Swerv Clothing & Ky Miller
OWP: Ky tell us where you live, how old you are, and about your family.
Ky: I am from the grand state of Ohio. Currently residing in Bellevue, just 15 minutes away from Lake Erie. I’m 39 years of age. I live with my wonderful girlfriend, Haylie, and our three kids, Gavin, Finley, and Adeline.
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OWP: What sort of activities were you into growing up?
Ky: As a kid I skateboarded and snowboarded most of my time. I also played a lot of video games, made art, hung in the woods. I have to say I miss those days of being out until well after the sun went down sometimes riding 8-10 hours a day.
OWP: When did you first hear about Onewheel, and how did you start riding?
Ky: I started seeing Onewheels pop up on YouTube and random videos. A few creators that I followed had them. Every time I researched them I had an inner voice saying it’s too expensive. You should spend your money on other things besides yourself. Eventually that happened to be the exact reason I ordered one. I was going through a divorce and needed to up my stoke levels. One night I finally got the nerve to order it and haven’t looked back since!
OWP: You first called the onewheel community’s attention with your amazing sketches and artwork, tell us a bit about your passion for art and how that lead into your career as a tattoo artist.
Ky: Art has always been my passion and when I started riding I was obsessed with my wheel. I put a couple phone wallpapers up in the forums and people reacted positively. I wanted to do more and build the sport and saw apparel was a good way to share my art and help others express themselves. Eventually that lead to me building my company Swerv Clothing. Working as a tattoo artist there are a lot of ideas I love designing but didn’t lend themselves to tattoos. So I branched out. I still tattoo 6 days a week, when I’m not riding or designing clothing.
OWP: How has the last year and a half with a pandemic affected your business?
Ky: It’s been up and down. I’ve started recently running into garment shortages which have held up some of my plans and projects. Everything seems to have been short handed due to the butterfly effects of Covid. My tattooing business has been jam packed because we’ve never been able to catch up since the 3 months we were not allowed to work according to state guidelines.
OWP: As the economy continues to open up have you noticed a rebound in business?
Ky: Yes. As I mentioned we have not been able to catch up so therefore we keep booking further out which is great for tattooing but also overwhelming because we are booked so far in advance it’s hard to make plans last minute or take a weekend to go do things with the family. The clothing is doing great and it’s on the up rise from the dip that we had due to the pandemic.
OWP: What was the first community event you attended? Can you tell us a little bit about that experience and how it changed your experience as a Onewheel owner.
Ky: My first Onewheel event that I attended was in fact FLF3. I had never gotten to ride with anyone let alone a group or an entire mob. I was overwhelmed with excitement when I first arrived and couldn’t wait to tell everyone back home about how many Onewheels and people attended the festival. It was mind blowing!
OWP: Tell us about Swerv Clothing and your plans for its future.
Ky: I am trying to acquire the machining needed to do production on site. I would like to move into a larger space so that we have more room for growth. We have more plans than time it seems most days. Tons of new designs in the works as well as hopes to offer other items than just apparel.
Swerv Clothing
OWP: With regards to your artwork for the Onewheel community, where do you draw your inspiration from?
Ky: My inspiration comes from everything within the community as well as movies, pop-culture, video games, etc. We try to stand out and be unique and offer designs that are creative and well thought out.
OWP: What sort of terrain do you enjoy riding the most, and will you be attending this year FloatLife Fest 4?
Ky: Yes you will see me out at FLF4! I’ve been called a pavement Princess on more than one occasion… But I also absolutely love trails. The older I get the harder I fall.
OWP: Do your children ride one wheel?
Ky: My children do ride but not as much as we do. They tend to like to hop on a bicycle or a hover board when I go ride. If they weren’t as busy with sports I think they would put more time in on the onewheel.
OWP: What sort of improvements would you like to see made on the next version of one wheel?
Ky: As far as improvements to the board I think it would be cool to have some sort of an improved factory lighting system as either a standard option or an add-on that would improve vision for both the rider as well as traffic/pedestrians. I would also like some sort of a diagnostics display built into the vehicle.
OWP: Ky, thank you for giving the Onewheel community a chance to learn more about you and Swerv Clothing! We truly appreciate all you do and love your work! Any final comments or thoughts?
Ky: Thank you for reaching out and showing interest. Means a lot to be included in this community and to help build it up and as always bring the stoke levels to max. Much love to everyone, ride safe and keep smiling.
Love ya Faaaaaaammmm!!!