Are Euro brands under appreciated?

[S.]

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Dude , I’ve been living in Germany my entire life of 47 years. And yeah, there are strong local scenes with magazine and stuff and a lot of things are happening.
That’s not the point - on the contrary: this is where my question arouse…good skating - often in crusty terrain, good scenes and infrastructure, but in regards to appreciation, it feels like the US does not care that much.
But maybe that’s just the way the US usually thinks about stuff outside their home, due to the country being so large.

[close]

Which "good skating on crusty terrain" do you have in mind specifically? I'm a fellow German and let's be real man, our standard sponsored riders are nowhere near the international/American level. Instead, I would say we have an endless list of incredible talents that never maxed their potential because of whatever reasons: Panneman, Kai, Danny Sommerfeld, ... all of their parts show the raw talent but no part has the trick or the creative level to hang with the top content. The one guy we have that skates at top level is arguably the world's biggest Instagram skater and their Flytecc vid has above 2 million clicks, so not really an argument.

Am I maybe right in assuming that, given your age, you're thinking about a different era when German skating truly was at the top but America was so far up its own ass that it never gave them the shine they deserved? Willow should've been bigger, Sami and Welther too, Mark Fröhlich mayyybeee, Flo Marfaing DEFINITELY, etc.

For today's German skate scene I can't think of ONE crew or video that should be really big but isn't. Please enlighten me if I'm wrong.

[close]

Sorry, I should have worded my post better. I was mentioning Germany only because Rawbertson assumed I never visited Europe. Not so much great stuff in terms of footage and riders are from Germany. My comment regarding skating crusty terrain was meant more about europe – one example would be one of the more recent dutch Vans video. (actually the Euro vans videos are all quite good in that regard – aside from all the other brands mentioned). with lots of cobblestones and shit. Chris Pfanner's last video – despite riding for Antihero was crusty as fuck.

But back to your question Regarding German skaters – there aren't that many that's for sure. I totally agree there, but some names that come to mind are Chris Pfanner, Jan Hoffmann, Willow Voges

[close]

Pfanner is Austrian, but he's been living in Germany for years at this point. You forgot Denny Pham, Justin Sommer and Giorgi Balkhamishvili (aka Giorgi Armani) all three of them are on major US brands.

Germany has never had a palace, polar or cliché type brand. We are just not very cool or very fashionable people... I used to like cleptomanicx and irie daily (clothing brands, but I don't think they do much anymore). I also like local board brands mob skateboards (unfortunately they've always had terrible wood) and salut skateboards (until recently they've had great shapes and amazing wood). We do have two of Europe's largest online shops: Skatedeluxe and Titus. Both of them aren't very "core", obviously, and the products under their own brand names aren't anything special. Out of all national brands they do probably have the best skate teams and they sponsor some cool events for the kids.

[close]

Don’t forget the German OG Sami Harithi.

Yes he's great! He still skates and I think he's the team manager of Nike Sb Germany?

[yghartsyrt]

Pfanner is Austrian, but he's been living in Germany for years at this point. You forgot Denny Pham, Justin Sommer and Giorgi Balkhamishvili (aka Giorgi Armani) all three of them are on major US brands.

Germany has never had a palace, polar or cliché type brand. We are just not very cool or very fashionable people... I used to like cleptomanicx and irie daily (clothing brands, but I don't think they do much anymore). I also like local board brands mob skateboards (unfortunately they've always had terrible wood) and salut skateboards (until recently they've had great shapes and amazing wood). We do have two of Europe's largest online shops: Skatedeluxe and Titus. Both of them aren't very "core", obviously, and the products under their own brand names aren't anything special. Out of all national brands they do probably have the best skate teams and they sponsor some cool events for the kids.

Oh shit.  Yes you are right. Pfanner is Austrian.totally forgot. Got deceived by him living in Franken.

[NoComply180]

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The lordz/puzzle/cliche kind of skating felt really special and it would be sick if some companies brought it back. No bullshit euro style skating Mediterranean countries in baggy clothing that’s cool but not über trendy.

[close]

Alex Carolino (I might be misspelling), JB Gillet, Flo Marfaing, Soy Panday, who was the super tall black Frenchman that did everything sooo smoothly. Those were the days...

stephane larance I want to say was his name? He fucking ripped.

I remember seeing Flo and Alex skate for the first time and being completely mindblown at the technicality and consistency.

[somethingmustbreaknow]

Yes, but Sour and others choose to use HLC wood, which is quite trash and offers a limited range of shapes. They are not widely distributed, but I and almost everyone on Slap love their videos.

have you tried sour boards? they are very good in my opinion.
hlc improved their wood quality tremendously over the last years or so.

other european brands

SHIT SKATEBOARDS (rip)
witchcraft skateboards (rip)
YAMA skateboards
inpeddo skateboards
ambassadors
decay skateboards
isle skateboards
desert crew (had a couple of board runs)
souljah griptape
über skateboards

[let’s go home]

other european brands
witchcraft skateboards (rip)

I don’t remember what wood they used but I loved their boards and rode several 8.8’s.

