In 1990, with the odds stacked heavily against them, Chris Carter, Mike Hill, and Neil Blender started an independent skateboard company named Alien Workshop in the US town of Dayton, Ohio. What followed is the stuff of legends: from the meteoric rise of the sovereign sect, to the corporate takeover, eventual closure, then return from the ashes as an independently owned and operated skateboard company. AWS has cemented its status as one of the most creative brands in skateboarding. Believe.