SIMS® was founded in 1976 by Tom Sims, a true pioneer and world champion of skateboarding and snowboarding. Tom had one simple goal in mind when he established the SIMS brand: create the world’s leading Surf, Skate and Snow brand. His extreme dedication and passion for developing his brand allowed him to confidently progress into uncharted territory and turn his visions into a successful reality.
Since then, SIMS has revolutionized the sports of skateboarding and snowboarding with forward thinking concepts, product innovations and an amazing list of pro riders that have all helped in growing and progressing the brand. As the first established action-sports brand, the philosophy of SIMS has always been simple, build product for skateboarders and snowboarders that delivers function, and most importantly fun.
Tom’s accomplishments speak for themselves. A genuine innovator, Tom commanded advanced product concepts that forever transformed the landscape of the skate and snow industry. Tom was passionate, had a clear vision and was always motivated by the results of hard work, accomplishment and progressing skateboarding and snowboarding.
Tom was truly at the forefront of the board-sports evolution. From the moment he first stepped on a surfboard, built his first skateboard and snowboard all in the early 60’s, he clearly saw the potential to live this board-sport lifestyle year round. By the late 60’s he was surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding and wakeboarding and these ‘Firsts’ only further cement his legacy and vision. He is truly the godfather of action-sports and the embodiment of pure stoke.
This board is currently on display at the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Museum in Vail, Colorado. Note: no rope on the nose, even at 13 Tom had the vision of surfing the snow based off his experience from surfing the liquid form of snow and sidewalks. 1963.
Thirteen-year-old surfer, skateboarder and skier Tom Sims combines his two favorite sports and builds the world’s first snowboard in 7th Grade Woodshop Class in Haddonfield, New Jersey. He calls it a “Skiboard”.
World's First Longboard. Don Mackay street surfing a four foot skateboard built by Tom Sims on Greenmount Rd, NJ. Circa 1965.
In 1965 avid skateboarder Tom Sims wanted to simulate surfing on the street. Since surfboards were all over 9 feet long, Tom designed and built a 48” long skateboard to re-create the feeling of surfing on asphalt after being inspired by photos of Miki Dora (Da Cat) in Surfer Magazine.
Tom charging the east coast pow in New Hampshire. December 1969.
The short snowboards Tom created and rode throughout most of the 60′s nose dived in powder, so Tom decided to design and build a five foot snowboard with a ski-tip kicked nose to take to college in New Hampshire.
World's First Longboards for sale. 1975.
In 1975 Tom sold the first longboards in skateboard history: the SIMS 30”, 36” and 48” models. He immediately followed these up with 40” and 44” longboard offerings. For history buffs, this was 25 years before the modern longboard movement got off the ground.
World's First Traction Deck Skateboard. 1975.
Using polyester surfboard resin and #60 silica/sand, Tom creates the first anti-slip skateboards before the development of grip tape. Over 37 years later, this “new” technology is now more popular than ever, as an alternative to grip tape.
World's First Wheel Wells. 1975.
Tom creates the first known wheel wells to allow for bigger wheels and fail safe clearance. This was a huge development in skateboarding’s infancy which in turn gave Tom the idea manufacture the earliest urethane risers soon after, to accommodate the first precision bearing large diameter urethane wheels, know as SIMS Comps™.
World's First Precision Bearings designed specifically for Skateboard Wheels. 1976.
Tom teams up with GMN (George Mueller Nuremberg) of Germany, to help him design and manufacture the First skateboard specific precision bearings. The SIMS German Racing™” bearings instantly became the industry leader and high performance standard.
World's First Pro-Model Race Board. 1976.
George Powell designed the aluminum and wood core sandwich cambered skateboard as the “Tom Sims Model”, and he also advertised it as the “Tom Sims Quicksilver”. This was shortly before Stacy Peralta and Tony Hawk joined the company.
Tony Hawk on a SIMS 7 ply maple skateboard at 9 years old. 1977.
Tom Sims and Canadian skateboarding friend and Team Rider, Willy Winkles, pioneered the multi-ply maple laminated skateboard. These innovative boards revolutionized the skateboarding industry forever. Solid oak and fiberglass skateboards quickly disappeared as the entire industry followed this major innovation.
World's First Tapered Kick Skateboards. 1977.
Tom used a parabolic curve to create a kick tail design allowing the rider to better “feel” the positioning of the back foot, which greatly enhanced the rider’s performance in pools and on early vert ramps.
World's First Wide skateboard Collection. 1978.
This SIMS advertisement shows skateboarding’s First Wide Skateboard production models. These revolutionized the sport and shook up the whole industry, obsolescing the much narrower skateboards being manufactured at the time.
