About Us
What is DoggScooters ? We are an Online Freestyle Scooter Store, offering the best and newest products at the best available prices. We've created this page to help educate our new fans about the roots of our company. Our history is important to us, and we feel that you (our customers) should know exactly where we've come from, who we are, what we've done and what we stand for:
"Being the original shop carries a responsibility that we see as an opportunity. To put ourselves in a neutral position in the market, we
offer a level of expressive individuality to all of our customers, offering the most personal service available. Our influential roots span back to the earliest days of the sport, forcing us to become as abstract and artistic as possible, to ensure the sport progresses in a direction that
we will always admire."- Jon Carter (Founder and CEO of DoggScooters)
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In the Beginning
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It all begun back in May 2009, in a little bedroom in a house in Helston, Cornwall. Jon Carter (aka JonDogg) had already been riding for 2 years by this point. He was getting frustrated with the lack of decent products available in the UK. The only place he could buy decent parts from was overseas - from Australia, USA and Europe. Before long, Jon had a nice collection of used Scooter parts. So when his mates started riding, they all came to JonDogg for spare parts. Before long, this became a normal routine for Jon. He'd sell some Wheels to some mates, and buy some more Wheels in. He was 16 years old at the time.
The magic begun to happen when Jon's older brother Darren Carter (no nicknames) saw what Jonny was doing. Darren (aged 19 at the time) was skilled in web design, so he decided to throw in an idea:
Why don't you build a website, and try selling this gear online?
The journey begun right there, right then. Before long, Jon and Darren had set themselves up with an Online shop. |
The Name
Choosing a name for the new shop was pretty easy. Jon was already a popular rider, and a well known user of
SR (Scooter Resource), being ranked #3 for having the most posts, out of 20,000 members. His name on this forum
was (and still is) JonDogg. So when everyone started hearing that JonDogg was starting the first UK Scooter Store,
the name came naturally - DoggScooters.
The Logo was designed by Darren. He wanted to make DOGG the main feature of the logo design. The fact that scooters.com follows in the bottom line is just detail. But the word DOGG is so abstract from the Scooter scene
that we wanted it to stand out.
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As you know, the word DOGG is very widely used in all different places. Which is why we're so happy that we've recently overtaken SnoopDogg on Google, and are the Top Dogg in the world!
Introducing our very own brandAfter launching our Online Shop, we began to realise how hard it was to find certain products, and get them into the UK. In particular, One-Piece Handlebars were non-existant in the UK in 2009. There was no such thing. So instead of going through the trouble of importing handlebars from USA or some other foreign country, we decided to get some made right here in the UK. We approached a local Metal Fabricator in Redruth and asked them to make a simple T-shaped metal handlebar. For them, it was a silly little job they couldn't care less about.
They didn't realise that they were making the first One-Piece handlebar in the UK!
For these handlebars, and other components which followed later on, we needed a name. After some brainstorming and scribbles, we came up with Swish. The first ever UK based Scooter brand.
Swish is still 100% owned and run by DoggScooters. As a brand, we feel Swish as always struggled to find a strong and complete product range. So we've re-focused on the name, and have some mighty plans for Summer 2012! |  |
Helping great brands, and progressing the UK Scooter SceneNot many people know that DoggScooters were responsible for introducing many of the TOP Freestyle Scooter brands into the UK market. Being in such a unique position in our niche market, and having direct links to the riders and the community, foreign brands begun showing a huge interest in us from the start
In 2009, Doggscooters were importing Madd Gear brakes into the UK. Long before the brand officially launched in late 2010. We were the original importers of Eagle Wheels from 2009. We also worked closely with Grit to bring the brand into the UK.
In 2010 we worked closely with Razor to help bring them into the Freestyle Market. We also chose their Team of riders and organized their first UK tour.
We also selected the riders on Team Madd Gear (UK) in 2010.
