Comparing DLX to Soletech was off because as I demonstrated; both brands have holes in their history.
etnies used to run those EuroCup contests but you overlook that. Those contests were my first reasons to travel and obviously by name you can tell it was non-American in the execution.
eS had possibly the first global team outside of Flip in the Menikmati era.
My point is that I think SoleTech should be compared to Nike, Vans, and DC internationally and against DLX in the American market. DLX internationally is another thing as board companies do not have the money shoe companies have and certainly no where near the money SoleTech had in the late 2000s.
SoleTech gets minimal credit for the big contests and sponsoring the biggest of big name Euro pros, but not much. These are things that operate far from the avg skater and the local scene. Sponsoring the biggest names in skateboarding is not good community engagement. Instead, hooking up the right locals, improving the local spot, and so on really connects to the scene. In most cases, I can't find the energy to go to a pro video premiere, but it is super fun to go to a local crew video. I don't really care how amazing the SLS park is this year, but I do care about the new obstacle at the DIY spot.
Nike did well in this era nationally and in the international markets cause they backed big name pros AND locally important people. DC did this as well. Internationally, they knew who to support and weren't blocked by inter-distribution company politics. Those who ran distributions in Russia refused to sponsor skaters associated with brands in other distributions, which limited the growth and influence of the companies like SoleTech. SoleTech didn't know this, they honestly thought they were the coolest thing in the Russia, because they had no connection or understanding to the scene. I was completely aghast with their lack of understanding of the scene and their refusal to see it despite me telling them directly that their influence was crashing.
And, in the US--a key market where SoleTech failed--they didn't visibly interact with the local scene the same way DLX does. For example,
https://www.dlxsf.com/thegrantsfund/ is a great low budget way to engage with the local scene. Not nearly as expensive as throwing a contest for the biggest pros, but far more impactful to local skaters/scenes.
Most big contests only matter for the handful of people who get to be a part of these events. The only one I can think of off the top of my head that isn't an isolated event for the few is the DGC and maybe the Copenhagen Pro.
Converse weren't direct in all markets because it was no financially viable to operate in that way. Much like Sole Tech. Or DLX. Or a shit ton of brands.
Correct me if I am wrong, but are you saying that all skater owned brands should operate directly regardless of whether they can afford to?
With the greatest of respect, I feel like the direct/distributor thing is being blamed for something which happened in your scene, but it is an over simplification.
The difference here is CONS did directly work with some markets, I can't think of a single country that SoleTech interacted w/directly. It isn't doing all markets directly, but doing zero markets directly is a crappy way to run a business. I agree that direct distribution in a place like Estonia might not make sense, but there are other markets where it would probably be a good idea.
Also, I'd imagine any competent executive would consider a host of characteristics when deciding which countries to interact with directly: Population, income, influence, etc.
The skate stuff was a struggle, but we sold a bit. The snow stuff kept the skate flow crew going there...Without that, there would have been no skate team flow. It's 140 million people but the UK population was lest than half of that and did more then five times the turnover. It operated back then under EU laws, so rollout of business structure was simple copy and paste from existing models with lots of EU support...which is quite different from operating in Russia.
In terms of snow sales carrying the initial skate investment, which I imagine might have been the case for DC Russia, SoleTech had 32 Boots, which could have floated them since they did well with their form fitting boots at the time.
And this is what I mean about the understanding of business. Granted, my understanding is limited. But I have some experience there and am just trying to share it with you so you can maybe see a different picture.
I appreciate the point of view and experience. I agree distributions could be the right choice in some markets, but they cannot be used for all markets. I can't think of single international market SoleTech controlled their distribution, which played a role in their downfall. That and their lack of support for local scenes in America, their price point trash shoes, and being a skater owned company in name, but not in practice all helped bring down one of the biggest companies in skateboarding. I initially blamed Nike for SoleTech's problems, I was wrong, Nike wouldn't have been able to come into the scene if SoleTech, DVS, Lakai, and others weren't failing the scene/the local shops around the world.
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