When pro skater Paul Rodriguez opened a shop in Encino, California, he had one simple goal.
He wanted a hangout spot for all the good homies that sold cool skate shoes.
Instead, that retail venture morphed into Primitive, a massive skateboarding brand doing global numbers foreal!
Appearing on the Shopify Masters podcast, P-Rod broke down how a casual side project spiraled into a legitimate business.
It started with merchandise.
Switch God and his team printed basic tees featuring their store logo just to stock the shelves.
Core heads snapped them up instantly, transforming custom gear into an actual apparel line.
Then came the decks.
During a transient phase between board sponsors, P-Rod spray-painted gold foil over a batch of blank decks, added a minimalist print, and dropped them online. All 500 units sold out in two minutes flat.
That proved the demand was real.
Building the company required raw hustle alongside strategic choices.
Nike made him qualify for an account like any ordinary shop owner, refusing to hand over product lines just because he was a signature athlete.
When skate purists labeled him a sellout for chasing commercial deals, P-Rod owned the title and channeled that income back into his independent company.
He even left his personal name off the label so the product could stand alone.
We are not going to spoil everything so watch the full interview below now!