NY Times story

Mr. Thomas created his first company in 1996. He called it Zero,
because skateboarders were deemed zeros — losers. But in the past 10 years,
skateboarding’s popularity has soared, with more than 11 million participants.
These days, the only zeros in skateboarding are organized in groups of three, to
the right of dollar signs, and separated by commas.


He is attentive to the bottom line, but mindful of another line separating
hard-core — or core — skateboarders from everybody else. He sells vast numbers
of skateboards, sneakers and T-shirts, but he refuses to sell out.


Mr. Thomas’s Black Box company has 160 employees and a 120,000-square-foot
warehouse in Carlsbad, Calif. The company has grown 200 percent during the past
seven years. Mr. Thomas was named Ernst & Young’s entrepreneur of the year award
for San Diego in its consumer and business products and services category. With
shoulder-length hair and mutton-chop sideburns, he was the only entrepreneur in
Ernst & Young’s promotional photos not wearing a sport coat.