In late 2011 we introduced CRISP, a leading high-end complete Scooter brand to the UK market and we continue to actively look for opportunities and innovating products/brands that can progress Freestyle Scootering even further. |  |
Building a communityIn 2010 we decided to give the industry another boost by starting the UK's first Dedicated Freestyle Scooter Forum.
We introduced Hang5 in November 2010, as a non-biased Scooter community.
Hang5 now has almost 2000 UK Members, and it is the largest UK Scooter forum. |  |
Continuing InnovationsAside from helping Brands, building Teams and growing the Industry, we have always looked at ways we can improve ourselves as a company. Offering new services to assist our customers and improve the experience of ordering from DoggScooters as much as possible.
In 2011 we begun offering our customers 'Custom Scooters'. This was nothing special, as other skate shops were offering Customs before we were. But we took it one step further, and decided to offer a service we named Ready2Ride. For a small cost, our customers could select an additional option to have their Scooter completely built, and delivered in 1 big box, Ready2Ride! With its immediate popularity, we decided to role out the Ready2Ride service across all of our complete Scooter range. To our knowledge, we were also the first Scooter shop to offer complete built Scooters through Mail Order.
In 2011 we also launched Scootipedia. Which is a comprehensive collection of knowledge with everything you need to know about Scooters. Every detail about the Scooter, from step-by-step guides on assembly to tips on maintenence, is included in our Scootipedia.
Now we're into 2012. For us, this is just the beginning. We have so much we're working on behind-the-scenes which you will see over the next year or two. These are exciting times and we appreciate being a part of this industry more than ever. The PresentToday, we have a great team of guys (and girls!) working with us to ensure that DoggScooters continues to grow, innovate and progress the UK Scooter scene. We're based in Exeter (Devon) where we have a cool Office/Warehouse, splashed with bright colours, plenty of beanbags, plants and (of course) a games room with XBOX 360 and Call of Duty, for our staff to play around on when they're not busy (not too often these days!)
Our Contact Details:
DoggScooters Ltd.
Unit 3, Kingfisher Court,
Pinhoe Trading Estate,
Exeter,
EX4 8JN
( Please note : Our office is not currently open to the public! )
Tel: 01392 911032 ( Mon - Fri, 9am - 6pm )
Email: sales@doggscooters.com
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Company Directors:
Jonathon Carter - Managing Director (70% shareholder)
Steve Carter - Director (20% shareholder)
Darren Carter - Creative Director (10% shareholder)
Company Staff:
Miranda Lewis - Finance Manager
Mike Carter - Buyer/Stock Controller
Matthew Davison - Sales Manager
Luke Painter - Media / Rider
Mary Carter - Sales
Jake Scoynes - Technician
Charlie Couldridge - Warehouse
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Thank you!We want to take this opportunity to thank you, our beloved customers, for being a continued and vital part of our story. Things have changed a lot since 2009, and we realise now that riders have a lot of choice on where to buy their parts. So we appreciate our customers more than ever, and promise to continue giving back as much as we possibly can.
We also want to say a special thanks to the following people for their help along the way and being an important part of the story so far ( in no particular order ) :-
Humma | Josh RB | Graham Kimbell | Rob Forman | Terry Price | Dan Avery | Luke Painter | Mum | Dad | Ben Grantham | Ben Matthews | Brandon James | Rob Wass Danny Roberts |
Marcel Oosterveen | Joe McDonald | Max Jackson | Oli Little | Reuben Alfred-Olecky | Richard Walsh | Robert Eaton | Rob Wainwright | Shannon Francis | Sam Short
Anthony Hudson | Will Prentice | Scott Higgs | Nat Barber | Stevie Cussons | Lewis Crampton | Ryan Scott | Jonny Howe | Dom Olorenshaw | Perry Grant | Geran Payne
Owen Hopwood | Noah Wright | Ashley Garratt | Justin Robertson | Hayden O'Connor | James Bull | Steven Esposito | Tommy D | Royce King
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Owner: Jon Carter (aka JonDogg)