Go Sidewalk Surfing with these Utah-made Longboards

After going viral a few years ago, Ghost Boards has carved out a unique niche in the skateboard market.

In 2017, Utah mortgage banker Russ Warner had a self-described midlife crisis and started making custom longboard skateboards.

“I grew up as a skater and I spent some summers down in California surfing and riding my skateboard,” said the 54-year-old native of Sandy, Utah. “From mortgage banking to making skateboards, yeah, it’s a little bit different path.”

His company, named Ghost Boards because of the clear acrylic decks he manufactures, got the kind of industry boost that every new product startup strives for these days: A TikTok video of his product went viral.

“There was a girl named Maddie Kujawa who lives in Ohio and she bought a board with a butterfly on it and did a TikTok on it and TikTok decided to share it to everybody,” said Warner. “It got 50 million views.

“In the video she says, ‘I want to show you my first longboard. I got it from Ghost Longboards, and I am going to show you how to ride it.’ It just blew up.”

Warner says that in May of 2020, he unexpectedly got 600 orders in one day. The next day he got another 600 orders.

“I shut down the website thinking it was broken and out of control. I said, ‘how are we going to make a thousand boards?’ So we sat own on the couch and talked about it,” recalls Warner. “We decided to turn the website back on and we did $1 million in one month. We got six months behind on orders and it became chaos.”

Ghost Boards, manufactured in Pleasant Grove, Utah, is a selection in the Alliance for American Manufacturing’s 2025 Made in America Holiday Gift Guide. It may be snowboarding season in most of America, but a Ghost Board longboard is an ideal gift for the Vans-wearing skate enthusiast on your list.

Ghost Boards offers custom-built longboards of many sizes and shapes. Its clear acrylic longboards are what differentiate Ghost Boards from other makers in the $1.03 billion U.S. skateboard market.

Manufactured in an 8,000-square-foot factory, Ghost Boards are available in almost any design you want to put into the clear acrylic or engrave on the deck top. The company has made longboards in the shapes of a banana, guitars, shields, swords, tacos, cheeseburgers and even one with Top Raaman inside the acrylic material.

For example, peruse the menu at In N Out Burger and Warner’s team can make you a longboard in shape of anything on there.

And not only can Ghost Boards create just about any design or shape, but they can also manufacture it the same day it receives the design order.

“Everything we make is made to order,” said Warner. “Like today as the orders come through, we crank up the CNC machines and make exactly what people want. Like Build a Bear, we are build a board.”

A longboard is a type or skateboard typified by longer decks (standing surface) and wheelbases with a lower riding height than street skateboards. Longboards were inspired by surfing and resemble the motion of riding a surfboard. Using a longboard is considered “sidewalk surfing.”

Currently, Ghost Boards has a staff of eight manufacturing anywhere from 75 to 150 boards per day. But the company has had as many as 50 employees depending on the time or year and number of orders. The company specializes in one-off custom boards but also fills larger orders for retailers.

Ghost Boards are sold in Ron Jon Surf Shops and at the Hotel Coronado near San Deigo and after the first of the year they will be available at Target Stores. But if you want an absolute original design, by ordering on the company website you will produce a board that will be shipped out in a day or two.

“The longboards are made out of acrylic and like a plexiglass coating,” said Warner, “It’s kind of like resin pouring. You pour it and you mold it and then you cut it in the CNC. You engrave it, then you polish it and router it.”

Completing a board involves attaching the trucks, which are sort of like an axle to which the wheels are attached. While the board surface and design are strictly made in America, Ghost Boards uses some imported trucks and wheels it cannot find from the typical California manufacturers.

Ghost Boards makes the skateboard standard of 30-inch decks, but creates longboards up to 48 inches. The decks are mostly three quarters of an inch thick, but one-inch decks are available for those weighing more than 220 pounds.

Finding a niche in the crowded skateboard marketplace is not an easy task but Ghost Boards has become known for designs that appeal to girls adorning its products with flowers and butterflies. The company will also supply wheels or decks with LED lighting that makes them stand out at night.

“I wanted it to be a fun, soft-riding board with a lot of flex,” said Warner. “And there wasn’t a lot of girl themes. Most of the skating industry is for 12- to 25-year-old males and I thought there are no yellow trucks, pink wheels, mermaids, or butterflies so we came out with some of those designs and that is where we went viral.

“We have a 68% female following because we sell a lot of girl designs, which other skateboard companies don’t. We do a lot of pinks, yellows and purples that help the girl audience that wants to get into the boarding world.”

Warner’s return to the world of skateboarding came from his love of being outdoors and an attempt to increase his exercising.

“I didn’t really pick up my skateboard for about 20 years and as I got older, I thought it would be fun to learn how to longboard and exercise, so I bought one on Amazon,” said Warner. “It was a piece of junk, China-made wobbly wood longboard and so I thought there’s got to be something cooler and better.

“Skateboard became more popular again with it being in the Olympics and now you are seeing the cities building more and more skateparks. These cities thought they could get kids outside again and longboarding is a good choice for them.

“Our biggest buyers are in that 13- to 30-year-old range. Usually what happens with us is we get the 13-year-old girl that finds us. She wants a butterfly board, and her brother wants a snake on his board. The 40-year old dad says I can ride with my kids and buys one with a dragon on it. And then mom is like, I guess I can do it, too.”

So, in 2025 longboarding has become a family affair. Ghost Boards has a licensing deal with Hasbro to use some of its characters like Popeye, GI Joe and Transformers. The company also has deals with several colleges to use their respective logos as well as with bands and performers like Imagine Dragons, Whiz Khalifa, Sublime and Jack Johnson.

Ghost Boards longboards retail from between $199 up to $300 for a full custom board. You can shop and design your own board at www.ghostboards.com.