Began the video looking for a quick update on LIB’s newest line of Skate Bananas (reverse camber industry leader) and was treated to a quick walkthrough of the companies history of boards including a factoid I hadn’t heard. Lib-Tech is actually short for Liberace Technologies after the famous pianist/singer known for his flashy outfits and flamboyant lifestyle. Did a bit of digging and it appears the origin comes the founder Mike Olson was baking a skateboard at Merlin’s old production facility in Seattle:
“I pulled it out of the oven at 3 in the morning, and I saw this sparkly pattern on top and I wrote Liberace Technologies on it.” –Seattle Times
He couldn’t trademark the name and shortened it to Lib Tech. Betcha didn’t know that.
p.s. the 2021 Skate Banana looks choice.
images from wikimedia.org
