Chocolate is Girl’s sister brand, and for a lot of people the one that has best defended ledge skating, technical skating and a laid-back style. It started in 1994 out of a small story between friends, with a van that couldn’t fit everybody, and since then it has had skaters like Chico Brenes, Keenan Milton, Marc Johnson and Kenny Anderson. Among the current pros there is a Spaniard: Jesus Fernandez, from Madrid.
Here you have the history of Chocolate, who owns it, where its logo comes from, what team it has had, which videos to watch and what its decks are like.
How did Chocolate start?
Rick Howard and Mike Carroll had started Girl in 1993. A year later Chocolate came out, meant to make room for more friends who no longer fit on the Girl team. The anecdote that gets repeated most, and that the founders themselves have told, is about Chico Brenes: on a tour they had to leave him behind because there wasn’t room for everybody in the van.
Some people add Spike Jonze and Megan Baltimore among the founders. What’s certain is that both were at the origin of Girl and in the first videos, and that the names that are always repeated as the heads of the brand are Howard and Carroll.
The first team was Chico Brenes, Daniel Castillo, Paulo Diaz, Richard Mulder, Shamil Randle, Gabriel Rodriguez and Ben Sanchez. Keenan Milton joined right away and opens the first video.
Who owns Chocolate?
Crailtap, also known as Girl Distribution Company. It is the Torrance company that runs Girl, Chocolate, Royal Trucks and Fourstar, and it has Howard and Carroll behind it, who also founded the shoe brand Lakai in 1999. There is no public word that Crailtap has been sold, and the brand keeps running as a small, skater-run company inside that group.
The decks are distributed by the company itself. The brand doesn’t say which factory makes them.
The logo, the name and the graphics
The first logo, with handwritten lettering, was drawn by Andy Jenkins, Girl’s art director. Then came Evan Hecox, an artist from Colorado who has worked with Chocolate since 1997 and is credited with the Chunk, the block typeface that is now the brand’s image. Hecox does a good part of the graphics, and it is a tradition that every new pro gets a portrait drawn by him on their first deck.
The design department of Girl and Chocolate is called the Art Dump. Jenkins, Geoff McFetridge, Kevin Lyons and Hershel Baltrotsky, among others, worked there.
Among the best-known series:
| Series | What it’s about |
|---|---|
| Red Square | A Hecox graphic from the late 90s |
| Sound System | Dancehall-inspired art, also by Hecox |
| Vagabond (2013) | Nine decks, one per rider, each with a vehicle tied to him |
| City series | Decks with city illustrations, for example Anderson’s or Brenes’s |
Chocolate has also done collabs with RED, Fairdale, Lakai, Converse, Nike SB, HUF and Sanrio.
The Chocolate team
The first era: the class of 1994 (Chico Brenes, Daniel Castillo, Paulo Diaz, Richard Mulder, Shamil Randle, Gabriel Rodriguez and Ben Sanchez), with Keenan Milton and, soon after, Scott Johnson, Gino Iannucci and Stevie Williams.
Keenan Milton was born in 1974 and died in July 2001, at 26, accidentally drowned at a party. He opens Las Nueve Vidas de Paco and his footage keeps showing up in later videos, like Pretty Sweet and Bunny Hop.
The 2000s: Stevie Williams left in 2002 to start DGK. Marc Johnson, who came from Enjoi, was announced as part of Chocolate in Yeah Right!. Chris Roberts was also a Chocolate pro.
The 2010s: Jerry Hsu turned pro for Chocolate in 2013 and Yonnie Cruz in 2017. Hsu and Elijah Berle left the brand that same year.
The latest years: the team includes Kenny Anderson, Vincent Alvarez, Stevie Perez, Raven Tershy, Justin Eldridge, Erik Herrera, James Capps and Carlisle Aikens (the last two pro since 2021) and Jordan Trahan, who joined that year.
Chico Brenes
He was born in Nicaragua and moved to the United States at nine, in 1985. He started skating around 1988 or 1989 on a secondhand board that cost him 15 dollars. He turned pro for World Industries in 1992, at 16, and is known for his technical, smooth ledge skating: in fact, the chicoflip (a nollie backside heelflip) is named after him.
