Zero Skateboards was started in late  1996 based Carlsbad, California under the wing of Black Box distribution alongside Fallen Footwear, Mystery Skateboards and Slave.

The Zero logo comes from the 1995 film Toy Story, where the character Sid is wearing a shirt with the same logo. Zero have won Thrashers 'King of the Road' twice with their heavy team of riders including John Rattray, Tommy ,Sandoval, Garrett Hill, James Brockman, Nick Boserio, Ben Hatchell, Tony Cervantes, Jamie Thomas, Dane Burman and Tom Karangelov.