Tom railing his First Snowboard with Metal Edges. 1982.
Tired of having to use his skis in hard pack conditions, Tom decides to put metal edges on his snowboard and discovers a whole new world of control and response at ski areas and in competitions.
World's First Heel & Toe Hold Down Bindings. Tom realized that he needed to transfer as much energy to his edges as possible in order to increase edge hold. 1982.
After building aluminum proto-types, Tom designs a Polyethylene vacuum formed toe-piece and heel-loop binding system which vastly improved edge control and snowboard riding performance.
World’s First Snowboarding 1/2 Pipe. Tahoe City Ditch: Allen Arnbrister, Tom Sims, Terry Kidwell and Keith Kimmel. 1983.
Mike Chantry took Tom Sims along with Terry Kidwell, to show Tom the ditch in the abandoned Tahoe City trash dump. As Tom looked on, Terry dropped in and blasted a huge backside air in the snow covered 1/4 Pipe. Knowing he just got a glimpse of the future, Tom went on to build the World’s First 1/2 Pipe at the inaugural World Snowboarding Championships.
World's First Snowboard Binding Baseplate. In combination with the 1500 FE Snowboard, this set up became legendary and this baseplate is what made the Highback possible. 1984.
Tom wanted to make his snowboard binding angles adjustable (similar to skateboarding), so he designed the First “one-piece Baseplate” with a SIMS specific hole pattern that allowed snowboarders to ride with adjustable and custom binding angles.
World's First Pro-Model Snowboard: Kidwell Round Tail Pro-Model. 1985.
SIMS had the world’s premier skateboard team throughout the 70′s, full of big name pro’s, some who had Pro-Models. Tom knew the idea of a Pro-Model made perfect sense for snowboarding. Terry Kidwell was honored with snowboarding’s First such Pro-Model.
World's First Freestyle Snowboard: Kidwell Round Tail Pro-Model. Kidwell oozing with style. 1985
After Kidwell won the 1984 World Snowboarding Championships 1/2 Pipe event, Tom made good on his promise to make Terry his own Freestyle Pro-Model. This board allowed Terry and other SIMS team riders to ride backwards which ultimately revolutionized the sport forever.
World's First Reverse Camber Freestyle Snowboard: Kidwell Round Tail Pro-Model. 1985.
The Reverse Camber or Rocker design of the Kidwell Pro-Model Round Tail pre-dated the so called “newest thing” in 2008, by nearly 25 years.
World's First Highback Bindings. These allowed for more energy transfer to the heel edge and improved confidence and control in edge to edge transitions. 1985.
First came the SIMS Baseplate, then all Tom needed was to figure out how to attach a Highback to the heel cup. Luckily he met Louis ‘LOFO’ Fournier at a comp in Vermont and together they figured out a solution. As we all know, the rest is history: snowboarding wouldn’t be where it is today without the folding Highback binding.
World's First Freeride Snowboard. 1987.
The SIMS Switch Blade™ ushered in the whole concept of ‘resort boarding’ with a Freeride oriented snowboard. Prior to the Switch Blade™, there was no such term as “Freeriding” in snowboarding. The Switch Blade™ was a game changer.
World's First Junior Freeride Snowboard. This allowed the next generation of shredders to get started a much younger age. 1987.
Prior to the SIMS Pocketknife™ Freeride snowboard, younger kids were stuck with ‘directional only’ alpine oriented snowboards to choose from at retail.
World's First Modern Freestyle Snowboard. Just another game changer. 1993.
The SIMS “Noah™” (Salasnek) Pro-Model was the First performance based Freestyle snowboard designed to make technical tricks easier. Noah brought his insane skate skills to the snow and was the master of the ½ Pipe and jibbing. He without question pioneered this discipline and allowed it to progress to what it is today.
World's First Women's Specific Snowboard. 1994.
Seeing the rapid growth of snowboarding across all genders, Tom worked closely with Shannon Dunn in the development of a Women’s Specific Snowboard. She was stoked! Narrower, lighter and more forgiving became the standard for the ladies and it still is.
World's First Women's Pro-Model Snowboard. 1994.
The SIMS (Shannon) “Dunn” Pro-Model was the First snowboard designed to have a narrower waist for a smaller foot in combination with a lighter weight and a softer more forgiving flex for easier maneuvering. This opened up the snow world to female snowboarders.
World's First All Mountain Snowboard. Still a standard in today’s boards. 1994.
The SIMS “All Mountain™” was the First snowboard designed for high performance versatile snowboarding. The release of this board coined the term “All Mountain Snowboarding”, which previously didn’t exist in snowboarding.
