Sole Tech Sells To The Nidecker Group

[quaintly]

100% this is the beginning of the final chapter for éS and Emerica. As an OG Accel loyalist, this is a bummer but is not surprising. I'm betting the recent cuts at Emerica were just trying to trim the payroll to make the the whole Sole Tech package deal look better to the buyers.

Likely Nidecker just wanted Thirty Two and maybe Etnies as a mall brand and were forced to get eS and Emerica in the deal and will be susnsetting those immediately. Or maybe the IP of those will get sold off and we can get shitty zombie-versions of them like we have to Fallen, Axion, and so on.

Congrats to Pierre and Don on the payday.

Not sure Don has a stake in the company ? I believe he may just be an employee .

[Monolithic Flick]

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Honestly, not that bad of an outcome.

1. Family owned company (even ridiculously wealthy) have more leeway for higher operating standards because they aren't beholden to "money line go up" anyone-owns-it public co's and it's their "family legacy" so they don't want shitty behavior attached to their name.

2. Not Private Equity that just squeezes the juice to eke out a 30% return in 2 years.

3. They run YES snowboards which is actually a decently respected snowboard brand. Think Burton / Gravis except hoping they don't go the way of Gravis lol

4. The brothers can actually do a kickflip

[close]

Seeing as they are from snowsports, their legacy is actually not the best. Nidecker as a snowboard brand vanished 20 years ago. They have one of the bigger factories iirc but their brand work was a failure. YES is going the same route, although the founders are legends and the current team is stacked. But the whole identity, the style, it's just not good. They should be the Girl of snowboarding but they're more like Flip.

[close]

Confused by your Nidecker comment. They absolutely still make boards. This group also owns Jones snowboards which are very popular in the snowboard community. Yes has merged with Lobster so no clue what that is going to look like.
Like others I have no idea what this means for skate shoes but Nidecker is a pretty successful ownership group.

[close]

I have not seen a Nidecker board in the wild or an ad from them in at least 15 years. Merging YES and Lobster is such a misguided move and shows their lack of understanding of the current market. While both brands rank probably equally in terms of market share, they sit on opposite sides of the spectrum. Only YES boards I see are on 30+ weekend warriors who film bs 3s on the baby jump for the gram. And right next to that, on the ride-on Box, 13 year old wannabe-Fridges are doing Michael Jacksons for TikTok. Hyperbole alert obviously

Sorry if I came across as a know it all or combative.  Just seemed to counter my experiences and what I see in snowboarding media.  Perhaps I’m all wrong.  Like you said let’s just agree to disagree.

[Lou Strux]

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Is there any shoe brands fully owned by skaters now? I realize these guys can kinda kickflip…

Is lakai still owned by whatever corporation owns huf?

Pontus only kinda owns Last Resort as it was already another guys fashion footwear brand before he got involved?

[close]

Opus

Fishing Lines (?)

State have looked done since covid

That Japanese brand Possessed..don't know if the owners skate

There's also that brand made up of ex ipath crew that's supposed to happen this year maybe

[close]

Isn’t this ran by a skater(s)

https://proper-skateboarding.myshopify.com/

I think it was curtains for Proper after their 1st product run.
I was kinda feeling the look of the Cinex a few years back in part because the company was singing that sweet sounding Skater Owned song I like so much & the shoes were (already) going for what looked to be closeout prices even back then, but they were sold out in my size, so I figured I'd check back later.
A year or two on, when I went to see if they had re-upped their stock, or added any new models, the website was unchanged in every way, including that same Cinex still being out in all the same sizes.
Leads me to believe they were a "one-and-done" type of deal.
Maybe they found distribution at any scale, for a small company, was a pretty hard hurdle to clear.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure they're done-zo.
RSVP Proper.

[layzieyez]

Employees of Soletech should study Michael Bolton's music catalog and be ready to say which songs they like to keep their job.

[tom]

I don’t know shit about snowboarding

[JM]

Employees of Soletech should study Michael Bolton's music catalog snowboarding terms and be ready to say which songs park tricks they like to keep their job.

*and also successfully argue why nose presses are actually really the same as nose manuals if you think about it.

[j....soy.....]

Great little interview with PA…..

*warning: contains facts which may contradict your narrative....

https://www.boardsportsource.com/the-soul-of-sole-technology-pierre-andre-senizergues-reflects-on-building-an-iconic-skateboarding-company-and-his-vision-and-hopes-for-the-next-stage-following-the-sale-of-his-brands-es-emerica-et/

[Merman]

Maybe Tom Asta will finally get a sponsor that fits

The hell you say??? Next you'll tell us Gonz doesn't belong on Krooked.

