Alex Olson and Pops off Lakai?

[bizarro gub]

probably not. the only other person on lakai who will get a shoe will be lucas puig, then thats a rap.

[I SUCK!]

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Yeah, it is true adidas, as well as other indoor soccer shoe brands, were pretty popular in the early '90's, but up until recently, adidas wasn't very serious about the skate brand. I'm betting they saw what nike did and figured that they could do the same. Also, I don't care where you can get Lakais, that's not the point. Somebody is going to profit off of the popularity of skateboard shoes, no brand is a charity, just making shoes for the sake of people not being barefoot. The people I want profiting off of it though are skateboarders. If they sell them here, there, or anywhere, it will still be a skateshoe company, and I like that. It's just my personal preference, let's keep some of this money in the family, and not give it to those gold-diggers.

[close]

I don't really disagree with your sentiment, but Adiddas had a pretty big skate program way before Nike SB.  Gonz, Matt Beach, Lance Mountain, Paulo, Jahmal Williams.  They used to run ads all the time.  They had some god awful skate shoe designs mind you.  Anybody remember those old Gonz shoes?

[close]

They had a skate program, I wouldn't call it very big.
As for Chuck Taylors, I understand that they are "cool," but I don't give a fuck, I care about the detail everybody keeps glossing over which is that they were constructed to hold up like a wet paper bag.
Whoever said "since when did shoes become skateboards," why is it we should only by decks made by skate brands? Shoes are at least equally important as the board when it comes to skating, and if there are companies that are making shoes good for skating and are owned by skateboarders, why not support them over the big shoe manufacturer who doesn't know about or give a shit about skating? I think Birdo framed the whole thing wrong. I don't think it should be put in such a negative light. Don't by skate shoes made by skateboarders out of spite for the big manufacturers, but do it out of love for the fact that skate shoe companies, owned by skateboarders, exist. I think that's pretty cool, and feel like if I have a choice between a good shoe made by lakai, fallen, dvs, dekline or another skater owned skate shoe brand and another shoe that is just as good by a major manufacturer, why not pick the skater owned company? It just makes sense to me. Look at the skater owned shoe brands before looking at the big companies. People talk about the 80's and all that shit, but we had no choice then. Then the '90's came, real skate shoe companies came into the market, and we didn't need Nike or Converse anymore.
So people stopped wearing them.
I think people cleverly edit that out of the whole thing. When skateboarders were given the choice, skate shoes by skate companies took over.
Somewhere between Tony Hawk, the x-games, THPS, Bam, and Sheckler skateboarding became more mainstream. It was more than just the media exposure. All these lame ass kids got into it who don't care about the soul of skateboarding, and are more concerned about trends. I feel like a good deal of people on here are those kids, just in denial. The underground skateboard scene would have, and multiple times did tell them to go fuck themselves. Somehow in the past decade the lame kids outnumbered them, as often occurs during a mainstream explosion, and now a pair of dunks will go for a few hundred bucks on e-bay. It doesn't piss me off anymore, just kind of bums me out. What has skateboarding become?
    Think about it, Jamie Thomas isn't going to get political on this website, and I respect that, it makes sense. BUT, he does come on here, talk to the kids, take their shit, answer questions, and often times just straight up nerd out on skateboarding. If you have the choice between supporting him and some suits on the corporate board of Nike, why the fuck would you choose or support them? Again, don't do it out of hate for those guys, but out of love for ours. Oh, and the fact that Nike has a separate brand manager and all that shit for the SB department is just a fucking pr stunt/ front, and so many people are falling for that shit.

Again though, don't buy skater owned skateshoes because the other brands suck, if I had no choice in skateshoes, I guess I'd ride nikes, but I DO have a choice, and so do all of you, why not choose the skateboarders? I can go through mailorder to buy a skateboard, but I choose to go to the shop, why? Skateshops are worth supporting a lot more than mail order catalogs. People who got no other choice gotta go CCS or Active or whatever, but given the luxury of a skater owned and operated skateshop, anybody would choose the skateshop. We have the luxury of buying shoes for skateboarders by skateboarders, why use left over basketball shoes instead?

sometimes i skate barefoot, is that lame?

[ahlee]

doesnt that hurt fallen sales

[kevbo999]

given the luxury of a skater owned and operated skateshop, anybody would choose the skateshop.

Anybody who can afford to spend twice as much on boards and 25% more on shoes.

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

If you want to skate barefoot, go ahead, it adds flare to your footage, but it ain't my cup of tea. Actually, come to think of it when I was like a freshman in high school I remember a friend tried skating barefoot when he saw your footage, then showed me how fucked up his feet got. I decided never to do it.

Kev, where do you get your skate shit? I spend about $40-45 on average for a deck at a skateshop, where do you go that charges half that much? My Emerica Reynolds 3's were $60 at a real skateshop, where can I get them for $45? Just because your shop is blowing it doesn't mean all skateshops suck.
Oh, and the best is when you buy it off of somebody who is sponsored by a company. Shit is dirt cheap and you know its supporting skating

[wake and bacon]

boards are 100$ where you live?

[kevbo999]

I spend about $40-45 on average for a deck at a skateshop, where do you go that charges half that much? My Emerica Reynolds 3's were $60 at a real skateshop, where can I get them for $45?

Ebay.  Say what you will, the boards are good.

Oh, and the best is when you buy it off of somebody who is sponsored by a company. Shit is dirt cheap and you know its supporting skating

Must be nice.

[H8R part 4]

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given the luxury of a skater owned and operated skateshop, anybody would choose the skateshop.