[yghartsyrt]

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other european brands
witchcraft skateboards (rip)

[close]

I don’t remember what wood they used but I loved their boards and rode several 8.8’s.

I was under the impression they used to print on generator blanks.

[heinzketchup]

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Dude , I’ve been living in Germany my entire life of 47 years. And yeah, there are strong local scenes with magazine and stuff and a lot of things are happening.
That’s not the point - on the contrary: this is where my question arouse…good skating - often in crusty terrain, good scenes and infrastructure, but in regards to appreciation, it feels like the US does not care that much.
But maybe that’s just the way the US usually thinks about stuff outside their home, due to the country being so large.

[close]

Which "good skating on crusty terrain" do you have in mind specifically? I'm a fellow German and let's be real man, our standard sponsored riders are nowhere near the international/American level. Instead, I would say we have an endless list of incredible talents that never maxed their potential because of whatever reasons: Panneman, Kai, Danny Sommerfeld, ... all of their parts show the raw talent but no part has the trick or the creative level to hang with the top content. The one guy we have that skates at top level is arguably the world's biggest Instagram skater and their Flytecc vid has above 2 million clicks, so not really an argument.

Am I maybe right in assuming that, given your age, you're thinking about a different era when German skating truly was at the top but America was so far up its own ass that it never gave them the shine they deserved? Willow should've been bigger, Sami and Welther too, Mark Fröhlich mayyybeee, Flo Marfaing DEFINITELY, etc.

For today's German skate scene I can't think of ONE crew or video that should be really big but isn't. Please enlighten me if I'm wrong.

[close]

Sorry, I should have worded my post better. I was mentioning Germany only because Rawbertson assumed I never visited Europe. Not so much great stuff in terms of footage and riders are from Germany. My comment regarding skating crusty terrain was meant more about europe – one example would be one of the more recent dutch Vans video. (actually the Euro vans videos are all quite good in that regard – aside from all the other brands mentioned). with lots of cobblestones and shit. Chris Pfanner's last video – despite riding for Antihero was crusty as fuck.

But back to your question Regarding German skaters – there aren't that many that's for sure. I totally agree there, but some names that come to mind are Chris Pfanner, Jan Hoffmann, Willow Voges

[close]

Pfanner is Austrian, but he's been living in Germany for years at this point. You forgot Denny Pham, Justin Sommer and Giorgi Balkhamishvili (aka Giorgi Armani) all three of them are on major US brands.

Germany has never had a palace, polar or cliché type brand. We are just not very cool or very fashionable people... I used to like cleptomanicx and irie daily (clothing brands, but I don't think they do much anymore). I also like local board brands mob skateboards (unfortunately they've always had terrible wood) and salut skateboards (until recently they've had great shapes and amazing wood). We do have two of Europe's largest online shops: Skatedeluxe and Titus. Both of them aren't very "core", obviously, and the products under their own brand names aren't anything special. Out of all national brands they do probably have the best skate teams and they sponsor some cool events for the kids.

[close]

Don’t forget the German OG Sami Harithi.

[close]

Yes he's great! He still skates and I think he's the team manager of Nike Sb Germany?

i dont think he is, hes skating adidas shoes lately.
I think willow voges will be the next big skater out of germany, his skating almost seems like hes not from germany, which is a good thing, hes sick af
i feel like there is always something missing from the german skaters to make it big, its mostly some flavour that comes from a cool brand like they have in other countrys in the eu.

[yghartsyrt]

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Dude , I’ve been living in Germany my entire life of 47 years. And yeah, there are strong local scenes with magazine and stuff and a lot of things are happening.
That’s not the point - on the contrary: this is where my question arouse…good skating - often in crusty terrain, good scenes and infrastructure, but in regards to appreciation, it feels like the US does not care that much.
But maybe that’s just the way the US usually thinks about stuff outside their home, due to the country being so large.

[close]

Which "good skating on crusty terrain" do you have in mind specifically? I'm a fellow German and let's be real man, our standard sponsored riders are nowhere near the international/American level. Instead, I would say we have an endless list of incredible talents that never maxed their potential because of whatever reasons: Panneman, Kai, Danny Sommerfeld, ... all of their parts show the raw talent but no part has the trick or the creative level to hang with the top content. The one guy we have that skates at top level is arguably the world's biggest Instagram skater and their Flytecc vid has above 2 million clicks, so not really an argument.

