As we previously reported, pro skater Gabriel Summers parted ways with Jamie "The Chief" Thomas' Zero Skateboards brand.
Everyone was confused why he left a legacy brand but he ended up joining a new company called Thames.
No one knew why and Summers didn't give any reason to his fans but one thing is for sure, all the skaters were happy for his new endeavor and some are not stoked about it.
For a while, Summers didn’t really talk about his reasons publicly, leaving everyone guessing. Now, in a recent interview with Slam City Skates Magazine, he finally shared what really prompted him to leave Zero and start fresh with Thames.
When asked about what was going on when he quit Zero, Summers explained that it had been building up for a while.
"I had wanted to quit for a while; I wasn’t really a part of Zero anymore at that point. I wasn’t getting invited on trips, and that kind of used to hurt me because it was during a two-year period where I felt like I was doing a lot for the brand," he explained.
"So it hurt when I wasn’t invited on these trips they were going on, I was getting pushed to the side." He said, "That could be because I had my differences with some of the team riders, but I felt like I was doing enough that they could have put that aside if I was the problem, or not invite the other person."
He added, "It got to a point where they would be posting about trips, and I wouldn’t even want to go on them. That was the turning point. Before, before I would be bummed because I wasn’t invited, and now I’m still bummed but relieved because I wouldn’t want to go, even if I was invited. It was enough. My circle of friends had changed a lot within skateboarding because of travelling to Europe a lot, and going to New York. That didn’t really resonate with what they were doing in San Diego, but it did with me, so I felt it was time to change."
After leaving Zero, Summers went 13 days without a board sponsor. That period might sound stressful, but he said he had some ideas floating around and wasn’t too worried.
"I had heard from my friend Jarrad Carlin that Blondey McCoy was a fan of my skating before, so I wasn’t insanely surprised when he hit me up." Summers mentioned, "I was floating around other ideas at the time because I had already kind of checked out from being on Zero for a while, and I already knew that I wanted to quit."
"There were other things I was kind of flirting with but nothing was really set in stone." He said, "I think nowadays, and I’m sure you see it as well, it’s not really about how good you are, it’s more about whether you get along with the crew."
"I think that’s good, that’s how it should be if you’re running a brand now." Summers mentioned, "It does leave a huge hole full of people not having a board sponsor, which is hard for a lot of people. I think it’s good though, when it’s based solely on the crew you’re hanging out with, and get along with."
"I wouldn’t say there were other options, but there were definitely some ideas." He said, "The companies I was looking to were small, and it’s hard to put someone on who isn’t from where they are based, even if you do get along with everybody. So I took that into account."