How long have you been in business?
We opened the doors for the shop on May 6, 2022.
Can you explain how the idea for a store came to be?
I love BMX and always had a dream of having a brand within BMX, whether it was just shirts or a full-fledge shop as today. In high school me and my buddy back in Abilene, Texas came up with Ethic BMX as a brand and had some shirts and stickers made. We really felt like we made it when Joe Rich came through town and bought one of our shirts, hahaha.
Right out of High school I joined the Army Reserves. Once back from boot camp, I started college full-time for graphic design in hopes of doing more with what my buddy and I had started with ethic at the time. One semester in I got a call from my now wife that change my overall priorities forever. She was pregnant with our first daughter! Wow, life was coming fast and if that wasn’t fast enough, I was deployed to Iraq in 2005 just a short year after she was born. BMX never left my mind, I even built a quarter pipe to ride in Taji, Iraq but it wasn’t time for a shop or anything yet. God had a long path for me to get ready to be here.
When I returned from Iraq, it was the middle of the summer, and with a wife and kid, I couldn’t just sit around and college was not allowing enrollments, so I went to work. One thing led to another, and I got on with a large corporation working on wind turbines traveling all over the US, which eventually led to a promotion that eventually led me to move to Houston. This was soon after the birth of our second daughter. When I got to Houston, I really became focused on my career and was late to get involved in the Houston BMX scene. I had gained a bunch of weight, aged a lot and wasn’t sure I could ride anymore but the love was still there. I got directions to the local trails, where I met the Blue Groove crew, and my life was set back on path both spiritually and emotionally with BMX.
While sitting around at the Anthills talking about how there hadn’t been many kids riding the trails lately, I thought how we could change that. I kicked around the idea of a shop but lacked the confidence to really get it going till the Blue Groove crew eventually gave me enough motivation to get it going. They gave me the motivation, but as I said before I had a career, so the time wasn’t really there. This is where my family came in clutch. My oldest daughter jumped on the website one weekend and my wife, my partner, my hero, stepped up to run day to day operations including enrolling and completing college courses in order to accurately handle the book keeping. I cannot say enough about how much my wife has truly done for the shop and my dreams. She really has been mine and the shop's rock. It has now been a year of Ethic BMX and I cannot imagine how far it has come and where we are headed!
Who owns the shop? Who works there?
I, Allen Kirkpatrick and my wife Amber are the owners of the shop. Of course, my wife and kids are a huge part. But what is a BMX shop without a scene? IT ISN’T ONE. The shop really belongs to the Houston scene, and they are the ones who keep it going. I have gladly just been blessed with the ability to help show and grow what is already here! Thank you Houston BMX!
Why is Ethic a strictly BMX shop?
That is what I know and love! BMX is my passion and life. I will help out locals coming through as best I can with other types of bikes but we don’t stock anything but BMX so it is usually limited on what help we can provide. Honestly, I have never ridden anything more than a 22’’ BMX bike, so I just stick to what I am passionate about.
Who's on the shop team?
David, Jo, Hristo, Marshall, and Christian are our official team members. These guys all kill it with their own style of riding and are all just all-around great guys to be around. Hopefully we have many trips in the near future to show the rest of the world these guys riding.
Of course Blue Groove crew is up there also on my support list, as I
couldn’t do it without them and really just anyone else in need. Life
can be tough, so it’s nice to be able to help out where you can.