Independent Truck Company

Independent Truck Company is an American skateboard truck manufacturer based in Santa Cruz, California. Established in 1978, the brand is owned by NHS, Inc. and has an extended list of team riders. It also sells clothing, hardware, bearings, and riser pads.

History
The company was co-founded by Richard Novak, Jay Shiurman, Fausto Vitello, and Eric Swenson and the Stage 1 model was the first product. released on May 23, 1978, in Newark, California. The Independent truck (or "Indy") was designed due to a response of lacking of high quality skateboard trucks on the market at the time. In reference to the two other major truck companies on the market, Blackhart stated that quote one broke, and one didn't turn (Bennett Trucks and Tracker Trucks, respectively).

Independent Truck Company has had team riders including Tony Hawk, Andrew Reynolds, Alex Chalmers, Brian Anderson, Lizard King, Danny Way, Colin McKay, Anthony Van Engelen, Wieger Van Wageninegen, Dustin Dollin, Ryan Sheckler, Braydon Szafranski, and Jim Greco.

Independent trucks are built with:
 * high quality aircraft grade T6 aluminum alloy
 * high tensile SAE 4130 Chromoly alloy steel axles
 * high rebound formula stock bushings.

Logo
The logo for the trucks is based on the Iron Cross according to the artist, Jim Phillips. It has remained the Independent logo since the company's inception and was derived from the French variation of the Cross pattée.

Jim Phillips says in his 2007 book "The Art of Jim Phillips":

"...I began toying with the iron, or Maltese cross which was long gone as the old 60s surfer's cross, and even longer dead as the biker's cross. I used a beam compass to make it into a round shape, which looked completely different than the old square iron crosses... I took my idea into the NHS office the next morning and it went on the wall as usual. Jay and Rich each stared at it for a while, and they both thought that it looked a little too 'Nazi'. My sketches were rejected and I was sent back to the drawing board. I went back to my studio determined to use it, knowing it was the one. I searched my archives and scrap file for some justification for using the symbol. I found a firefighter's logo, symbols on the knights and Columbus sails. Then in my scrap file, under the letter P, I found a Time magazine cover of Pope John Paul from the June 18, 1979 edition. It was amazing; there was a cross on his vestments almost the way I designed mine. I marched into the office the next morning with the magazine to show what I thought was proof of acceptability. They both looked at each other and said, 'Well, if the Pope has it, it must be okay!' That was that, and the Independent cross was born."

In 2021, after opinions that the cross was too "Nazi-like", Independent changed the Iron Cross logo to a different design.