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The Making Of: @strght Skateboards

For more photos from Strght Skateboards, be sure to follow @strght and check out their Photos of You section on your mobile device.

Gabe Willis is a surfer—or at least he was until he moved from sunny San Diego to landlocked Oklahoma for college. Facing a sudden lack of waves, Gabe bought a skateboard and took to the streets, only to be left with a broken board after a few weeks. Rather than dip into his student budget for a new one, Gabe decided to try his hand at making one himself. Drawing inspiration from old-fashioned wooden boards and his family’s engraving company, he set to work and documented his process on Instagram as he went.

As people saw the unique board he was creating, they wanted to figure out how to get one as well. Supported by the interest on Instagram, Gabe created the @strght account and began filling orders directly through Instagram. Now, seven months later, Strght has expanded to four full-time employees and has begun to sell in stores and through web retailers.

With the addition of Photos of You, Strght put out a call to action asking their followers to add the @strght Instagram account to their photos of the boards. As a result, they and their followers are now able to see photos from happy customers across Instagram brought into one neat place.