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Deez leaving Enjoi had me wondering what happens to decks after a pro leaves the company
Does the company
Ship the remaining inventory to their former rider?
Screen over the graphic?
Sell them at huge discounts? I'm sure there are legal ramifications for using the riders name and likeness
Do shops
Sell the decks at regular price or fire sale them?
Ship unsold inventory back to distributors / woodshop?
Pretty sure they are sold like nothing happens. My local just got some enjoi Pilz decks in.
I've even seen yonnie cruz decks sold for regular prize at least 6 months after he was kicked off.
But usually it should all be planned and the pro leaves when the decks are gone
I think some of the stock ordered is months off, so if something happens and someone quits, shops still get all that stock at the regular price, which kind of sucks for the shop sometimes if the distributor or brand has significant discounts on remaining stock of that rider.
Sometimes it is kinda cool to get the last board of said rider on that brand, but other times, it will just sit there like nothing had changed otherwise the shop is losing money on what could be a good deck, decent shape, even good graphic that someone sooner or later will buy anyway.
Other times shops can't get rid of things soon enough, so anything like that goes straight in the sale section and is cleared out as soon as possible, just like the distro did so they can be rid of it and only have current team riders names on boards on the wall.
It might be different too if quite a few guys seem like they are all jumping ship and a brand is sinking, or something has happened that makes them leave, which may or may not have other ramifications for interest from general public.
Kids and unknowing others will still buy a board more for a cool graphic or look than for any other reason, but I guess too it just comes down to the customer base of the store, whether or not they think they have dead stock sitting there, or still yet to arrive now, or whether they think they can still move it at RRP and keep up margins.
That is a shop perspective anyway.