Designing Custom Colored Skateboard Hardware
It’s pretty well known that skateboarders like to infuse their own personal style into their gear, and skateboard hardware is no different. Throughout the years, many custom colored skateboard hardware companies, like Shorty’s, Upful, Shake Junt, DGK, Enjoi and others, have given skateboarders the opportunity to add a little more flair to their setup. Maybe you’re reading this right now thinking about a custom colorway of skateboard hardware you’ve never seen and would like to start a brand based around your vision. If so, read on to consider the steps required to make your creative vision into a reality.
One of the first questions in designing custom colored skateboard hardware, is if you want to use paint, plating, or some combination of the two. Traditional skateboard hardware is coated with black oxide, which is great for mild corrosion resistance but doesn’t offer much to the eyes. Plating will give your hardware a more metallic appearance, while paint will give you more vivid and longer lasting color. Paint also allows for mix-ins like metallic flakes that can actually make your bolt heads sparkle in the sunlight. While paint colors are virtually unlimited, zinc plating is usually only silver and gold. Mudge Fasteners, however, also offers the option to plate skateboard hardware in red, green or blue zinc.
If you’ve decided on paint for your custom colored skateboard hardware, you’ll need to decide whether you want the whole bolt painted or just the head. Painting just the head is more affordable, but painting the whole bolt will allow you to see the color from underneath the trucks where the bolt mates with the nut. That being said, fully painted skateboard hardware is more difficult to assemble correctly due to the thickness of the paint, and can be very frustrating to deal with when you’re trying to set up a new board before hitting your local spot.
Next comes the mounting nuts, which can also be painted or plated just like the bolts can. If you’re looking to add an extra special touch of style to your nuts, Mudge Fasteners is the only skateboard hardware vendor in America that can dye the nylon insert your desired color. This is a labor-intensive process which adds significant cost, but it does really set your product apart from the rest.
In some cases, you can actually use both plating and paint to create a two-tone effect, such as in the Mudge limited edition candy blue and yellow zinc mounting hardware. This is the cream of the crop process for designing custom hardware, and it comes with a price premium.
Mudge offers unpackaged custom colored skateboarding hardware in quantities as low as 2,500 pieces per color and style. If you have any questions about designing your own colored skateboard hardware, contact us at sales@mudgefasteners.com.