To be out there in the streets and in

23:00

the parks and wherever getting it done. So, yeah, we

23:03

created additional entities, additional brands,

23:07

And went leaps and bounds beyond what,

23:11

like, a, you know, retail store would do.

23:15

So I don't like And this this was before that's a great point

23:19

because this was before Lululemon was doing yoga

23:23

classes for the you know? That's a great point. I think that we

23:27

and and by the way, just to just to give dates, I mean, I,

23:31

you know, I was 10 years old in In 94, so I would have spent

23:35

a lot of time in Sub 0, like, literally in in the heart of the

23:38

nineties. So this is way way before retailers

23:42

got into Experiential stuff. Like Absolutely. So the

23:45

pros and the have the, ability

23:49

to, You know, get a measure of product out of the shop every single

23:53

month. The pros got checks as well, and they were paid.

23:56

So the money that was spent as a company, If you

24:00

will, versus just being like a retail

24:04

store that would have staff. Right?

24:07

Salespeople, Sales manager. No. We

24:11

had real development as a brand and as a company so

24:15

much that even, team riders, 1

24:18

in particular, Rick, who has done so much in skateboarding,

24:23

in East Coast skateboarding, and, a real voice

24:26

for everything that SubZero really did in their early

24:30

years as well. Collectively, the team at one

24:34

point saw such a progression with Sub Zero doing well

24:37

with selling shirts. And when I say shirts, I mean short

24:41

sleeve, long sleeve. I mean, silkscreen, embroidered,

24:46

Cut and sew, button downs, right, half zip, full zip.

24:50

Jeans. I had Jeans. Yep. Denim being cut. Khakis being

24:53

cut. Labels being made. So Very much a

24:57

brand, and I think that I was

25:00

aware of it, because we always had what was coming up and

25:04

Seasonally developing and everything, but, the team

25:08

themselves even at a point where, like, wow.

25:13

Trying to understand where

25:17

where is the ceiling, if you will. Because I remember before we got

25:21

SubZero boards made, We got we just did so much

25:24

with stickers because that's like gorilla marketing, if you will, and just

25:28

Especially skates. Who doesn't love stickers? I got stickers out front here. I was

25:32

like, what? You know? Stoked anywhere that stickers are involved. It's just fun. It's

25:36

creative. And, But at a time, the team

25:39

was saying, alright. Well, we don't wanna

25:43

see Sub 0 boards selling more,

25:47

ready for this, than Rick's board, Matt's board,

25:50

Serge's board, Fred's board. They were concerned that

25:54

we would be selling more Sub Zero boards

25:58

than we would Zoo York, Alien Workshop, etcetera. So it

26:01

was an interesting time Yeah. Seeing these young

26:05

people voice their concerns and

26:08

opinion where we were definitely outgrowing A 1,000

26:12

square foot shop at 5th and South Street where we were, you know,

26:15

doing mail order, and we were producing the video, and it was going,

26:20

globally. You know? Japan, Australia,

26:24

like, Austria, like, so many different

26:28

countries were in support of Sub Zero from

26:31

seeing us in mail order ads and Crasher slap, Trainers

26:35

World. So, and we were doing those ads,

26:39

honestly, of course, to get out and, like, represent

26:43

us, But it wasn't like this advertisement is

26:47

gonna have SubZero make this many 1,000 of dollars. It

26:50

was ready for Who's getting the next ad?

26:54

So we'd have team meetings every other Friday night. Mhmm. We'd go

26:58

out and have an awesome dinner. That was more than I'd Never done at

27:02

any family measure in my life,

27:05

hence it being more of a family to me than ever. Yeah. So,

27:09

those meetings were super fun. All skateboarders coming

27:13

together. Rick, for many years, was referenced as, like, the

27:17

mayor because he's very outspoken. Mhmm. But, yeah, those

27:20

meetings were literally taking care of business. And

27:24

when I say business, Not dollars and cents. Business

27:28

in a sense that it was like, damn. Who's getting the next ad? Right. Who's

27:32

taking the next photo? So everything was

27:35

rooted in the in the right place. The heart was there Incredible.

27:39

Of the time. Cool. Yeah. There's a there's a factor here

27:49

that's similar to, cycling teams where,

27:54

Yeah. It it takes some it takes someone like you to to

27:58

have the the resources, you know, in

28:02

time and energy to to get it off the ground.

28:05

And it's not It's not always, like,

28:09

the most luke cycling teams typically are not not,

28:13

all that that lucrative. So, to hear

28:17

you, share about supporting, you

28:20

know, this community of of pros who who, You know,

28:24

impacted a a lot of fans like like myself.

28:28

It it's important for for the sport, for the culture.

