One, Blade Life: An Interview with Justin Hertel (AMall)
It seems that Aggressive Mall is not only one of the most reliable and popular skate shops, but you guys have become synonymous in our industry with custom skates and creative color jobs on just about any pair of boots offered.
Before we get into anything, tell us who is the maniac behind all of this madness, who is Justin Hertel?
For starters, I am a pretty low-key 26-year-old kid that rollerblades and owns a skate shop.
I enjoy many things such as blading, watching good people blade, snowboarding, shooting guns, photo, video, working on cars, graphic design, drawing bad stuff, thinking of bad stuff, and working a lot and occasionally making cool stuff.
I found out quite some time ago that I was never really good at one particular thing, but was just kind of good at a lot of things — and I think that is the number one positive trait that has enabled me to wear many hats and get a lot done in a short amount of time.
We all have our own stories of how we got into blading itself, but what made you want to open up your own shop, and how did Aggressivemall come to be what we know today?
I could write a novel about all this so I will try and sum it up by saying I owe this all to my dad.
I was really into skating in the early ’90s, and by chance he had extra office space in the front of his ski wax business (Hertel ski wax).
I knew a ton of people that skated and figured, like most 12–13 year olds, that it would be awesome to start a skate shop. Much convincing later, my dad opened up shop in the 400 sq. ft. office we had in there. As far as the name goes, it was all him! I always thought it was corny but somehow it ended up sticking…
I swear we could have had ANY name too. Anyways, this is where my friends and I worked on and off for the next few years while I made my way through school. [...]
Check the Full Justin Hertel Interview on One.
Interview: Ben Karris ; Photos supplied by Justin Hertel.
Tags: one mag
July 13th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
GOOD INTERVIEW !
RESPECT !
July 15th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
liked it. Respect to Justin Hertel for everything he have done. we need more people like him in this industry.