I got a chance to talk with the man behind Freshly Dirty, Alex Morton, about the beginnings, inspiration, and the new new of what to expect from this fresh new company.
How did y’all get your start?
So we started out last year in March taking a shot in the dark at making fixed axles, they were terrible in the beginning but we knew that we had to get something off the ground and begin building a fan base. That’s when Coffin Nachtmahr started supporting us! He actually has quite a few of those first fixed axles. After the first fixed axle design I started on the one that really got us going, which was The Traveller. Super simple in design, but with some good thought behind it and some good wood that we sourced here in Indiana. It just kept growing and we put a lot of time into the design and feel of what we wanted. At first I started alone then added my good friend Gerald Bass, everybody kept calling him ‘Lil Bass’ at worlds this year. Going to the World YoYo Contest was what really propelled us into building a team and really committing to this idea of a small yoyo company.
So Coffin, helped out with major moral support? cool cool. I’ve seen the Traveller in just pics and clips from Alex Curfman. You just woke up and wanted to try it? The supportive feel at contests (especially Worlds) will do that for sure.
It was my first Worlds event and I met and networked with so many people. OhYesYo is amazing, I shot and edited that grungy VHS video for them and then out of nowhere I received tons of OhYesYo guys and other throwers that want to support Freshly Dirty.
At Worlds we grew into a full effort, Gerald Bass, Arthur Foley, Charlie Byers, and after worlds we didn’t even have a bearing design and I offered Alex Curfman to join the team, I was stoked when he wanted to join! Dude loves his fixies haha.
Truly a great beginning story of the freshly dirty underdogs. So how about the name? What inspired you to name it all “Freshly Dirty”?
Underdogs for sure, but we like where it’s going. Sticking to small run stuff right now and learning how to do this from the ground up is what we do! I would describe things as such, “Dude that jacket is so Fresh yet Dirty” “Freshly Dirty” was how I described my style/tricks Cool, but kinda dirty or sloppy. Definitely a work in progress always.
Right on, I feel you. good stuff. You wanted to do fixed axels, so what got y’all to make the jump to Cardboard Dreamboat?
During Worlds last year in Cleveland we started talking about doing something beyond our fixed axles. Arthur Foley goes to school at Georgia Tech and has all the CAD magic, over Skype and a lot of input from the Freshly Dirty family we started a prototype that had aspects of our favorite things in a yo-yo. It had a lot of silly names in the beginning. Left Turn, El Crusty Doro, Dust Bunny, but we all kinda just went with it and everyone liked the name of Cardboard Dreamboat.
One last thing, before I let you go, got any words for the community?
There will be more crazy names/colorways and content in general, also looking to expand the freshly dirty family this year. Keep it fresh, stay dirty. Gear, apparel, and future collab in the works 😉 forgot to mention that. Thanks Johnny!
Before we ended our conversation, Alex gifted mewith specs of their newest yoyo, the Cardboard Dreamboat:
Weight: 65.9 grams
Width: 43.6 mm
Diameter: 58.4 mm
Bearing: Size C (.250 x .500 x .187 in)
Response: 19mm Silicone Pads
This beauties drop on their website January 27th at 8pm EST.