[yopsssss]

Damn in actually kinda bummed about this. I just check in here every once on a while at this point but this actually the writing on the wall for the end of emerica and e’s and i actually still hold out hope for those conpanies to make sumn worth a damn. I think no matter what some people say its in the best interest of both companies to focus 50/50 on legacy riders/shoes(cut ellington the check and bring back what the old heads want without changing the damn shape..rey 2s hsus leo 1s..ksl 1s in the real shape) and kick into overtime on the jamie foys cuz i dont see how they are going to keep new riders with a name like that on the team.

[JM]

Great little interview with PA…..

*warning: contains facts which may contradict your narrative....

https://www.boardsportsource.com/the-soul-of-sole-technology-pierre-andre-senizergues-reflects-on-building-an-iconic-skateboarding-company-and-his-vision-and-hopes-for-the-next-stage-following-the-sale-of-his-brands-es-emerica-et/

Stop brining your facts and logic into this, and let us have our fun. 

[Watson]

Employees of Soletech should study Michael Bolton's music catalog and be ready to say which songs they like to keep their job.

Personally I celebrate his entire catalog.

[Not_Bruce]

It's been said over and over whenever Sole Tech is mentioned: the shoes are Temu-level quality, and the Emerica team lacks diversity. After Reynolds left, it was clear things weren't looking good. If someone like Reynolds couldn't make a difference, the company was basically done for. Honestly, the biggest surprise for me is how long Sole Tech managed to keep going. It's hard to believe they've been profitable since 2019.

[Fraserjamesjollyjamieson]

Nidecker is an f tier snowboard brand they seem to have a financial boost recently from the success of some gimmicky step in bindings, they also run a factory that makes boards for other brands but I can’t see them lasting long term. rip sole tech could see joslin on New Balance a gap Video with him and Reynolds would be sick

[EdLawndale]

Honestly, every pair of eS I bought that retails in the $80-100+ range has been pretty durable and lasted me a while, so I guess I have to say I've had a different experience with the quality level than some of you here.

I rarely pay full price for anything though and wait until shoes go on sale (so perhaps that doesn't make me the most dedicated, dependable clientele).

I've been wearing the Penny 2s for about 2 or 3 months now, and the Chomp On Kicks one-ofs for about the same amount of time before that.

[SupremePizza]

Yes boards are solid and I've heard the same about Now and Nidecker. For snowboarding I think this could be good for 32 as the TM-3 for how much they were were such a mediocre boot compared to the Nike I had before or the Adidas I have now

[Tonyhawk-prostate]

Several questions

Will this affect the Upcoming models like the hoban?

Also what will ever happen to sti lab?

Someone answer

[Shtonk]

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Honestly, not that bad of an outcome.

1. Family owned company (even ridiculously wealthy) have more leeway for higher operating standards because they aren't beholden to "money line go up" anyone-owns-it public co's and it's their "family legacy" so they don't want shitty behavior attached to their name.

2. Not Private Equity that just squeezes the juice to eke out a 30% return in 2 years.

3. They run YES snowboards which is actually a decently respected snowboard brand. Think Burton / Gravis except hoping they don't go the way of Gravis lol

4. The brothers can actually do a kickflip

[close]

Seeing as they are from snowsports, their legacy is actually not the best. Nidecker as a snowboard brand vanished 20 years ago. They have one of the bigger factories iirc but their brand work was a failure. YES is going the same route, although the founders are legends and the current team is stacked. But the whole identity, the style, it's just not good. They should be the Girl of snowboarding but they're more like Flip.

[close]

Confused by your Nidecker comment. They absolutely still make boards. This group also owns Jones snowboards which are very popular in the snowboard community. Yes has merged with Lobster so no clue what that is going to look like.
Like others I have no idea what this means for skate shoes but Nidecker is a pretty successful ownership group.

[close]

I have not seen a Nidecker board in the wild or an ad from them in at least 15 years. Merging YES and Lobster is such a misguided move and shows their lack of understanding of the current market. While both brands rank probably equally in terms of market share, they sit on opposite sides of the spectrum. Only YES boards I see are on 30+ weekend warriors who film bs 3s on the baby jump for the gram. And right next to that, on the ride-on Box, 13 year old wannabe-Fridges are doing Michael Jacksons for TikTok. Hyperbole alert obviously

[close]

Sorry if I came across as a know it all or combative.  Just seemed to counter my experiences and what I see in snowboarding media.  Perhaps I’m all wrong.  Like you said let’s just agree to disagree.

All good dude, we're allowed to have different opinions

[moonordie]

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"skater owned" doesn't mean shit to me. Usually skaters are terrible at being responsible financially so brands are most likely to crap out.
Also a lot of skaters have this God complex just for being good at skateboarding which makes them obnoxious assholes.
I'd rather somebody who knows whatever brown to be a decent, straight up person with decent work ethics rather than a skater that only cares about skating and nothing else. Don't get me wrong, I love skateboarding to death but if I would skate for a brand is rather the person owning it can actually take care of it.
Maybe a good example is Crail, probably if it would have been only Rick and Carroll brand wouldn't last long.

