Stephen HillOAM (born 1962) is a former champion Australian skateboarder and the co-founder of Globe International, a multinational, youth culture, branded footwear, apparel and skate/surf business with his brother Peter Hill. Stephen Hill has also acted as an executive producer on over 30 international media projects including feature films and television specials. Hill has also been involved in several community action projects including promoting new skateboarding facilities and local environmental causes across several countries.
Career
Stephen Hill was born in Melbourne and started skateboarding at age eight with his brother Peter in the early 1970s. In their teenage years, they put together one of the early Australian sponsored skate teams, Sparx, were in the Nike skateboard team in 1979 and competed successfully in Australian skate titles.[1]
Along with their younger brother, Matt Hill, they began to import skateboards and associated equipment, eventually forming Hardcore Distribution, a company that later grew into Globe International.[2] In the 1980s, the brothers promoted skateboarding in Australia, running demonstrations and tours featuring local and American skateboarders including Allen Losi, Mark Gonzales, Christian Hosoi, Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, Jeff Phillips and Jason Lee.[3] They also distributed Vision Streetwear and Airwalk shoes.
Stephen and Peter wrote two books on skateboarding, The Skateboard Book: Blast! (1986)[4] and Skate Hard (1988).[5] The design plans from those two books influenced the construction of Australian skateparks and ramps for the following decade. In 1987 the brothers were profiled on a segment on Australian skateboarding on 60 Minutes.[6] In that same year, they co-founded an Australian skateboarding magazine, 540. Stephen and his brother were also early snowboarders in Australia and successfully lobbied for snowboarders' access to Australian snow fields.
Stephen and Peter's private company, Globe, grew throughout the 1990s, and they also licensed major streetwear labels Mossimo, Stüssy, Eckō Unltd., Freshjive, Split, Hardcore Jeans and Paul Frank Industries, along with creating their own proprietary brands, including Mooks and M-ONE-11.[7][8] In 2001, Stephen oversaw the public float of the company on the Australian Stock Exchange with his brothers, maintaining a large shareholding and subsequently appointed to the board as an executive director.[9][10] Stephen remained actively involved in product development and brand creation, as well as development and positioning for the company as it expanded into North America, Europe and Asia.[11]
Along with his brothers, Stephen also founded Whyte House Entertainment, a multimedia company based in Australia and Los Angeles in 1997, where he acted as an executive producer on all titles produced. In 1999, Stephen produced Tic Tac 2 Heelflip: Australia’s Skateboarding History, which played at film festivals, broadcast on national television[12] and was released on Home entertainment formats. Stephen was also an executive producer on Love the Beast, a feature documentary featuring Eric Bana released theatrically in Australia in 2009. Hill has executive produced the award-winning surf short film Electric Blue Heaven (2012)[13] and most recently, Dark Hollow (2021).[14]
Stephen was the founder of the Globe World Cup Skateboarding event, a professional skateboarding competition held annually in Melbourne at the Rod Laver Arena, which ran during February from 2002 through to 2006, along with the Gallaz Girls Street Jam series. The Hill brothers featured in the book, Unemployable: 30 Years of Hardcore, Skate and Street[15] released for the 30th anniversary of the Globe and Hardcore companies in 2015.[16] Hill has also been involved in with several community action projects including promoting new and improved skate parks and the Bayside Transport Action Group to reduce heavy truck traffic along Melbourne’s Beach Road.[17]
Personal life
Along with his brother, Peter, Stephen Hill has been listed in BRW Rich 200 list since 2001.[18][19][20] Stephen Hill lives in Los Angeles, Fiji and Melbourne, skating, surfing and snowboarding regularly.[21] In 2023 Hill was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the skateboarding industry.[22]
Filmography
1998 Canvas: The Skateboarding Documentary (television documentary) Executive Producer
2000/1 The Heist (feature film) Executive Producer
^Department for Victorian Communities (September 2005). Everybody Wins: Victoria's innovative sport and recreation industry. Melbourne, Victoria: Sport and Recreation Victoria. p. 28. ISBN0-9752330-6-8.
^Mark Todd (25 May 2001). "Globe hits the boards with a cool 52% jump". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney. p. 23.
^25-May-2011 'Trio skating on very rich ice', Eli Greenblat, The Age, p.1, Business
