Lakai is Done

[roba]

bastien hasn't ridden for vans since like 2004 and had multiple shoe deals between that and joining lakai but go off daewon stan

[TwisT]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

This Roca fella’s a piece of work haha.

So he sells Lakai to Luis then suggests the business is done via his decaying retailer’s social media marketing?

[close]

Did he actually sell it to Luis tho? Things like that take time, I would say the more realistic version of events is the brand is just done and theres nothing Luis can do about it. Wonder how long it will take for Joslin to be posting clips in pro-flow New Balance’s. I can see him in the 306 cupsole weird zumiez colourways already lol

[close]

Feel like Fallen or Splay or someone of that ilk will come calling before he resorts to that, but I could be wrong.

The skater who made the largest faustian bargain in my book is Roman Hager.  It couldn’t have helped him at this nascent stage of his career to ride for zombie Lakai, could it?  Or is it better to ride for a shitty shoe brand than none at all?

[close]

I get Roman Hager YouTube clips all the time- he made his decision and he’ll likely be outside the industry on the YouTube fringe until he ends up getting a job. Bro threw it away for someone who owns anime body pillows lame attempt at being a skate industry mogul. .

[close]

Like there's no way that Roman Hager can bounce back from riding for a failing shoe company. Countless other skaters have. He can go to NB, Vans, Converse, or even DC, Fallen, Globe, or Osiris.
If anything, Bastien Salabanzi and Chris Joslin made a dumb move leaving Vans/Etnies to join Lakai. They were already years into their pro careers. Roman Hager just started his.

[close]

He’s also on aura and has been a YouTube kid forever. Unless you Japanese level good you ain’t making the jump from the erased crew to a real sponsor.

Papa Hager made a web portal to track skater engagement, on the premise that high-value skaters are the ones that get the most online engagement. And that brands should look to them for the highest ROI. So in Theory, a skater like Maurio is more valuable than Nyjah. I don't know how active this page is; at the time, Roman was also pretty high on the list.

https://skateboardmetrics.framer.website/allskaters-value

[Daewon_Stan]

bastien hasn't ridden for vans since like 2004 and had multiple shoe deals between that and joining lakai but go off daewon stan

My point was that it's not a devastating move for Roman Hager to have chosen Lakai. A ton of other pros started as ams for failing companies, and then became pros with better deals later. Countless other pros have also bounced back from riding for failing companies, or leaving good companies.

And afaik, Bastien only rode for iPath and Cariuma briefly in between. That's not really "countless" other shoe deals. He lost most of his sponsors after leaving Flip/Etnies, and then had to start over from scratch.

[Texas_Tone]

Expand Quote

bastien hasn't ridden for vans since like 2004 and had multiple shoe deals between that and joining lakai but go off daewon stan

[close]

My point was that it's not a devastating move for Roman Hager to have chosen Lakai. A ton of other pros started as ams for failing companies, and then became pros with better deals later. Countless other pros have also bounced back from riding for failing companies, or leaving good companies.

And afaik, Bastien only rode for iPath and Cariuma briefly in between. That's not really "countless" other shoe deals. He lost most of his sponsors after leaving Flip/Etnies, and then had to start over from scratch.

Bastien aint never rode for ipath plair 

[Steely Daniel]

I get wanting this to die but I don’t get people saying he should do his own brand. How many new shoe brands that weren’t preexisting megacorp sports companies have got any traction in skating since Lakai even started in 1999? Fallen did pretty well for a minute, Huf, Gravis, Supra. A small handful of short lived success stories that ultimately went nowhere. The skate shoe market seems like a lost cause that’s never coming back. From a business standpoint it makes way more sense to revive a legacy brand than start anew. Nobody’s buying any shoes from companies less than 25 years old at this point. I don’t like these brands we used to love being on perpetual life support and being traded around between private equity companies but the alternative is we all just wear running shoes

Yeah and anyone who thinks Luis Mora has any good or original ideas.... The guy behind Erased which I'm 99% sure he stole the name from some anime. And also Aura Skateboards (LOL)

Ugly designs. Wanna be Supreme high fashion trash down to the fat bill rip off filming style even. Half of Erased drops contained some borderline copy right infringement or Pokemon on it. I wonder if he released his captive wife yet?

Fuck this goober weeb.  Keep Kyonsuke and Mota away from this dude at all costs.

[Lou Strux]

Many years hence, when the history of skateboarding is told, it will be shown that few other brands were more aptly named than Erased.

[matty_c]

I would have thought Chris joslin would have had a manager or like an advisor or somebody who said ‘fuck bro don’t tre el toro in those shoes, they’ll be done next month

Surely some people in the industry were like why bro haha

[Gonzisdead]

Many years hence, when the history of skateboarding is told, it will be shown that few other brands were more aptly named than Erased.

I kinda have a sick love for erased for some reason. sure its kooky, just copyright infringement, and bait for weebs but
man i dunno why i love it.
I probably should get my head bashed in for this opinion but oh well

[Atiba Applebum]

Many years hence, when the history of skateboarding is told, it will be shown that few other brands were more aptly named than Erased.

Braille Skateboards was named after something you have to be blind to to enjoy

[CossRooper]

Is it really done?