Am I maybe right in assuming that, given your age, you're thinking about a different era when German skating truly was at the top but America was so far up its own ass that it never gave them the shine they deserved? Willow should've been bigger, Sami and Welther too, Mark Fröhlich mayyybeee, Flo Marfaing DEFINITELY, etc.

For today's German skate scene I can't think of ONE crew or video that should be really big but isn't. Please enlighten me if I'm wrong.

[close]

Sorry, I should have worded my post better. I was mentioning Germany only because Rawbertson assumed I never visited Europe. Not so much great stuff in terms of footage and riders are from Germany. My comment regarding skating crusty terrain was meant more about europe – one example would be one of the more recent dutch Vans video. (actually the Euro vans videos are all quite good in that regard – aside from all the other brands mentioned). with lots of cobblestones and shit. Chris Pfanner's last video – despite riding for Antihero was crusty as fuck.

But back to your question Regarding German skaters – there aren't that many that's for sure. I totally agree there, but some names that come to mind are Chris Pfanner, Jan Hoffmann, Willow Voges

[close]

Pfanner is Austrian, but he's been living in Germany for years at this point. You forgot Denny Pham, Justin Sommer and Giorgi Balkhamishvili (aka Giorgi Armani) all three of them are on major US brands.

Germany has never had a palace, polar or cliché type brand. We are just not very cool or very fashionable people... I used to like cleptomanicx and irie daily (clothing brands, but I don't think they do much anymore). I also like local board brands mob skateboards (unfortunately they've always had terrible wood) and salut skateboards (until recently they've had great shapes and amazing wood). We do have two of Europe's largest online shops: Skatedeluxe and Titus. Both of them aren't very "core", obviously, and the products under their own brand names aren't anything special. Out of all national brands they do probably have the best skate teams and they sponsor some cool events for the kids.

[close]

Don’t forget the German OG Sami Harithi.

[close]

Yes he's great! He still skates and I think he's the team manager of Nike Sb Germany?

[close]

i dont think he is, hes skating adidas shoes lately.
I think willow voges will be the next big skater out of germany, his skating almost seems like hes not from germany, which is a good thing, hes sick af
i feel like there is always something missing from the german skaters to make it big, its mostly some flavour that comes from a cool brand like they have in other countrys in the eu.

Willow Voges was phenomenal in the GX1000 - Jagen from last year

[Shtonk]

Yeah Willow Voges is exciting, but I'd argue is also getting the exposure he deserves. GX isn't the best crew to hang around with in my personal opinion (rape and violence wise) but looks like it's doing wonders for his career, how many times has he been on the QS Top 10 now?

I gotta say I disagree with those VAns vids. While the riding in some of those is amazing, the videos are getting ignored for pretty good reasons, mainly that they are filmed, edited and presented in a way that is just missing the X factor all over. Most of Vans's general output is just so formulaic it hurts - 8 or 16 mm B-Roll depending on budget, samey agreeable music, some cute title animations, done. It just smells like a really ambitious student repeating the most promising recipe for success - instead of the outsider kid at the back of class not giving a fuck and doing it their way, which is the vibe I personally look for in skateboarding content.

An example that I would bring that should have gotten more recognition than it did was the Carhartt video. But I just looked again and it has over a quarter million clicks so not actually bad at all.

I'm just praying for a new Hyun part tbh

And yes it was Stephane Larance, thank you, gonna look up some of his stuff right now.

[yghartsyrt]

Yeah Willow Voges is exciting, but I'd argue is also getting the exposure he deserves. GX isn't the best crew to hang around with in my personal opinion (rape and violence wise) but looks like it's doing wonders for his career, how many times has he been on the QS Top 10 now?

I gotta say I disagree with those VAns vids. While the riding in some of those is amazing, the videos are getting ignored for pretty good reasons, mainly that they are filmed, edited and presented in a way that is just missing the X factor all over. Most of Vans's general output is just so formulaic it hurts - 8 or 16 mm B-Roll depending on budget, samey agreeable music, some cute title animations, done. It just smells like a really ambitious student repeating the most promising recipe for success - instead of the outsider kid at the back of class not giving a fuck and doing it their way, which is the vibe I personally look for in skateboarding content.

An example that I would bring that should have gotten more recognition than it did was the Carhartt video. But I just looked again and it has over a quarter million clicks so not actually bad at all.

I'm just praying for a new Hyun part tbh

And yes it was Stephane Larance, thank you, gonna look up some of his stuff right now.

It seems that GX cleaned up a little bit as far as I can judge from afar. So I’d say, they seem to be a good fit.

I understand what you mean with the vans edits (I don’t mind though), but at the same time I’m kinda puzzled that you are wishing for more individual edits and waiting for new Hyun parts at the same time. I find him pretty formulaic. But hey different strokes …..

