HISTORY
BLOODBROTHERS is a project born from a true brotherhood spirit. Two childhood friends (Marco “Tainha” Santos and Bruno “Bob” Serra Vinagre) from Setúbal, a beaten down industrial city south of Lisbon, Portugal, developed an idea that slowly came to exist as a surfboard maker deeply connected to the urban origins and the underground skate culture of its founders. Along with making surfboards, mostly longboards, BLOODBROTHERS has been making longboard skates and custom bicycles since its inception.
As a project visible to the outside world BLOODBROTHERS was established around 2000 (no one knows exactly when this really happened). Some say that it was the turn of the century, or the millennium, that brought BLOODBROTHERS into the world. Again, no one knows.
Meanwhile, Bob went deep into the craft of being a tattoo artist based in Lagos with its 924 Tattoo studio. He kept being involved with BLOODBROTHERS, namely all that is it’s visual identity and aesthetics. Tainha took the helm as the captain of the pirate ship and sailed BLOODBROTHERS into this connection between a very clear vision of single fin longboard surfing with his roots as a martial art practitioner and his background underground street culture.
BLOODBROTHERS
back in the day
BLOODBROTHERS FAMILY
And then the family got bigger as the founders grew wiser (and mostly older). BLOODBROTHERS is now a large family with friends from all over the world and all walks of life. BLOODBROTHERS, now based in Fonte da Telha, Portugal, has entered a new life in the spring of 2023 (we like odd numbers). Cooking up for a long, long time, there’s a “new” BLOODBROTHERS. What is this “new” BLOODBROTHERS?
THE “NEW” BLOODBROTHERS
We truly believe that we learn with each other and each new family member has the potential to take us higher, further. The BB FAMILY lives profoundly concerned with the Climate Crisis and the world we are leaving for those that will come after us. We at BLOODBROTHERS decided that we can no longer wait and stay put. We will be part of the solution for the Climate Crisis. Our new motto is THE SEARCH FOR THE ULTIMATE ECO-CONSCIOUS SURFBOARD. Take your time to read our MANIFESTO where we lay out what we are doing and how we plan to do it.
We work with leading industry partners (e.g., Ecoboard Project by Sustainable Surf, Polyola Eco-Blanks, Flexi-Hex for plastic free shipping, One Tree Planted, FCS wood certification, etc.) that are doing groundbreaking work to help us go from one of the most toxic industries out there – the surf industry – into an eco-conscious and responsible industry that not only minimizes its impacts but, moreover, assures that is part of the solution to the Climate Crisis.
This is the “new” BLOODBROTHERS. The sea texted you. Come join us in this journey!
WHO WE ARE? MEET THE TEAM
André Gonçalves
Research and Development, Internationalisation, Chief Engineer Officer
Co-founder, Chief Visual Officer
Co-founder, Shaper in Chief, Research and Development, Head of Production
Rui Costa (aka Jackie San)
Research and Development, Chief Vision Officer
AMBASSADORS
Daniel Carriço
(aka Dany Boy San)
Born and raised in the Sintra area, Daniel fell in love with the ocean from a very tender age. He started gliding waves with a bodyboard at the age of 12. Having music as a passion, particularly 50’s and 60’s rock introduced by his father, it was a small step before falling in love with surf culture. Single fin longboard became an obvious option. Spending time with his kids and sharing waves with friends are the places where you can find Daniel.
Preferred board:
Zensen 9’4″ × 23 1/8″ x 2 7/8″ + Fin 9.75 Flex
Ricardo Almeida
(aka Tak Ne San)
From the streets of Azeitão, Ricardo soon realized that longboard was his big passion. He is known for being always on the water. If you have never surfed with Ricardo you don’t know what a fun session really is. A tender father, a wonderful surf teacher, a good friend and an excellent longboarder. Ricardo is all of that and much more. He is our forever child wrapped in the body of a man!
Prefered board:
Master T 9’9″ × 23 1/2″ x 3 1/8″ + Fin 10.5 Flex
ARTISTS IN COLLABORATION
INDUSTRY PARTNERS
We are fully committed to THE SEARCH FOR THE ULTIMATE ECO-CONSCIOUS SURFBOARD. As such, all our boards are certified by the Ecoboard Project (an initiative by Sustainable Surf). At the moment, all our boards have the Level 1 certification (for using an ecological core – we use Polyola PU Eco-Blanks, the most ecological PU blank on the market). We are proud for this achievement but this is not enough. We still need to improve our processes. Apart from the “problem of the core” we need to address the “problem of the resins”. To better address the ecological consequences of the surf industry we need to upgrade our lamination processes to the exclusive use of bio based resins. This will allow us to qualify for the Gold Level certification, which we estimate will be happening fairly soon.
We are committed for an entire plastic free shipping for all products that leave our facilities. For the packaging of our surfboards we are partnering with Flexi-Hex – cardboard honey comb sleeves that protect all boards during shipping.
For each board (or skate, or bicycle) that leaves our facilities we will be planting 1 tree with One Tree Planted.
All wood used in our production (e.g., skates) is made with FSC certified wood.