[close]

What are you talking about? I think you missed the golden era.

Back when was "skater owner" were hundreds of promodels, and they got pay better than today.

Hardly, been skating since 98.
And as you said: "Back then". I'm talking about current times

[EdLawndale]

Hardly, been skating since 98.

Ok so you're pretty new to this then ; )

[moonordie]

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Hardly, been skating since 98.

[close]

Ok so you're pretty new to this then ; )

In comparison with other people sure I am but I wouldn't say that I miss the golden era if we have the same understanding of when that period was. Imo it was 98 - 05 probably. Not sure on the consensus about it.

[EdLawndale]

I almost tripped over your umbilical cord walking into this thread.

I'm just razzing you, buddy, Idek what we're talking about.

[Ass]

I wonder what all the canadian instagram skaters are going to do when éS is done

[cucktard]

Aah, so Rome is in the Nidecker glob?
I guess that’s why quality dropped when they moved manufacturing to Dubai.

Too bad, the Rome cambered MOD was maybe  the best board I ever rode, but they are trash now.

32 is still really big in snowboarding, and they make a decent boot.

As for the rest, YES has been struggling for a while, Jones seems to be ok, no idea about Lobster. But having them all together in the same factory with generally the same tech doesn’t appeal to me as a consumer.

Not does having toys made for snow made in a desert.

Having said they, my local had a sale and I picked up am some vegan joslins, and I’m not disappointed with the quality.

[Coffee]

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Maybe Tom Asta will finally get a sponsor that fits

[close]

what would fit him do you think? Maybe DC? Adidas, Nike?

[close]

Get the dude on NB#. I doubt Nike would take him. He has said between Fallen and eS he skated a few Nikes and didn’t like any of them.

[close]

Please don't do this to my boy.

Not trying to banish him back to Fallen. I was trying to say I doubt he gets on Nike because he has said between the time he quit Fallen and got on eS he skated some Nikes and didn’t like anything they were making. Dude deserves a top tier shoe deal for sure.

[sus]

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Several questions

Will this affect the Upcoming models like the hoban?

Also what will ever happen to sti lab?

[close]

Someone answer

Shoe brands usually have full product lines ready at least a year in advance so sales reps can start selling a little less than a year before the season drops and the company can determine stuff like forecasts, whether minimums will be met in order to create new models, etc. Sales reps should be presenting spring 2025 right now to shops which means all seasons prior to that should be produced per usual. Hoban should still come out if they originally had plans to produce it. Only big variable will be if existing pro models get cancelled in 2025 due to contracts not being renewed, but that goes for any shoe brand with pro models.

As far as the STI lab goes, that has been long gone since it closed down in 2009 or so following the mass layoff sole tech had as a result of the economic times back then.

Oh and Don doesn’t have a stake in sole tech

[Gnar_Gnar]

Snowboarding.. so hot right now.  I for one, welcome our new ski resort overlords. 

[Ghost Face]

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Several questions

Will this affect the Upcoming models like the hoban?

Also what will ever happen to sti lab?

[close]

Someone answer

[close]

Shoe brands usually have full product lines ready at least a year in advance so sales reps can start selling a little less than a year before the season drops and the company can determine stuff like forecasts, whether minimums will be met in order to create new models, etc. Sales reps should be presenting spring 2025 right now to shops which means all seasons prior to that should be produced per usual. Hoban should still come out if they originally had plans to produce it. Only big variable will be if existing pro models get cancelled in 2025 due to contracts not being renewed, but that goes for any shoe brand with pro models.

As far as the STI lab goes, that has been long gone since it closed down in 2009 or so following the mass layoff sole tech had as a result of the economic times back then.

Oh and Don doesn’t have a stake in sole tech

Give this man a gnar.

[lurker_and_poster]

I can't decide what I'm less interested in...
és, etnies, and emerica relevance is long gone, cant remember the last shoe i have bought. May some Jerry Hsu 2008ish which was already a copy of his great Osiris pro model.
2003 "This is skateboarding" premiere party with Suski, Ed´s last real part and making out with that lovely japanese girl with big boobs was my personal sole tech peak.
Than you Don and Pierre - doubt that the Nidecker Bros can exceed this

[mooraga]

GOOD FOR PIERRE ANDRÉ
dude held a company for more than 30 years, amazing
time to cash out and skate down a palm tree drinking mimosas

[Dwyck]

I'm gonna be so pissed when pontus does this in 2040