28:33

Yeah. And, like, so, how how did you manage those

28:37

costs? I mean, did did were you able to cover everything? Or did times

28:40

get difficult? We were extremely

28:44

successful for a very long time. Mhmm. And, you know,

28:47

when that's a subjective description, I guess, But, you know, not

28:51

decades. Right? But after, you know, 5 years

28:55

of, you know, definite progression,

29:00

It's easy to look back and say, alright. Well, I didn't have a house

29:03

yet, a mortgage, and I didn't have, you know, all these other

29:07

bills that go In, you know, aspects of life. So, you know, a

29:11

$600 a month apartment. Right? Yeah. And Bless

29:15

those days. Right? Or if we even say, how about 6 months before getting my

29:19

apartment and living in the shop, literally living in the shop and loving

29:22

it, waking up at the very back half of the shop. Right. Because I wasn't

29:26

gonna sleep They vaguely remember that remember that. Yeah. Had, like, the

29:29

little fold out divider, and I would wake up in the back of

29:33

the shop We're not having enough product yet from the front of the shop because

29:37

we probably worked our way 25%, 50%, 75%

29:41

back. Yeah. I'd wake up in the morning, often

29:45

seeing someone look through the windows, you know, like, oh,

29:48

what? You know, I'm being, you know, excited for a damn shop here and Yeah.

29:52

What do they have in there? But so, yeah, all the early

29:55

years, so from being 17 to 2021.

29:59

You know? It was, humble,

30:03

like, costs in in life before, like, buying my first

30:07

Home and things like that. But, yeah, everything, went back to the

30:11

team, went back to advertising, sell 1

30:14

product, turn that product into 3. If somebody writes a

30:18

business plan and tries to figure out, like, okay, here's how much inventory you're gonna

30:22

need. I've done that, you you know, in the years following, but the

30:25

initial Early founding years? No. It wasn't an amount of money

30:29

that we were able to stock a particular, you know, inventory in the shop and

30:33

then rely on whatever Turnover within a 30 day period or 30,

30:36

60, 90. I learned all that stuff from how it went. Right. But if we

30:40

got and product changes all the time. So if the Graphic is new,

30:44

and I'm like, damn. I know we can definitely alright. 3 of those,

30:48

3 of these. Yeah. And then as soon as they would sell, Reorder them

30:51

right away. Right. So a little bit of extra shipping happening for ordering

30:55

product all the time. But, like, if I had $20,000

30:59

become 40, then 60, you know, and just keep turning it over

31:03

completely as quickly as possible. And it was not like I

31:07

needed To get alerts and, you know, go through spreadsheets

31:10

and take inventory. It was stuff that you loved. So I'd be like, damn, I

31:14

need more of these. Right. It's happening. And you see it

31:18

in real time. Real time. Right? That logo is, I love it so

31:32

much. And there's been, you know, some renderings and

31:36

some people that have done some, you know, paying homage to it straight

31:40

up or even just using it for a short time, And

31:44

that never bothers me. In fact, quite the opposite. But to

31:48

genuinely learn from you, you know, your,

31:51

feelings everything that Mhmm. We shared the time within the shop and that, you know,

31:55

what it meant to your life. We had different

31:59

renderings of the vines, you know, from subzero Mhmm.

32:02

Changed the vines, which is very earthy and

32:06

subzero by, you know, default. You think of the the

32:10

word and the name, snowboarding definitely is an

32:13

influence with it. The letters having 2 characters, connecting 2

32:17

characters and connecting 2 entities, skateboarding and snowboarding. That's how

32:20

Sub 0 formed for the name. But the vines

32:25

Lay in later years became razor wire when s one w

32:29

was a little short run-in West Philadelphia. Mhmm. And and share with us

32:33

what what s one w is. So my perspective of s one

32:36

w simply is like an acronym for sub one west.

32:40

So the idea was to definitely have a California West

32:44

Coast store and have a better handle on communicating with all

32:47

skateboarding east and west. Mhmm. I've Always looked at skateboarding

32:51

as globally and worldly. Our team is

32:55

known for being straight up Philadelphia skateboarding, raw, Rick

32:59

Oyola Yeah. Traffic and everything like that, and heavy,

33:02

heavy influence out there towards, like, promoting

33:06

our area, which I'm a 100%

33:10

on board with, of course, but I think it was

33:14

misinterpreted by plenty of people of, like, east versus where I store

33:18

a little bit of a differentiation, but, no. I I,

33:22

I look at us all as as one as skateboarders or anybody that's rolling with

33:25

any wheels in general Straight up. Yeah. So but

33:29

seeing your work, I don't know if I can even say what the graphic looks

33:33

like, if I could reference The chain? Yeah. When I saw the

33:36

chain, I was instantly like, wow. To have the vines become

33:40

razor wire for what Wasn't a California West Coast store. It

33:44

ended up being West Philadelphia. So a little bit of a rough,

33:48

like, you know, urban type yield to the vines

33:51

becoming razor wire Yeah. Which I love so much. And,

33:56

seeing the chains, I was like, wow. It makes Perfect sense.

