From Online to Bricks & Mortar: Costaboard Plans to Set Up Shop in Europe

Berlin-based Costaboard exists to meet the needs of all boardsport lovers and represents the freeing culture of the outdoor sports community. Founder, Costa Paltoglou, talks us through his balance board brand’s fun-loving philosophy, his visions of sustainability and the upcoming launch of Costaboard shops across Europe.

Why did you want to bring a new balance board to the market?
As a snowboarder/skateboarder/surfer, I knew how much fun you can have using boards. So, I wanted to transfer the balance board from a supporting “tool” for other sports to a board where you can just have fun all the time. Also, if you have means you are motivated all the time – you are motivated if you can do tricks. That’s why we built the Costaboard and called it a freestyle balance board. It’s made for doing tricks and having fun anywhere! Here is an example with skateboards: the reason you use a skateboard is not because you want to exercise your legs, it’s because you enjoy working on tricks and feel the progress you develop doing it. When you finally land a trick, the stoked feeling you have is the reason you keep going.

I personally know how much fun you can have with boardsports, so with the Costaboard I wanted to offer another opportunity for fun for everybody everywhere. It’s totally weird when I think back to building the first board in my kitchen in Berlin as this vision has spread the idea of a balance board across the world. Now, 10 years later, we have people using the Costaboard in over 67 countries globally.

Founder CB in front of his 30 boards wall. Photo credit: Michael Gizicki

How has the balance board market performed over the last few years?
I would say it has boomed – 2020 was the big party. So many balance board companies have started, and we are proud to see that a lot of them are trying to be like us! A lot more people know what this product and market is, but I still feel we are creating the market – a space for new ideas.

Please tell us about your line. Are your boards targeted to a certain segment of the market?
Yes. Our boards are about having fun, progressing, sharing, and inspiring others to grow and have fun. We focus on developing our board in a way that you can get the most use out of it, while doing tricks and challenging yourself.

How is the brand distributed in Europe?
We do direct sales online and deliver worldwide directly from our big workshop in Berlin. This year we want to open a bunch of shops in Europe and have just finished our retail project, in which we tested if it makes sense to go into retail – for us it does!

Team rider Victor Liska. Photo credit: Michael Gizicki

Why is sustainability so core to your brand?
We are in the year 2022, I think almost everybody will know now that whatever we do, we have an impact on this world and it´s really time to care. I want to be another example for the industry to show that success, sustainability, and caring for all the humans involved in your business works hand in hand. It would be a great change if all companies thought like this. What a beautiful world this could be.

We want to have a positive impact and not a bad one. Yes, it makes things harder to do and everything is more expensive, but in the end, we want to be a successful company. Part of this means that we are not just selling products you can have fun with, but that our products don’t harm nature or people. With Costaboard we try to live by this and spread this feeling to everyone.

Please tell us about your collab program.
We do different artist collaborations to support artists and good causes. Last year we had a collaboration with Alex Rosa. We do most things in collaboration with partners that support the idea to care about people and nature. That’s why we support as many people or companies, who do the same, as we can. The best thing about collabs is that you make friends and grow the business naturally.

Which European market has been Costaboard’s best and why?
The DACH region is the strongest market. In our case it’s because we started in Germany and spent years and years to build up a community in this area.