We Love to Skate!
“If you do what you love, you’re going work your butt off every day.” – Johny Hendricks
We love to skate! POWERSLIDE has been helping people discover their own love of skating since 1994 when the company was founded by former acclaimed speedskater Matthias Knoll and his business partner Stefan Göhl.
POWERSLIDE began as a distribution company offering a range of skates and products mostly from already established brands. If you were a skater in the ‘90s, you’ll likely remember Senate, 976, Boneless, and Crank Straps. In fact, during the inline boom, Powerslide distributed more than 50 brands.
The skating boom came to an abrupt end in 1997 with numerous brands leaving the market. While many companies were abandoning the sport Matthias saw an opportunity and completely flipped POWERSLIDE’s business strategy upside down. Rather than depend on the products and decisions of other companies as a distributor, going forward POWERSLIDE would develop and design its own innovative products and brands, all focused on four key pillars: innovation, quality, performance, and design.
Later that year, Powerslide’s first original brand was born. Upsidedown (later renamed to Universal Skate Design or ‘USD’) was and continues to be a groundbreaking inline skate brand that has developed some of the most innovative, capable skates the world has ever seen.
POWERSLIDE has continued to evolve, with a growing family of renowned brands that offer the highest-quality, most innovative skates, wheels, bearings, protective equipment, and all the products people need to redefine what’s possible on wheels.
POWERSLIDE is proud to support more than 100 of the world’s best skaters. These passionate athletes test all POWERSLIDE products, providing feedback, and ensuring you have the high-quality products you need to skate faster, jump higher, push your limits, and have fun doing it.
With a passion for products and pure love for the sport, POWERSLIDE is a driving force in the inline industry, always innovating and striving to make better products and make the impossible possible. And why do we do it? Simply put, WE LOVE TO SKATE.