World's First Big Mountain Snowboard. 1997.
The SIMS “T. SIMS™” Pro-Model, became the backcountry and big mountain pow standard. Future snowboard designs based specifically upon heli and extreme-mountain snowboarding took cues from this board.
World's First Aluminum Core and Carbon Snowboard. A high tech machine. 1998.
Since spin tricks were becoming more and more popular in the 1/2 Pipe and on the mountain in general, SIMS created the First ultra-light weight Aluma-Comb™ Core and Carbon Snowboard. The Project Hex™ provided the rider with minimum swing weight, incredible pop and maximum response.
World's First Adjustable Toe Ramp Binding. Improved edge to edge response. 1998.
The SIMS Posi-Link™ Snowboard Binding with the adjustable Power Ramp™ became one of the most copied bindings in snowboard history. The patented Power Ramp offered an innovative custom fit, which ensured that ALL energy was transferred to the edges of the board for maximum response.
World’s First Ergonomic Snowboard. The results are truly amazing when two snowboarding visionaries come together with a common goal.
Teaming up again with long time snowboard product innovator LOFO, this was ultimately Tom’s last product development involvement and an amazing one at that. The North American Made SIMS X-Wedge™ featuring E-Board™ Technology has 2.5 degree wedges embedded into the snowboard which properly align the riders hips, knees and ankles eliminating leg fatigue and lower body injury.
Tom slashing some deep pow at Silverton, CO, April 2009. Photo: Aaron Dodds
SIMS is a well-oiled machine that has attracted and produced many of today’s success stories in the board-sports world. The now iconic skateboard and snowboard teams were essentially a who’s who of talented visionaries committed to progressing the board-sports lifestyle. Without these influential riders, these sports would definitely not be where they are today.
Doug DeMontmorency on a Taperkick, mid 70's. Photo: Tom Sims.
Tom Sims – 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 00’s
Tony Hawk – mid 70’s
Bert LaMar – late 70’s–early 80’s
Steve Rocco – mid/late 70’s–early 80’s
Pierre Andre – late 70’s–late 80’s
Bob Biniak – 1975
Wentzle Ruml IV – 1975
Paul Constantineau – 1975
Arthur Lake – 1975
Jim Muir – 1975
Jay Adams – 1975
Mark Partain – late 70’s-early 80’s
Dave Andrecht – mid/late 70’s–mid 80’s
Brad Bowman – mid/late 70’s–mid 80’s
Todd Swank – mid/late 70’s–early 80’s
Chris Strople – mid/late 70’s–early 80’s
Tom ‘Walley’ Inouye – mid/late 70’s–early 80’s
Scott Hanson – mid/late 70’s–early 80’s
Craig Kelly on the Kidwell Pro-Model, Wolfcreek, CO, 1987. Photo: Tom Sims.
Tom Sims – 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 00’s
Chuck Barfoot – late 70’s–early 80’s
Craig Kelly – early/mid 80’s
Terry Kidwell – early 80’s-early 90’s
Allen Arnbrister – early 80’s-mid 80’s
Steve Link – early 80’s-mid 80’s
Keith Kimmel – early 80’s-mid 80’s
Eric Moynier – early 80’s-mid 80’s
Scott Clum – early 80’s-late 90’s
Chris Pappas – mid 80’s-late 80’s
George Pappas – mid 80’s-late 80’s
Dave Dowd – mid 80’s-late 80’s
Perry Linquist – mid 80’s-late 80’s
Louis ‘LOFO’ Fournier – mid 80’s-late 80’s
Shaun Palmer – mid 80’s-mid 90’s
Todd Richards – mid 80’s-late 80’s
Chris Roach – mid 80’s-late 80’s
Mike Ranquet – mid 80’s
Brad Strandlund on a Taperkick, mid 70's. Photo: Tom Sims.
Rick Tetz – mid/late 70’s
George Orton – 70’s
Brad Strandlund – 70’s
Waldo Autry – 70’s
Marc Hollander – late 70’s
Frank Blood – late 70’s
John Blood – late 70’s
Jack Waterman – late 70’s
Rudy Duran – late 70’s
Michael Hess – late 70’s
Conrad Miyoshi – late 70’s
Edie Robertson – late 70’s
David Hyde – late 70’s
Lonnie Toft – late 70’s-early 80’s
Kent Senator – late 70’s
Doug DeMontmorency – late 70’s–early 80’s
Tim Fain – late 70’s–early 80’s
Lester Kasai – late 70’s-early 80’s
Terry Kidwell on the Legendary FE 1500 Swallowtail, Wine Rock, 1982. Photo: Tom Sims.
