Feature Article

Outsider Profile – Five Points Skateboards

Our motto is basically, “You want it, you’ve got it”.

Skate Company Profile:

Tim Birt - Frontside Grind @ Louisville Kentucky
Tim Birt – Frontside Grind @ Louisville Kentucky

Brand Profile: Five Points Skateboards

When was your company established?
I started Five Points up in June of 2002

Who is the owner of your company?
Me, Tim Birt

How come you started this company? 
I started up Five Points in order to make decks for my bro’s and myself. I felt that the Industry, as a whole, was geared too much towards early teenagers, and didn’t provide us older skaters with much of a choice of what to ride. So I took it into my own hands and started making decks, customized to what each person wanted in their “dream” deck. It just kind of took off from there. I decided to make a webpage to showcase some of my stuff, and offer other people a customized deck at a reasonable price. Skateboarding has played such a huge role in my life for the last 19 years or so, that I’m glad that I can do something like this to give something back to what has totally changed my life.

Where is your company based out of:
Five Points is based out of Columbus, Ohio. I run the company out of my home. The woodshop is in the garage, and the finishing/screening shop is in my basement. I like keeping it small and home-based. It gives me total control over the whole process, and if there’s ever a problem, there’s no one to blame but myself. I like the whole DIY ethic and truly love making skateboards.

How has your company changed since it was started? 
Other than getting a lot busier, not much has changed. I’ve invested in better tools/machines over the last couple years, that enables me to be more efficient. I pretty much started out knowing what I wanted to do, and what direction I wanted to take the company, and have stuck to my plan, which was to produce a great deck, at a reasonable price, that is exactly what you want. We ship decks all over the world, and have several shops carrying our product in the USA and Japan, so this is bigger than I ever planned it to be, and it’s only going uphill from here.

Five points Skates OG Ryder DeckWhat products are you offering? 
Five Points Skates specializes in custom skateboard decks. We can do any shape and size that someone wants. Anything is acceptable. We also offer model decks available online, that are customizable, also. We’ve begun doing custom screen printing/shaping for people who want custom graphics, low minimums, and custom shapes. We also have a wheel line that we just started up with our first wheel: the 58mm. 99a “Death Tread”, as well as some clothing, like t-shirts, mesh caps, and sweatshirts.

Who are your team riders?
Local friends/bro’s like my brother Troy Birt, Kevin Krahel, Jaime Kennedy, Rob Behler, Anthony Fischetti, Jason Kroninger, Wally Carl, Eric Warner, Dan Michalec, Isaac Harris, Dave Duvarney, Joel Hunt, B-Mac, Bill Minadeo. No one famous (yet), but people who are down for skatboarding for life and support the underground. I apologize to the crew if I’ve forgot anyone.

How tough is it to get recognition for your company? 
Five Points is a pretty small Company. I’m not really looking for a lot of recognition. I get all the recognition I need when I see people skating around on my product and digging it. That’s the best feeling in the world. I’m not planning some corporate takeover. I like keeping it small, underground, DIY. Five Points is bigger now than I ever thought it would be, so everything is going great.

What are your company’s hopes for the future? Is there any kind of motto your company is based off of? 
I plan on doing the same thing I’m doing now, for as long as I can. Our plan is to just keep dishing out original and functional designs using top notch wood, and keep the originality flowing. I totally love making custom decks for people. I’ll be around forever, because I can stay alive just making decks for myself. I never started it for the money, so I don’t need to rely on it to keep me afloat. I’d like to work on getting some better distribution going to help get Five Points to places that might not know about us yet. Basically spread the word and have fun skating new places and meeting new people.

Our motto is basically, “You want it, you’ve got it”. It pretty much sums it up for us. Skateboarding is about freedom, originality, and style, and I’m happy to be doing my part to help keep that aspect alive. I’m the type of person that believes that things won’t change themselves. If you want something changed, you’ve got to do it yourself, and put some work into it. 
To Contact Five Points Skateboards for more information please help yourself to their website and contact info:
Five Points
PH #: 614.840.0325
email: info(at)fivepointsskates.com