Expand Quote
Talk about short term thinking from the investors end. They stop supporting skating and lose any credibility they had. RIP
Lesson time, newbie. The credibility has already been established OUTSIDE of skateboarding. They just used skateboarders to do it. There's a hell of a lot more people that DON'T skate and rock HUF gear, than there is skaters that do. Add up the amount of money paid to the riders, the filming production, per diem, plane tix, meals, and hotels, etc. Now eliminate those expenses. Your profit margin just went up.
The target demographic does not understand legitimacy in skateboarding. They understand swag, trends, posing, fronts, etc.
Stop expecting the legitimacy of skateboarding to be sold to you by a brand. Brands consume legitimate street culture and sell a watered down version of it to a mass consumer market. By their nature brands are not legitimate sources of cultural evolution they are only distorted reflections of the past.
disagree somewhat with the above. while mainstream streetwear can be viewed only as a trend marker, in this case without skateboarding driving the core of huf's or any skate related business - however small - it isn't cool anymore. airwalk tried, remember? not just a matter of simply cutting the skate program to save money, if that's what gives u credibilty/edge/etc in the first place
so while maybe risky to stop their shoe program, huf can still support skateboarding as a clothing co. i'd be surprised if they'd abandon skateboarding outright –
that seems like brand suicide, not cutting shoes. plus it's keith hufnagel after all. look at supreme, they don't make shoes except for collabs but they're still heavily involved w/ skating – which is integral to their it factor
bottom line is tho if the shoes aren't profitable, they're not profitable. hard to keep doing something when it doesn't make any money, no matter the reason