The Vines Interview Series | James 'OG' Hewett

Welcome to the first instalment of our new interview series where we'll be speaking to people in and around the skate industry to get their insight and views of the world of skating. Kind of like the Nine Club but with a much smaller budget and way less glamorous guests...

To kick things off Paul caught up with local legend James Hewett to discuss growing up skating in Birmingham, memorable skate trips and his new skate distribution venture 'OG Dist'

Paul: Easy J, thanks for speaking to us. You wanna let the readers know a bit about your background? Where you from, where you live now etc

James: I’m from the wonderful land of the 0121, always have and will never leave 💪🏽

Paul: When did you start skating?

James: When I was 14, I’m 36 now

Paul: Who’s your favourite skaters?

James: TNT Grant Taylor, Gershon Mosley and Stevie Williams

Paul: Favourite UK spots and why?

James: To be honest, I like new bird Glasgow DIY and Bournbrook DIY. I just like DIYs, think they're so fun and love skating things made by skaters

James Hewett and the This Is Birmingham crew ripping at the Bournbrook DIY, edit made in memory of James 'Hem' Hemming

Paul: What about world-wide? You had any memorable trips?

James: Copenhagen, best city to skate

Paul: What's your favourite trick?

James: Love a good stink bug

Paul: And dream trick?

James: FS flip stale fish, done a few when I was a babbi

Paul: What do you most enjoy about skating in the UK ?

James: Just hanging with the homies

Paul: And most dislike?

James: The weather 😂

Paul: Whats your thoughts on competitive skating?

James: Yeah I used to love getting drunk at events and trying to win money.

Paul: You reckon Olympics is good for skating or na?

James: It’s different, defo I see skateboarding as skateboarding, so if u wanna be an Olympic hero go for it man as long as ur having fun who cares?!

Paul: What do you like to do outside of skating?

James: Hanging out with my wife and my baby I’m either skating or with the wife

Paul: What does the future hold for you?

James: Skate till my legs don’t work and then teach my daughter how to do a good stink bug lmao

Paul: Ha yeah, cool ok. So you recently started your own skate brand distribution company, so lets jump straight in and talk about that. How did OG Dist get started?

James: It all started by, basically, I was a removal man and I was just over busting my back and I had been doing sales for a brand (James was a sales manager for Karma Skateboards) for a while so I kinda built up a network of shops I sold to so I thought if I can get some other brands on board I could do this full time so I took a risk quit my secure job and just thought what’s the worse that could happen so I told my wife my plans and she is super supportive and was like do it so here we are with out her who Noe’s where I’d be ❤️ Also thanks to Toby and Mike (from Heathen) for believing in me and being the first people to back the distro which was the reason the dream began. Shout out to Heathen skateboards Best shapes out there

Paul: So who currently works in the business, and what are their backgrounds?

James: So it’s kinda just me who does all the distro stuff but to be honest I have a good friend called Rob Whiston (Sabbath Wheels, The Skateboarders Companion) and without his magical wisdom on website and POS stuff I’d be fucked basically 😂 Rob makes my business legit cuz he's a proper wizard with anything to do with computers and websites so big shout out to him ❤️

Paul: What would you say is OG Dist's USP?

James: Our USP is we are here for the smaller home grown brands, most of my brands are from the UK so we keep our prices low to make them as accessible as possible.

Paul: What sets you apart from your competitors in the industry?

James: I thinks it’s our old school attitude. We like to move about, hang out with local scenes and just keep our connections with shops, a bit more of a friendship vibe and as it grows we will keep pushing forward and getting UK brands into UK skate shops as they deserve the shelf spots

Paul: Sick, ok so which brands do you currently have on the dist?

James: We've got GVNMNT, Sabbath Wheels, Heathen Skateboards, National Skateboard Co, The Hardware Company, Sketti Butt and Delicious Again Peter.

Paul: We know it’s been a mad first year for OG Dist. Do you have anything exciting in the pipeline?

James: I think due to new circumstances I think there’s gonna be a new board company coming out soon from us, so keep a look out for that!

Paul: What do you see for the future of OG Dist ?

James: A massive unit with lots of stock with a little park, kinda like Baker dist vibes. This is Birmingham (brum skate collective) have got a new video coming out this year and the homies Dan, Cal and Marcus keeping that dream alive, always getting clips and keeping me hype.

Paul: What do you see for the future of the skate industry in the UK and around the world? It’s just gonna keep growing and hopefully we can all survive and just keep out of the real world

Paul: Sick man. Where can can everyone check out your products/videos/stuff? (youtube/facebook/IG etc)

James: 'Og_distributionuk' is the dist insta, 'ogjme' is the personal one. Thanks for the interview it’s all love brother and thanks for your support and orders we love ya xxx

Paul: Safe J, we're looking forward to see this new brand 🙏🏽 take it easy and catch up soon 🤜🏽