Gawds Wheels Tim Franken

Gawds is a brand of aggressive skates created by one of the industry’s legends, Franky Morales. A long time pro skater for USD has decided to launch his own brand in cooperation with Powerslide, using their technology but coming up with new design of the boot. It comes no surprise that he modeled their looks after Air Jordan XII shoe, seeing that Franky is a massive sneakerhead and his previous pro-models from USD were also based on the iconic sneaker line. Coincidentally, the AJ XII were also template for the legendary Remedyz skates, later known as Remz. Franky was a Remz Pro at one point, too!

Seeing that Franky’s attitude, life and style are heavily influenced by and related to hip-hop culture, he also aimed to bring more of that street cred into skating. Hip-hop culture was a major part of inline skating in 90’s but the trend has started to fade and later on, very few Pro in aggressive scene have incorporated these aesthetics in their own personal brand. Nowadays you are more likely to hear indie rock music than heavy beats and lyrics in aggressive edits and videos. Thus, Franky also designed a line of accessories and clothing to better reflect his roots and make his brand standing out more.

In 2021, Gawds has came under Disroyal umbrella - while still having business ties to Powerslide, it is now distributed by a new company focused on delivering premium skate gear.