Brewers games to be ‘much sweeter’ this season
Golden Calf Company: Healthy calves equal high-producing cows
October 20, 2025
DE PERE – De Pere teen Aidryk Bartanen is turning his passion for skateboarding and art into a brand of his own with the launch of Blade Skate Co.
With support from local gallery One of One, Aidryk officially launched the brand earlier this month, which combines custom board designs, streetwear and original artwork that reflect his personal style and skate culture influences.
“I’ve been skateboarding for a while, and I’ve loved art my whole life – I just [get] this satisfaction out of putting them together,” he said.
Initially, Aidryk said he began selling skate decks and streetwear featuring his art and designs through third-party market websites.
However, Aidryk said that changed after a recent outing with his dad, Jason, when they stopped by One of One Gallery (365 Main Ave., Unit A) in De Pere and met one of its co-owners, Abimael De Jesus.
“[One of One is] like a catalyst for small or local brands to kind of help them develop [while bringing] attention to their company, too,” Aidryk said.
Carrying a wide variety of clothing, Jason said One of One sells “a lot of vintage pieces” from popular brands, such as NASCAR and the Green Bay Packers, as well as from celebrities like NBA All-Star Michael Jordan.
“They [also] carry three different local clothing designer’s brands there now, in addition to their [own One of One product line], and they’ve got two or three different artists that have photos or their art on the wall,” he said.
Jason said “as luck would have it,” he and Aidryk struck up a conversation with De Jesus, who asked them if they knew any local designers looking for help to launch their brand.
“So, we ran home, we grabbed a couple of T-shirts and a couple of stickers, we went back and he [said], ‘We could sell these,’” Jason said. “The rest, as they say, is history.”
At Blade Skate Co.’s in-store launch event, Aidryk said family, friends, community members and other local artists came to the One of One Gallery to support his brand.
“It was great to see everyone that came and supported me,” he said. “[I got] like a little boost of confidence each time someone came in and I had a great time talking to everybody – [it] just felt great.”
Jason said working with De Jesus and his fellow co-owners of the One of One Gallery has been an “incredible” experience – highlighting the amazing partnerships and opportunities that can come from supporting local art and businesses.
“I’m just blown away at how much they’ve done for us,” he said. “I’m obviously incredibly proud of Aidryk, his art and his designs, but I’m really blown away at just how welcoming [One of One] has been – not just to Aidryk, but the local community [as well].”
Entrepreneurial progression
Though art is something that has always come naturally to Aidryk – “he’s got books and books of sketches” – Jason said skating was more of a challenging hobby that he picked up roughly six years ago.
“Then we went to the Green Bay Action Sports Organization – the GBASO skate park here in Green Bay – and he saw… other people fail, [then succeed] at skateboarding,” he said. “He realized it’s okay to stumble once in a while. So, he gets back on the board now, and he just keeps going.”
Now, Aidryk said skateboarding has become one of his favorite hobbies.
“It’s this nice way to express yourself and get away from everything going on,” he said.
Earlier this year, Aidryk said he started creating art for skate decks and uploading them to boardpusher.com – a market website where users can design, buy and sell skate decks.
“I create my design in Procreate – my digital art app – I’ll upload it to Board Pusher, they [create] the board and they ship it to my house,” he said. “I have a membership with Board Pusher that allows me to… have a storefront so I can promote my product and get it to more people.”
In addition, Aidryk said he recently began selling his streetwear designs online using the e-commerce service Printify – an idea Jason said was born after they partnered with De Jesus.
“The catalyst for kicking it into high gear and launching the Printify store was our One of One Gallery encounter,” he said. “Once we knew we’d be selling stuff in the store, we thought, ‘Well, we’d better get something online.’”
Prior to the launch of his online stores, Aidryk said he was promoting Blade Skate Co. on social media – Instagram specifically.
“He was uploading his designs, and had all of his skate videos [on his account], and he was slowly selling a few shirts here and there to friends and family,” Jason said.
Now, Jason said through his Printify store, Aidryk is “getting several orders a week.”
“We have had the printify store for about a month now, so we’ve had a handful of orders come through,” he said. “We’re hopeful this One of One Gallery launch will drive more traffic there, because there are only going to be a few designs at the store – a lot more are going to be available on the website.”
Community give-back, support
In addition to the One of One Gallery, Jason said Aidryk is also hoping to sell his merchandise at the GBASO skate park.
“I would imagine a portion of those proceeds will go back to GBASO to support the nonprofit activity that we do there,” he said, “I’m on the board of directors – I got involved because of Aidryk’s state involvement in GBASO, and I fell in love with it.”
Jason said he and Aidryk volunteer their time at the GBASO skate park – “working the front counter, cleaning it up, helping kids learn how to skate for the first time” – to aid in its mission.
“We focus on [promoting] physical and mental health of area youth through action sports, and we operate a 20,000-square-foot indoor skate facility,” he said. “Aidryk is one kid who has been positively impacted by it, but we see hundreds and hundreds of other kids who are positively impacted by it, and it’s something we love being involved with.”
Complementary to the support he gives others through GBASO, Aidryk said he’s grateful for all the support he’s received as a young entrepreneur.
“It feels really good when I see my friends wearing the brand, and when we went to One of One Gallery, Abi[mael] said he really liked the design,” he said. “It feels good to get good feedback on my art.”
At his One of One launch event, Jason said Aidryk created “some one-of-one custom [pieces] that are truly one-of-ones.”
“His first customer, and his first sale of a custom shirt [was to] a local artist – Daniel Ellingson – that happened to stop by,” he said. “He actually has some of his stuff at the gallery as well, and it was kind of cool that he stopped by.”
Additionally, Jason said he and Aidryk’s volunteerism with the GBASO skate park has led to another potential business partnership.
“[I] was volunteering [at the skate park], talking to our park director of operations [and] he wants to order a few of the boards to stock and sell at GBASO as well,” Jason said.
With numerous opportunities ahead of him, Aidryk said he’s looking forward to growing his brand and is grateful to everyone who’s supported him throughout the first steps of his entrepreneurial journey.
“My dad has done so much to help me get this far,” he said. “I really appreciate Abi[mael] for taking a chance on having my shirts in his store – that’s been great – [and] my friends, too. They’ve all been really supportive… My mom and my family have also been really great.”
Find Blade Skate Co. on Instagram for more.