[close]

Anybody who can afford to spend twice as much on boards and 25% more on shoes.

its true but its not that simple.  someone who running an online store has no real overhead, meaning theres no rent to pay, no ridiculous heating and electric bill every month, and no employees to really pay out(unless it a big operation), pretty much his online shop is expense free outside of printing up labels, getting some boxes and some tape.

the shop owner whos charging more is starving along with his family trying to keep it real, setting up demos, bulding some obstacles and doing shit for the skate scene in your area.
the online dude is sitting there drinking margaritas and counting his money...actually your money all the while laughing about the shop owner whos losing his shop and his home.     

theres also something to be said about the feeling you get when you buy something and you actually walk out of the store with it.  shopping online means you can get a warped board, yellow wheels, any color of whatever you bought be it t-shirts, boards, etc., being backordered, and all the waiting around you gotta do until it finally comes....thats if it comes. 

unfortunately, there is very little if any loyality when it comes to supporting small businesses nowadays. 
its actually kind of sad that no one cares about service and loyality, now the only thing people know and care about one thing, $$$$$$. 


BTW, ebay = off season non selling warped boards
 

[cliff]

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Oyola is an amazing switch skater, watch his EE3 part, a lot of that shit is switch

[close]

I was saying that just before I saw your post, this man speaks the truth! Alex rips, and im in Shenzhen china right now and that ollie over those marble waves is really ill!

[close]

is duncombe ripping?

yes like always!

[1dxxxx]

Kelly Hart wearing converse on the expedition site.

[JunglePOP]

will chany be on the program?

[1dxxxx]

He should be, that would be tight.

[Gest]

get chany and kenny back on coverse, that would be neat.. didnt puleo get kicked off of ipath? hmmm. first m rodriguez back on stereo, now all this.. pretty cool

i had the gonz adidas blue slip on a couple years ago, i didnt skate in them much but they worked fine

[biggums mcgee]

there's no word on why puleo really left/got kicked off ipath right?

[bothersome]

When timberland bought ipath they trimmed the "fat".
Puleo was a part of that.
Knowing his views on nike and corporate America I doubt he would be into riding for converse.

[Cuong Ngo]

probably not. the only other person on lakai who will get a shoe will be lucas puig, then thats a rap.

terrible,
rob welsh should of gotten a shoe after tws part. ryde or die is classic in my eyes and to rob the man after putting out another amazing part in the tws video is redicolous. than to cut his footage in the new lakai video while some others could of definately taken out alot of stuff in there part would of been better.

[gangsta fred]

Nobody cares, gook.

-the ace of spades

[toque]

dont feel like reading through 8 pages of what your favorite shoe is and why so if this was said already sorry, olsen is on gravis and pops is on converse

Ban

[KnockoutNed]

Nobody cares, gook.

-the ace of spades

shut the fuck up hillbilly

[gangsta fred]

Hillbilly? Please pour some fucking coffee on your computer.

-the ace of spades

[I SUCK!]

If you want to skate barefoot, go ahead, it adds flare to your footage, but it ain't my cup of tea. Actually, come to think of it when I was like a freshman in high school I remember a friend tried skating barefoot when he saw your footage, then showed me how fucked up his feet got. I decided never to do it.

Kev, where do you get your skate shit? I spend about $40-45 on average for a deck at a skateshop, where do you go that charges half that much? My Emerica Reynolds 3's were $60 at a real skateshop, where can I get them for $45? Just because your shop is blowing it doesn't mean all skateshops suck.
Oh, and the best is when you buy it off of somebody who is sponsored by a company. Shit is dirt cheap and you know its supporting skating

anything for flare bro!

[I SUCK!]

Hillbilly? Please pour some fucking coffee on your computer.

-the ace of spades

zing'nt

[sweets]

Now that I'm a father, I'm taking on Pops as my nickname. Not to be confused with Popps but, we are cousins by way of nickname. Since we're family now, I'll call him up and have him straighten out all this speculation.

[Silent Bob.]

well this is a mighty ol' thread, with about 10 different discussions going on in it!

I think it's a shame Olson is off, but am not so fussed about Pops (just a personal thing but I'm not as excited to see his future footage) - I just think Olson has unusual raw power and probably won't buy the vid of whatever shoe company he's moved to unless they've got an exceptional team, so won't see future footy unless its free. Hope he stays on Girl.

As for shoes, I'm pretty much with the Gipper on this. In the early 90's/ late 80's there were basically just vans (pretty good but basic designs), airwalk (enigmas were alright, but before then they stank) and Vision. All were expensive and I think people skated things like Puma states and Adidas because at the time they were unfashionable and cheap but good - I definitely remember friends getting mocked for rocking them.

Nowdays nothing is really all that cheap, and there is a lot of choice so the same argument doesn't really apply (though I still get things as cheap as I can of course) - and I side with the Gipper that I'd rather put money in the pocket of someone who skates (or skated) and I respect like the heads at Lakai or JT rather than some suit. Also I have a feeling that skaters know what works, and so those who start a company expressly make shoes that will skate well - whilst those who don't skate are basically just trying to copy what works without really knowing what does

[carbonite]

There will always be shoe companies marketed towards skateboarding, but at the end of the day, anyone can wear shoes.It isn't just skateboarders wearing fallens or Lakai.And for the same reasons I am going to wear what I want. If thats the mindset people are going to have then everything you own clothing wise should be made by a skateboard company, why just stop at shoes? There are companies that make everything one could need.

If Fourstar/Podium came out with a a line of business casual attire I would back it.

[NickDagger]

The Gipper won this thread.

[Choad Muskrat]

If you want to skate barefoot, go ahead, it adds flare to your footage, but it ain't my cup of tea. Actually, come to think of it when I was like a freshman in high school I remember a friend tried skating barefoot when he saw your footage, then showed me how fucked up his feet got. I decided never to do it.

lol

Never!