Rob Morrow – late 80’s
Rocket Reeves – late 80’s
Tim Windell – late 80’s-early 90’s
Jose Fernandes – late 80’s-early 90’s
Sean Dillard – late 80’s
Tom Routh – late 80’s
Scott Downey – late 80′s
Lori Gibbs – Mid – late 80′s
Dave Weaver Mid – late 80′s
Bert LaMar Mid – late 80′s
Tim Strong – late 80′s
Petra Mussig – late 80’s-early 90’s
Bud Keene – late 80’s-early 90’s
Kevin Delaney – late 80’s-early 90’s
Evelyne Vuillemier – late 80’s-early 90’s
Noah Salasnek – late 80’s-late 90’s
Tina Basich – late 80’s-mid 00’s
Dave Wray – early 90’s
Marc Morisette – early 90’s
Buck Smith on his Pro-Model, up and out of the pool, 1989. Photo: SIMS
Christian Hosoi – early 80’s
Jeff Phillips – mid 80’s-early 90’s
Mike Folmer – early-mid 80’s
Ed Economy – early-mid 80’s
Kevin Staab – late 80’s-early 90’s
Eric Nash – late 80’s-early 90’s
Henry Gutierrez – late 80’s
Buck Smith – late 80’s
Shaun Palmer on a Switch Blade, 1989. Photo: Tom Sims.
Stephen Koch – early 90’s
Mark Fawcett – mid/early 90’s-early 00’s
Max Perotti – mid/late 90’s
Aaron Vincent – mid/late 90’s
Neal Drake – mid-late 90’s
Allan Clark – mid 90’s-early 00’s
Adam Hostetter – mid 90’s
Anders Hagmann – late 90’s
Shannon Dunn – mid 90’s
Jen Sherowski – mid-late 90’s
Dylan Farr – mid-late 90’s
Travis Young – mid-late 90’s
Kale Stephens – mid 90’s-early 00’s
Jesse Burtner – late 90’s-early 00’s
Jesse Fulton – late 90’s-early 00’s
Nicholas Droz – late 90’s-mid 00’s
Louie Vito – late 90’s-early 00’s
Tara Dakides – late 90’s-early 00’s
Luke Wynen – late 90’s-early 00’s
Tim Windell planting the 1/2 Pipe, 1988. Photo: Tom Sims.
Kevin English – late 90’s-early 00’s
Lucas Debari – late 90’s
Waylon Edwards – late 90’s
Ian Beer – late 90’s
Javan Wyker – late 90’s
Neil Goss – late 90’s-early 00’s
Brian Tobin – late 90’s-early 00’s
Brian Regis – late 90’s-early 00’s
Lael Gregory – late 90’s-early 00’s
Doug Radefeld – late 90’s-early 00’s
Mark Radefeld – late 90’s-early 00’s
Kim Bohnsack – late 90’s-early 00’s
Staci Burke – late 90’s
Luke Omand – late 90’s-early 00’s
Lael Gregory – late 90’s-early 00’s
Raul Pinto – late 90’s-early 00’s
Marc Frank Montoya – early 00’s-mid 00’s
Kurt Wastell – early 00’s
Aaron Vincent on his Pro-Model, 1997. Photo SIMS
Brian Thien – early 00’s
Jason Murphy – early 00’s
Jordan Mendenhall – early 00’s
Chris Coulter – early 00’s
Eric Jackson – early 00’s
Sam Leubke – early 00’s-mid 00’s
Casey Nelson – early 00’s-mid 00’s
Matt Ryan – early 00’s
Nima Jalali – early 00’s
Jimi Tomer – early 00’s
Josh Feliciano – early 00’s-mid 00’s
John Jackson – mid 00’s
Iikka Backstrom – mid 00’s
Daryl Trinidad – mid 00’s
Wes Makepeace – mid 00’s
Chris Dufficy – mid 00’s
Dave Short – mid 00’s
Johnny Lyall – mid 00’s
Ricky Gatterdam – mid 00’s
Doran Laybourne – mid 00’s
Allan Clark on the ground breaking Project Hex FC, 1999. Photo SIMS
Erik Christensen -mid 00’s
Jon Roth – mid 00’s
Neil Provo – mid 00’s
Erin Comstock – mid 00’s
Gaetan Chanut – mid 00’s-early 10’s
Steve Fisher – late 00’s-early 10’s
Colin Langlois – late 00’s-early 10’s
Lindsey Jacobellis – late 00’s-early 10’s
Erich Dummer – late 00’s-early 10’s
James Frederick – late 00’s-early 10’s
Stay in Touch