Which are the main BMX brands do you work with?
We have a close relationship with our brand partners. Some of them are distributed by us in a specific group of countries, while with others we work at a pan-European level. Brands distributed in specific markets are (in alphabetical order): Academy, BSD, Cinema, Colony, Cult, Demolition, Division, Eclat, Family, Federal, Fiction, FUSE, Haro, Kink, Mafia, Mankind, Mission, Premium, Radio, Salt, Salt Plus, Stolen, Tall Order, TLC, Volume, WeThePeople. Brands distributed at a pan-European level are Academy, Colony, Division, Family, Fiction, Stolen and Wildcat.
What’s your connection to SkatePro?
SkatePro and Centrano are two different companies with two different client groups, but which share ownership and interests. In theory, Skatepro is one of our clients and partners. We work at the commercial level, but we also do lots of collaborations regarding sponsorship of events, riders and campaigns, like we do with hundreds of other shops all around Europe every year.
How do you deal with the criticism from the shops that you supply that you’re connected to a big mail-order company?
SkatePro has its roots as an individual small shop in Denmark, where they still today keep their brick and mortar shop + skatepark. It is true though, that they have also developed online sales across many international markets, like many other shops do today. There will always be some that complain. On the other hand, we know that many distribution companies in the action sports’ industry also run a shop or several. SkatePro has existed for many years and has developed their company to the size it is today.
What is your take on the BMX retail business right now? How are things going and how could it improve?
We saw a huge jump in BMX demand in 2020 and 2021. It is probably mainly because of the covid-19 situation all over the world. Sadly, like everybody knows, this huge demand together with lack of raw materials and lack of containers worldwide, also resulted in inflation, delays, and oversaturated markets in 2022. Sales are far from what anyone would wish, but we believe in a recovery pattern of a year, which starts to show its first signals.
What have you guys got in the works? Any exciting projects coming up?
We are very stoked about our Tall Order & FUSE rider Dean Larsen being also sponsored by RedBull. Later this summer, we will be sponsoring several small shop events in different countries, but also larger events like Ghetto Games in Latvia and Extreme Barcelona in Spain. There are other interesting projects in our drawer, which are confidential for now :)