Jeff Kendall, a former professional skateboarder, and wife Maureen launched Little Ruler six months ago. The online store sells brand-name skateboard clothes for children up to about age 5.

Customers have called the store "the anti-Baby Gap." Emails from as far away as Belgium have asked about ordering the tiny clothes.

"The only way people find us is word of mouth. Or someone happens to type 'toddler skate clothes' into Google," Kendall said.

Nevertheless, business is good, with the number of orders doubled every month. "We get lots of moms, grandparents. Or Dad wants his kids wearing checkered Vans like the ones he wore back in the '80s. Our average customer is 50 years old. It's so nichey, but that's what we love about it."

Perhaps Dad remembers those checkered Vans sneakers running through the halls of the 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Skateboarding had already been around for 30 years before that movie came out. According to The Concrete Wave, skateboarding erupted in the 1950s as surfers realized that rolling down the street on a board with wheels wasn't all that different from rolling a bigger board along a breaking wave. However, after a couple fatal accidents, parents protested that skateboards weren't safe and the hobby sneaked underground for 20 years.

Innovations in board and wheel design led to a revival in the '70s. That's when Kendall first stepped on to a skateboard. Now skateboard parks dot quiet neighborhoods and pro skaters like Tony Hawk pop up everywhere from ESPN-sponsored contests to video games.

But for Kendall, selling the tiny outfits sends his mind back to the days when skateboarders were like brothers instead of cut-throat competitors. "It was a lifestyle. If you saw someone on the street with a skateboard, you'd go up to them and instantly you'd be bonded," he said. "You didn't have skateparks; you had a ramp in your backyard. Only six people in my high school of 1,200 kids had skateboards."

His full-time job as director of marketing for NHS Inc. gives him access to screenprinting and graphics design, along with contacts at brand-name companies. Little Ruler has locked down licensing agreements with household names like Skateboarding Isn't A Crime and Independent Truck Company. The companies had been reluctant to sell baby clothes in stores carrying adult sizes, thinking that no teenager would want to walk past toddler duds while shopping for themselves.

Even his sons aren't immune. Cole, 3, and Parker, 18 months, are not only stepping out in style, they're also stepping on to their dad's skateboards.

"Once you step on a skateboard, it's hard to throw it aside and never think about it again," said Kendall. "But I'm going to give them a skateboard and a golf club and let them choose. Golf's a little easier on the body and more lucrative, maybe. But there's a lot more competition."

In a few years, the kids will be old enough to recognize their dad performing in some classic skateboarding videos. Until then, they'll have to settle for dressing like him.