A few things you didn't know about DC's new riders

You’ve seen them in video parts, you follow them on social media, but how much do you really know about DC’s new riders? We went beyond the skating with these guys to get you some little known facts that will give you an inside scoop on what keeps them occupied of their boards.

Alexis Ramirez isn’t one to get shy when skating in front of a crowd. Maybe it’s because he’s been skateboarding for 11 years, or maybe it’s because he’s one of 11 siblings – yeah, that’s not a typo. If you think you had it rough growing up with a brother or two, try being the youngest of 6…and then adding 5 sisters.

While some may have gotten lost in the shuffle of so many siblings, Alexis had no problem finding his way to stand out – skateboarding. “I was lucky to have siblings that were supportive of me skating,” he says. “Always being surrounded by my family made skating with a lot of people easier and more enjoyable.” Clearly, for Alexis, it was a smooth transition from neighborhood skate sessions to video parts and sponsorships – and we’re stoked to bring him into the DC family.

While Alexis was probably fighting with his siblings about whose clothes were whose – John Shanahan was busy making his own – say what? We’re not sure if we should be welcoming John to our skate team or our design team, but either way we’re pumped.

At age 18, when he wasn’t busy skateboarding, John started hitting up thrift stores in his area. Thrift stores are full of all kinds of crap, but John had an eye for finding the diamonds in the rough – cool pieces with a bit of wear and tear, but that were still perfect for skateboarding. He and his friend Matt started making a habit of “thrifting” and before they knew it Matt was starting up a side biz called Vintage Sponsor where he resold many of the cool pieces he found – but the fun didn’t stop there. After a while, John started deconstructing some of the pieces he found and using those to sew some of his own creations. “I started finding all this stuff that was stained up and dirty, and so I would just cut out the logo if it was something cool that was messed up, and then I started sewing it onto other pieces, and started my own thing called One Off John (@one_off_john) which is just like custom stuff.”

We won’t give away too many trade secrets when it comes to how John sources pieces for his creations, let’s just say there’s no shortage of innovation in his process – and seeing as innovation is something we highly value here at DC Shoes, we don’t think John will have any problem feeling right at home as a new member of our skate team.

So now you know a little bit more about these two new additions to the DC Skate team, and you can look forward to getting even more of a scoop as they continue to travel and skate with the rest of our DC team. If you’re an aspiring skateboarder looking to follow in the footsteps of guys like Alexis & John, you can start by giving each of their favorite DCs a try – Alexis is partial to the Wes Kremer 2, and John wears either the Syntax or the Kalis Lite – it’s up to you to put them to good use.