| Independent Truck Company | |
| Type: | Subsidiary |
| Foundation: | 1978 |
| Industry: | Retail |
| Location: | Santa Cruz, California, U.S. |
| Num Employees: | 14 |
Independent Truck Company is an American skateboard truck manufacturer based in Santa Cruz, California. Established in 1978, the brand is currently owned by NHS, Inc. and has an extended list of sponsored team riders. The trucks are made by Ermico Enterprises, in the bay area of San Francisco.
The business was co-founded by Richard Novak, Jay Shiurman, Fausto Vitello, and Eric Swenson and the Stage 1 model was the first product. released on May 23, 1978, in Newark, California. The Independent truck model (or "Indy") was designed due to a response of lacking of high quality skateboard trucks on the market at the time. In reference to the two other major truck companies on the market, Blackhart stated that quote one broke, and one didn't turn (Bennett and Tracker Trucks, respectively).[1]
Independent trucks are built with:
The logo for the trucks was based on the Iron Cross according to the artist, Jim Phillips. It has remained the Indy logo since the brand's inception and was derived from the French variation of the Cross pattée.
Jim Phillips says in his 2007 book "The Art of Jim Phillips":
In 2021, after a lot of vocalized opinions that the cross was indeed too "Nazi-like", Independent eventually removed it in favor due to a different design.[2]