SINCE 1977
THE SPARK
IT WASN’T PERFECT AT THE BEGINNING.
IT WAS HONEST. AND THAT’S WHERE PROGRESS STARTS.
SKB Started in a garage as a launchpad. Two makers, one idea, and a belief that craft beats compromise. The start of something great “sparked” by a literal garage fire. That same “burning desire” to get out there and do things is embodied by every employee and customer and makes us who we are today. Explore the origin of our brand on the timeline below: where we come from, where we’ve been, and where we’re headed. We’re just as stoked as you are to see what the future brings.
Founded in 1977 by Dave Sanderson & Steve Kottman
SKB evolved from a single hand-built guitar case in an Anaheim garage into a global manufacturer with three factories and worldwide distribution.
Over the years, SKB has become an industry standard in molded polymer protection, pioneering vacuum-formed, rotational-molded, and injection-molded technologies that safeguard gear across a wide range of industries. From music and pro audio to outdoor adventure, overlanding, military, industrial, and medical applications, SKB cases are engineered to perform in the real world—where reliability isn’t optional. For more than four decades, our logo has stood for durability without compromise, and that commitment drives us forward today.
1973
ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT
Steve Kottman and Dave Sanderson meet while on the rowing team at CSULB. They begin building guitar cases for friends using homemade vacuum mold equipment.
1976
SANDERSON, KOTTMAN & BROWNE
Dave and Steve take their cases to Doug Browne, a music store owner who offers to invest in the business. They move their equipment into a windowless shed behind Browne's warehouse they call the "pig hole".
1977
Up in Flames
"We were running a vacuum-former and thinking about something else, so we forgot and left. When we got back there was all this smoke—a total loss." While Browne opts to unload his share of the business after this incident, the duo doesn't quit and scrapes up enough money to open a small shop in Orange, California
1979
Fender Bender
In 1979, they convince Fender that SKB can provide 2,500 cases for a special anniversary edition of the Stratocaster guitar, and business begins to take off.
1983
600 Cases per Week
SKB has 20 employees making 600 cases a week for Fender, with Kottman and Sanderson serving as delivery men. The cases are still being made on machinery built by Dave and Steve.
1987
Military Contracts
Military contracts and cases for medical equipment, computers and lasers provide huge growth potential. SKB moves into a 40,000 square-foot facility in Orange, CA.
1990
SPORTS DIVISION
SKB expands into the Sports arena, and by the end of 1990 SKB has 170 employees building more than a million dollars worth of cases a month—including over 8,000 golf club cases alone.
1997
New Roto Molding Facility
500 employees strong, SKB opens a fourth facility. Housing three rotational molding ovens, this facility allows for the production of innovative new product concepts.
1998
Entrepreneurs of the Year
Steve Kottman and Dave Sanderson are named Orange County Entrepreneurs of the Year in the manufacturing category.
2002
Mil-Spec Product Lines
Key staff additions fortify the SKB Industrial Divisions. Mil-Spec product lines are developed in response to heightened travel and transport security issues.
2004
New Injection Molder
New Injection molding equipment is installed in SKB’s main plant in Orange, significantly impacting product development for all three divisions: Industrial, Music, and Sports.
2014
Another New Injection Molder
SKB invests in a new injection molding machine—one of the largest on the West coast. This machine greatly expands production capacity of the ever-growing iSeries line of cases, enabling the development of larger sizes.
2017
Partnership with Think Tank Photo
SKB partners with Think Tank Photo—the premier photo/video bag and backpack company—to develop high-quality, fully-customizable padded divider interiors and lid organizers for iSeries cases. While originally created with photographers in mind, these divider interiors prove to be popular for a wide range of applications in other industries.
2018
50 Sizes and Counting...
SKB announces more than 50 standard iSeries case sizes, more than any other manufacturer in the industry. New sizes continue to be developed and added to the line every year.
2020
SKB Continues Essential Operations as Part of CISA Critical Manufacturing Sector
While the global pandemic rages—and as the preferred manufacturer of cases for FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), integral medical technology companies, and the National Guard—SKB adapts its standard operations to accommodate these mission-critical commitments. SKB cases are deployed around the country to house the safety and medical equipment utilized for test diagnostics and by first responders in emergency situations, as well as the light bars which are used in portable tent hospitals and shelters that provide doctors with the lights they need to perform critical care.
2022
The Biggest Injection Molder West of the Mississippi
SKB adds yet another injection molding machine, the largest on the West Coast. This machine increases size capabilities and production capacity, helping SKB to remain the only single manufacturer to offer more than 65 injection molded case sizes.
2025
AS9100D Certification
Achieved AS9100D certification, affirming SKB’s commitment to consistently delivering high-quality, regulation-compliant products for the aerospace and defense industries.
2026
New Logo
Introduced a refreshed SKB logo that draws on the company’s legacy while modernizing and strengthening our iconic brand signature.
PEOPLE & PASSION FIRST
THE MINDSET
THE GARAGE ISN’T A PLACE. IT’S A MINDSET.
Stay scrappy. Stay curious. Keep making. The tools change. The spirit does not. Curiosity keeps us pushing forward, innovating and crafting for the makers and doers who use our cases—because their drive to advance mirrors our own. But don’t take it from us. Listen to our friends out in the field getting after it. Click on a story below to learn about our most inspired ambassadors.
[ Today ]
THE EVOLUTION
FROM GARAGE GRIT TO WORLD-CLASS MANUFACTURING
Today, that same spirit fuels our precision engineering, advanced tooling, at a scale built for creators, professionals, and innovators around the world.
Welcome To
THE GARAGE
A community built on making, doing, shaping, creating. If you’re obsessed with protecting your passions and craft, you’re already one of us. Sign up for the latest news on products, how to become an ambassador, and to be part of the evolution.
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THE ONLY THING WE TAKE AS SERIOUSLY AS BUILDING THE WORLD'S BEST CASES IS BEING REALLY, REALLY, RIDICULOUSLY GOOD LOOKING.
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