Jesus Fernandez, the Spaniard on Chocolate
Jesus Fernandez is from Madrid and started skating there in the late 80s. He has said that at 16 he traveled to the United States for the first time with Enrique Lorenzo and that they stayed at Lance Mountain’s house. He went back later with his brother and his friend Dani Lebron, and skated for Neighborhood.
He met Chico Brenes and got hold of Chocolate decks. He appeared in Yeah Right! (2003), Girl’s video. After that he had a visa problem that kept him out of the United States for five years, and he left Chocolate. He went back to Spain, skated for Nomad and lived in Barcelona. It was in Málaga that he reconnected with the Lakai team, and with Federico Vitetta he filmed most of his part in Fully Flared (2007). Later he returned to Chocolate and turned pro. Since 2018 he has lived in Copenhagen.
His skating is about very thin ledges, switch tricks and nollies. In Pretty Sweet he shared a part with Chico Brenes, with a Spanish-language version of Hotel California as the music. Free Skate Mag made a three-episode documentary about him, the first one focused on his love of flamenco, and he has also appeared in Bunny Hop. He also has a joint part with Javier Sarmiento in Dopados, by Oro Skateboarding.
Chocolate’s videos
| Year | Video | What it has |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Las Nueve Vidas de Paco | The brand’s first, about 32 minutes, with a Spike Jonze western as the thread and Keenan Milton opening |
| 1999 | The Chocolate Tour | The tour video with sketches, with Daniel Castillo on the cover |
| 2004 | Hot Chocolate and Se Habla Canuck | Two videos the same year, the first one filmed by Ty Evans |
| 2006 | A Little Chunk of Chocolate and Hittin’ Britain | Two tours through Europe |
| 2010 | Der Bratwurst Tour Ever | A tour with Girl |
| 2012 | Pretty Sweet | The joint video with Girl, premiered on November 16 at the Orpheum in Los Angeles |
| 2021 | Bunny Hop | Directed by John Marello |
Pretty Sweet won the award for best video at the Transworld SKATEboarding Awards. It was filmed by Ty Evans and has parts from both teams, Girl’s and Chocolate’s.
Bunny Hop has parts from James Capps, Erik Herrera, Jesus Fernandez, Jordan Trahan, Stevie Perez, Kenny Anderson, Raven Tershy, Carlisle Aikens and Vincent Alvarez. The cast also includes Chris Roberts, Justin Eldridge and Jeron Wilson, among others, and it brings back footage of Keenan Milton.
For more, here is a list of the best skate videos of all time.
Chocolate decks
They are seven-ply maple decks, with medium concave and a double kicktail. Chocolate doesn’t sell a construction of its own: what sets it apart is the team and the graphics.
| Size | Examples |
|---|---|
| 8” | Original Chunk |
| 8.25” | Alvarez Scrunk |
| 8.375” | Original Chunk |
| 8.5” | Capps Explorer, Berle Hype Chunk |
| 9.25” | Cruiser deck from a special series |
The 8.25-inch models usually come with about 14.25 inches of wheelbase and about 31.875 inches of length. If you’re unsure about size, check our guide to choosing a skateboard deck.
Chocolate compared to other brands
- Girl: the brand it comes from. Bigger, with a larger team and videos of its own. The full story is on its page: Girl.
- Baker and Anti-Hero: also brands with a lot of character and a street team, but with a darker tone. Check out Baker and Anti-Hero.
- Element: more ranges and special constructions. You have its page at Element.
If you’re looking for more options, we have a comparison of the best deck brands.
Who is Chocolate for?
For people who skate street, with ledges, curbs and stairs, and who like polished graphics and videos with a story. The decks work for any level, because they are seven-ply maple decks like those of any other good brand, and nothing about them is made especially for beginners. And if you’re into Spanish skating, Jesus Fernandez is a Madrid skater who has spent years skating for a US brand.