[BALARGUE]

Yes, but Sour and others choose to use HLC wood, which is quite trash and offers a limited range of shapes. They are not widely distributed, but I and almost everyone on Slap love their videos.

that's not true
Apart from the mysterious 14.2" wb thing, boards are great and their shape catalog is pretty big (brands can develop new shapes through HLC if they want to). Blame it on the brands not experimenting rather than on the factory who does a great job and is down to make what you ask them to.

[Terminal]

Are Euro brands under appreciated? No, I think HLC are exactly were they should be, given their shitty graphics...

[RichardBarkley]

Are Euro brands under appreciated? No, I think HLC are exactly were they should be, given their shitty graphics...

HLC dont have graphics

[Terminal]

OK

[Terminal]

HLC is Jart, right?

[BALARGUE]

HLC is Jart, right?

HLC is a distribution / factory just like Generator/BBS
Jart is their own brand under that umbrella

[Shtonk]

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Yeah Willow Voges is exciting, but I'd argue is also getting the exposure he deserves. GX isn't the best crew to hang around with in my personal opinion (rape and violence wise) but looks like it's doing wonders for his career, how many times has he been on the QS Top 10 now?

I gotta say I disagree with those VAns vids. While the riding in some of those is amazing, the videos are getting ignored for pretty good reasons, mainly that they are filmed, edited and presented in a way that is just missing the X factor all over. Most of Vans's general output is just so formulaic it hurts - 8 or 16 mm B-Roll depending on budget, samey agreeable music, some cute title animations, done. It just smells like a really ambitious student repeating the most promising recipe for success - instead of the outsider kid at the back of class not giving a fuck and doing it their way, which is the vibe I personally look for in skateboarding content.

An example that I would bring that should have gotten more recognition than it did was the Carhartt video. But I just looked again and it has over a quarter million clicks so not actually bad at all.

I'm just praying for a new Hyun part tbh

And yes it was Stephane Larance, thank you, gonna look up some of his stuff right now.

[close]

It seems that GX cleaned up a little bit as far as I can judge from afar. So I’d say, they seem to be a good fit.

I understand what you mean with the vans edits (I don’t mind though), but at the same time I’m kinda puzzled that you are wishing for more individual edits and waiting for new Hyun parts at the same time. I find him pretty formulaic. But hey different strokes …..

Hyun is one of a kind and the fact that he's on the other end of the aesthetic spectrum to my hesh old-head arty ass doesn't stop me from appreciating how truly mind-blowing his skating is. It's not formulaic if you're the one making the formula and everyone is just trying to copy you with varying success. But that's just my opinion

[yghartsyrt]

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Yeah Willow Voges is exciting, but I'd argue is also getting the exposure he deserves. GX isn't the best crew to hang around with in my personal opinion (rape and violence wise) but looks like it's doing wonders for his career, how many times has he been on the QS Top 10 now?

I gotta say I disagree with those VAns vids. While the riding in some of those is amazing, the videos are getting ignored for pretty good reasons, mainly that they are filmed, edited and presented in a way that is just missing the X factor all over. Most of Vans's general output is just so formulaic it hurts - 8 or 16 mm B-Roll depending on budget, samey agreeable music, some cute title animations, done. It just smells like a really ambitious student repeating the most promising recipe for success - instead of the outsider kid at the back of class not giving a fuck and doing it their way, which is the vibe I personally look for in skateboarding content.

An example that I would bring that should have gotten more recognition than it did was the Carhartt video. But I just looked again and it has over a quarter million clicks so not actually bad at all.

I'm just praying for a new Hyun part tbh

And yes it was Stephane Larance, thank you, gonna look up some of his stuff right now.

[close]

It seems that GX cleaned up a little bit as far as I can judge from afar. So I’d say, they seem to be a good fit.

I understand what you mean with the vans edits (I don’t mind though), but at the same time I’m kinda puzzled that you are wishing for more individual edits and waiting for new Hyun parts at the same time. I find him pretty formulaic. But hey different strokes …..

[close]

Hyun is one of a kind and the fact that he's on the other end of the aesthetic spectrum to my hesh old-head arty ass doesn't stop me from appreciating how truly mind-blowing his skating is. It's not formulaic if you're the one making the formula and everyone is just trying to copy you with varying success. But that's just my opinion

Fair enough. I understand where you are coming from. His skating just leave me cold.

[Lucky_Basek]

Euro brands and euro videos get a lot of attention in Europe. What has changed over the years is that it no longer matters whether Americans pay attention or not.

[yghartsyrt]

Euro brands and euro videos get a lot of attention in Europe. What has changed over the years is that it no longer matters whether Americans pay attention or not.

agreed – there'S some truth in that.