Orangatang Wheels was hatched in 2008 as a means of advocating for the civil liberties of the indigenous river capybaras of Southern California. We also gained international praise in 2009 for our brief and completely unrelated foray into exotic animal jerky manufacturing and wholesale.
We build what we want to ride.
We are passionate about materials, are committed to environmentally conscious design and production, appreciate the subtleties of process (the devil's in the details) and are devotees of functionally driven design.
The ideation and design of all of our products are spearheaded by a small, project specific, in-house team followed by input from the entire in-house crew and select ambassadors. The strength of each project team is built on a foundation of trust, maximizing individual strengths/perspectives, accountability, intellectual rigor and constructive criticism. Egos and biased assumptions are challenged and the expectation is that each player brings a healthy dose of positivity and passion to the table. The upshot is both refined product and poignant personal growth.
As with everything, it all comes down to people. We've worked hard to build a tight knit crew of diverse and unique individuals who share a common passion for getting weird and who have collective synergies. This approach extends beyond our in-house crew and includes our vendors who are like-minded and whom we believe to be the best in the world at what they do.
We try and put out a coherent ideology and we find that those that get it are drawn to it and become part of the dialogue. This is especially true for our shops and distributors worldwide who are our partners in irreverence and promoting the gospel of stoke.