The history of World Industries all starts in the mind of Steve Rocco. After riding for Sims for a period of time and being let go, Steve Rocco was let go by the TM. He thought his skate career potentially was over. But, Skip Engblom of SMA worked with Rocco to start World Industries, and showed him the ropes of getting a skateboard company started. Rodney Mullen also pitched in initial funds to keep the brand rolling.
The original team consisted of members such as mike vallely, jovontae turner, jeremy klein, jef hartsel, and jesse martinez. Vallely worked with Rodney and World to create the Animal Farm board, an adaptation off of the double kick board created by Vision.
World industries has released videos such as Rubbish Heap (created by Spike Jonze), and Love Child, while also being a part of videos such as Snuff, Video Days, Questionable, Virtual Reality, and many more underneath 101, Blind, and Plan B.
Artists such as Mark Mckee and Sean Cliver have released a number of ground breaking-ly offensive graphics through World, including Colvenetics, Day at the Beach, the napping Negro, and the Randy colvin censorship graphic.
Many of these boards are now considered rare vintage items.
World industries ads and content were so offensive even, that they often were excluded from Transworld Magazine and other media outlets; because of this, Rocco launched Big Brother magazine. Starting as a print mag, it grew to become videos as well, and in these we see the beginnings of the Jackass series with Jonny Knoxville, Steve-O, Weeman, and more.
Rocco also worked with Mark Gonzalez to start Blind skateboards, Mike Ternasky to start Plan B, and Natas Kaupas to start 101 skateboards.
These days, World industries is synonymous with all sorts of random novelties: things from world industries scooters, to snowboards, to even a series of tech decks.
In later life, World Industries created the infamous flame boy and wet willy graphic, one of the most recognizable board graphics to be associated with the brand. The old world industries, or the world industries which is considered "good" and core, in many ways disappeared (some thought it went out of business) with the sale of World industries for $29 million. However, World Industries continues under the careful guidance of pro skateboard Anthony Shetler.
In order to make this video, we've found these resources helpful in learning more about world industries. Check them out!
chromeballincident.blogspot.c...
"The Man Who Souled the World Documentary" • Steve Rocco | The M...