33:59

I love it so much. I'm real excited. Thanks, Shane. And and I have to,

34:05

really thank my my friend Tony Bartish who volunteered

34:09

his time to work. I I literally I I have a

34:12

spectrum skate deck, which is paying homage to Sub 0.

34:16

So the the Black letters are on the skate deck. It's in my shed

34:20

where I where I work out. So I shared,

34:24

The photo of the skate deck with with Tony, and he brought

34:28

the h and the c with with the, bike chain to

34:31

to life. Yeah. I love it. Thanks. And I and I do too, and

34:35

and I I, just the way it it came together,

34:39

better than I than I could have expected. So, thank you

34:43

for for the use of that. And do you know who who designed

34:47

it and who like, is there a story there? So, friends

34:50

of mine early on, you know, would

34:54

share different fonts with me. So initially, just

34:58

the font itself and the lettering style. Mhmm. So

35:02

no direct credit even though if I was to give credit right now, Oh,

35:06

I would have to, I'd have to credit,

35:10

Dave who still is working with me right

35:14

now things as just a complete master of

35:18

professionalism Mhmm. And having everything to the

35:21

correct format that anybody that's gonna print boards,

35:25

wheels, or whatever the, you know, the work is going to be. That's all intricate

35:29

for sure. Mhmm. But, yeah, the, early, you

35:33

know, couple of logos and just looking at lettering.

35:37

Once the The block letters with the vines. As soon as I

35:41

saw that, I was like, damn. It's earthy. Mhmm.

35:45

And it just seems like it will grow seeing anything like

35:48

a plant that will grow. So I love

35:52

it infinitely whenever I see that. So

35:56

pretty high. Great. That's why for someone that I know

36:00

and that you're a part of Sub Zero and for you to be influenced by

36:03

that, man, it's A compliment for sure to

36:07

all of us. Right? And everything is always about if I could have this, you

36:11

know, be well received. It's genuinely

36:14

about Skateboarding, right, or else the shop would have been called

36:19

Shane's. Right? So never is it about me. Yeah. Right?

36:22

And it could have just been called skateboard shop so that everybody always

36:26

knows skateboarding. But, you know, it having a name and it having

36:30

what, You know, went into all the years. It's always for me been

36:34

family and team and the number of people involved.

36:38

So, and growth and growth. And growth. So

36:42

hearing from you is amazing and, you know, the compliment

36:45

that it is to have the paying homage to it, but You get

36:49

to now take it and completely, I'd say, run with it, but

36:53

you get to ready for it, you get to completely pedal with it. Yeah. And,

36:57

I love I love the chain in there. That's so sick. Well, thanks a lot,

37:01

Shane. I mean, this it's like it's it's a little bit surreal because

37:05

I've spent over the last few months, thinking about the brand and

37:09

and this logo, that you've inspired.

37:14

My wife and and all of these different phases, and and

37:18

skateboarding being one of them. And and it's it's really,

37:23

one of the main reasons I think that that I'm that I love

37:27

cycling. It's it's Foundation. Yeah. It's the foundation. Exactly.

37:31

I plan to networking is

37:34

everything. Right? Yeah. Now it's easier than ever. So, you know,

37:38

the projects And the things that I have going on to the future, it'll

37:42

be so easy to connect and

37:45

promote and help you have some growth as well from all people

37:49

that I can still even touch now. So I'm super

37:53

hyped on it. I I thank you in advance. I appreciate that. Super hyped. Yeah.

37:57

And I think this is a this is a really good note to end on.

37:59

So Definitely. We're out out of studio time. We're we're here in in Rec

38:03

Philly, and, Shane Von Hartleben.

38:07

Hartleben. Three syllables. People trying to make it in 1 syllable

38:11

and, you know, Von Heart laden. Yeah. Yeah. And I I

38:14

don't think I ever knew how to properly pronounce that. So now I do. Don't

38:18

get to the last name even. Honestly, I've been called Sean

38:22

more than Shane. So it's meet people on Shane. It's Shane with

38:26

a c, so s c h a h a n e. That's it.

38:29

Yeah. Yeah. Alright, man. Well, it's good good to see you. We gotta,

38:33

make it a little more frequently than every 15 years. Indeed. Alright.

38:36

Thanks again. Thank you so much, man. I'm honored to be here.