Westfield Teens Roll Out Backyard Longboard Business

When Alex Laitamaki and Jack Campbell aren't cruising the streets of Westfield on longboards, they're busy crafting them.

Working out of Campbell's garage, the Westfield High School seniors have turned their love of longboarding into the homegrown business, Backyard Longboards.

"We are longboarders and one day we were thinking it would be really fun to make them ourselves and found a few tips online and realized that it wouldn't actually be that difficult," said Campbell.

"When we made them we were like, 'Ok, this worked, actually.' We rode them and they rode like normal boards," said Laitamaki. "People told us that we should turn this into a little business. So we said, 'ok, that's a good idea.'" 

While the venture might have started on a whim, the enterprising duo has been steadily working to streamline their product and get their custom-made decks into the hands and under the feet of fellow longboarding enthusiasts.

"We planned a lot of the logistics out over the summer," explained Laitamaki, who will attend NYU Stern, ranked among the top 12 undergraduate business schools by Bloomberg Businessweek for 2012, in the fall. "One of the first things we did was figure out a time schedule, how long each step of the process takes. We're constantly working to lessen that time and be more efficient."

Using high-quality baltic birch and maple plywood, the entrepreneurs estimated that it takes them about a week, working for an hour or two each day, to create a longboard. While Campbell said he was familiar with wood carving from various art projects, Laitamaki credits a woodshop class he took as a freshman and summers spent woodworking on a farm belonging to friends of his Finnish family with helping him hone his skills. 

The 17 year olds explained that longboarding differs from skateboarding structurally in that the boards themselves are wider and have more shape to them.

"In terms of function, skateboards you don't really use as much for getting from point A to point B," Campbell explained. 

"You actually go significantly faster (on a longboard)," noted Laitamaki. "Professionals can reach 60 miles per hour. It's incredible; it's very impressive."

Aside from their unique, eye-catching design, how do Backyard Longboards differ from other longboards? Campbell explained that depending on color-scheme, design and size, he and Laitamaki offer 105 customizable options to their customers.

"You're not going to find that in today's market where everything is mass-produced," he said.

Another difference is the price. Backyard Longboards range from $50 to $75, while the average professionally-made board retails for $110, Campbell noted. 

With college application season behind them and the weather warming up, Laitamaki and Campbell said they look forward to filling more orders and growing their business. Though the two might not be near each other come fall, the longboarding business will roll on.

"We'll be working individually but contributing to the same fund," said Laitamaki. "We're actually thinking it might work out pretty well because being at college there'll be a larger market."

"Most of the schools I visited you see a lot of people riding longboards from class to class," said Campbell, who hasn't decided where he'll be enrolling yet. "A lot of our friends are realizing 'I'm going to college next year, I should probably get a longboard.' It's really picking up."

The teens said they have been using social networking, mainly Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to spread the word about their business.  

For more information or to place an order, visit Backyard Longboards website: http://www.backyardlongboards.com/index.html or download the attached order form.