A Few Questions with Cliche's Brand Manager, Al Boglio

We would like to welcome Cliché to The Boardr Store. I had a bit of a skateboard business chat with Al Boglio who has been the Brand Manager at Cliche for the last 10 years. We talked about social media, the flow program, and the history of the company.

When and who as Cliché started by?

Jeremie Daclin started Cliché in the Summer of 1997 in France. We started making noise in 2000 with the release of Europa.

What's your position there and how long have you been with them?

I have been the brand manager for the past 10 years working closely with Jeremie Daclin and Eric Frenay our art director to make sure all is balanced.

How has running a skateboard company changed today vs back in the time when you first started? Is skate business generally the same since the evolution of social media, videos going online, etc or is it pretty different?

I ran my own skate company after quitting Prime skateboards in 1995, those days were garage days and good learning experience for what was to come.

Social media has definitely opened doors for everyone and also for our team that can push Cliché on their end too, that’s massive as they are creating their own contents. I mean some of the tricks Lucas Puig Instagrams blow me away at times, 15 seconds and its out of there. I have learned that longevity is key and I think we are doing a pretty good job from Lyon, France making sure we can blow 20 candles in 3 years.

Do you have people on a flow program? If so, how you generally find kids like that? Through the homies and friends network or are random kids still sending in videos for sponsorship?

We check all videos we get thrown our way (info@clicheskate.com), usually respond to all and get the ball rolling if a kid stands out. Getting in the van with the team is the next step and will determine what comes next. Sammy Winter who recently turned pro was Cliché shop flow. Good to see he climbed it all and made his dream come true. Lucas Puig was also Cliché flow at the start. He got on 14 years ago and has been loyal ever since. Homies definitely help the process of finding that kid that’s for sure though.