Z-East is Proudly owned and operated by Third Generation Z-Boy Mike Freshour from Hawaii. Originally with Z-Flex for many years and then moved to Florida in the late 90's from California. When in Florida he got in contact with most of the Original Z-Flex East Skate Team in Jacksonville from the late 70's-80's. The 2nd Generation Team was the real deal no doubt, with riders like Jimmy Plumer, George Wilson, Mitch Kaufman & Mike Kaufman just to name a few. After talking to some of the Og/s Mike wanted to try and Bring back that legendary East Coast Z-Vibe all over again. So decided to start recruiting a modern Z-Flex East Skate Team from scratch. By 2002 Mike and his Team of nine total Ripper'z were traveling all all over Florida, within a few months they started to leave a real mark in Florida all over again. With Charlie Crank as the Team Captain the New-aged Z-East team was alive and well here in Florida. Team Rider Levi Combs was leading the pack, but all  were most definitely having a real blast, by statewide competing and finally gaining (Z) that long lost respect all over again, its was Epic! 

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    Unfortunately their wrath was short lived and the skate team was downsized due to company expenses. The Z-Flex East team just got smaller and smaller until it was time to just let go of it all over again, said Mike. It was heartbreaking for him, he felt  like he let his crew down. With all of that and also a marital divorce that he was also going through at the same time, he had a real hard time knowing what to do. The owner or Z-Flex at the time really tired keeping Mike on board but he was just dazed in disappointment and in his own world. Z was his roots and all he knew for so long, he was at least given the rights to the Z-East name if he ever wanted to try again to revamp the adventure after all of his hard work. Just like the original team, their time was up! It seemed hopeless and it was time for Mike to do some real soul searching, feeling completely lost and confused with no options, he just kind of  let that fire blow out hoping someday it could come back!

 

    Almost a decade later Mike and long time friend Charlie Crank were having a conversation catching up on the phone talking about the crazy old times and Charlie asked if he was ready to do it all over again? Mike laughed and said, Why Not! Charlie was of course thinking he was just joking around and laughed then said it would be killer to see you back up and running again to Mike. Charlie at that time was actually doing his own Board Company called Murder Ride that had some real heavy hitters on the skate team. Later on that year Charlie decided to do an event at Payne Skate Park in Sarasota Florida on 10/31/11 for his company. Out of nowhere Mike showed up to the event, walked up to Charlie and said I'm Back! Handed a few of Charlie's team riders a set of Swiss Bearings each and asked them to give them a try. Charlie was happy to see his old friend and stoked to see mike was doing some with skate again. That same night mike meet a young guy named JP Messner, JP was shredding the whole park with some serious style. So Mike asked JP if he wanted to represent Z-East and be his 1st team rider. JP of course was like, who is this guy, dude just has bearings lol. Charlie told him dude is not what you think, you might want to think about it trust me! JP said what's the worst thing that can happen and told Mike why not?  Mike smiled and said smart move! At that moment Z-East was reborn. Mike was already secretly working on some things for another brand he was building called Zurplus. Told JP he is now riding for Z-East welcome to the team. That night Mike stayed up and worked non stop and started prototyping for JP.

 

    After three full months months of rigorous testing deck shapes and concaves with JP and Mike were just still not  completely happy with what they have came up with. So Mike put on his thinking cap and came up with one last template. After all was said and done it was amazing, they finally found the right mold. This mold had everything,  Crazy (Pop) a real sweet spot in the concave created mad (Flick) plus it's (Resilient) as hell. So now they were ready to start some real mass production. Shortly after the brand hit the streets JP introduced Mike to a close friend and total ripper named Tim Fabry. Tim told Mike he loved what he was doing and that he got to try a few of JP's boards and loved the feel. Mike was happy to hear that and after he saw that Tim had some real potential he asked him if he would like to be the 2nd team rider for Z-E. Tim of course said hells yeah and started representing Z right away, Team growth was inevitable from that point....      

      

    Now over 12 years latter, Z-East has a killer team all over again with three Og Z-Vets, three Current Pro's and Seven   Am Riders on our roster. The Z-East Brand is growing like wildfire putting new Products in shops across multiple states   in the east coast alone. So be sure to keep an eye out for Z-East at your local skate shop, and if they don't carry it have them contact us. Ether Mike or Tim will be sure to get them all stocked up on what they need to get started as a certified  dealer. We have a huge selection to choose from with well over 4000 items in stock. Z-E is sure to be your new favorite   brand . Don't forget to check out the Z-Shop before you go. We are putting out new stuff on a weekly basses so there will be things that will surprise you for sure!