Lakai is Done

[highena]

I know we gonna talk shit in stereo cuz it 2026 and things have changed and 3.0 should be called iPod shuffle necklace but Tin can  folk lore one of the best videos ever made cuz you never gonna skate through that Wendy’s like Greg hunt did unless you steal ribs Time Machine and if you Gina do that let’s butterfly effect a buncha shot lokeducking aweaomeand dolls whole skate car rear out of existence

[UL8]

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Luis Mora should take what he’s learned/the supplier relationships he presumably has now and just build something new. Unless the whole goal is to make buck (which maybe that’s just it), would be better for everyone involved. I would think the team and Luis would be happier in the long term if they built something themselves rather than riding the past glory of a company they didn’t have any part in building.

[close]

Problem Is None Of These Guys Have The Spark Or Intellect To Make Something New, Theyd Rather Glom Onto Something That Already Exists And Pretend Theyre A Part Of Its History

Id Call Them The Black Flag Of Skateboarding But I Have More Respect For Those Teenagers Than Anyone Involved With This Iteration Of Lakai

[close]

I think that's true but I also wonder if they're passing around Lakai, hoping it will let them still use some of the factory connections and supply chain stuff or whatever and that's easier than starting from scratch?

[close]

Plus name recognition for consumers

Yea, guess it really is all about the money. Refuse to believe these guys are deluded enough to believe they’re carrying on any sort of legacy, especially since the people who built that legacy have said they want the company to die. I have no idea what’s going on in the life of anyone associated with the brand and don’t want to judge. I’d just say that Rick and Mike did a huge amount to make skating what it is today. If you love skating, a huge part of what you love was built by them. I’d hope these guys could at least understand that.

[Sandwich Marty]

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Luis Mora should take what he’s learned/the supplier relationships he presumably has now and just build something new. Unless the whole goal is to make buck (which maybe that’s just it), would be better for everyone involved. I would think the team and Luis would be happier in the long term if they built something themselves rather than riding the past glory of a company they didn’t have any part in building.

[close]

Problem Is None Of These Guys Have The Spark Or Intellect To Make Something New, Theyd Rather Glom Onto Something That Already Exists And Pretend Theyre A Part Of Its History

Id Call Them The Black Flag Of Skateboarding But I Have More Respect For Those Teenagers Than Anyone Involved With This Iteration Of Lakai

[close]

I think that's true but I also wonder if they're passing around Lakai, hoping it will let them still use some of the factory connections and supply chain stuff or whatever and that's easier than starting from scratch?

[close]

Plus name recognition for consumers

[close]

Yea, guess it really is all about the money. Refuse to believe these guys are deluded enough to believe they’re carrying on any sort of legacy, especially since the people who built that legacy have said they want the company to die. I have no idea what’s going on in the life of anyone associated with the brand and don’t want to judge. I’d just say that Rick and Mike did a huge amount to make skating what it is today. If you love skating, a huge part of what you love was built by them. I’d hope these guys could at least understand that.

Pretty sure someone already pointed it out in this thread, but Rick and Mike pretty much drove lakai into the ground well before they “unknowingly signed away the company” or whatever Mike said in that living proof interview. It’s weird how many people are acting like lakai was some bastion of core skater owned purity when you know damn well you weren’t buying Telfords after 2013. And if you were, you probably still are and don’t care or know who’s behind the brand anyways.

*edit- also Mike is a Beibel apologist so fuck him.

[highena]

Rick and Mike like a scrubby Rick and Morty with shoes.
A lot of people think they like shoe technicians. Only maybe one out of ten is that. The rest is just like 50 percent lakai and then like 50 percent vans.


100 % scrubby

[highena]

Fully flared sucked lil brehs. That was the swan song of some of your favorite skaters and it was weak cuz ty emo and then Morty threw them dicks at Marc and Marc is jus a Tesla of skateboarding .but then shoes ficking as bad as vans. And cuz them dudes I never heard of is the owners now and they probly hang it with pine and pine hag out with fucking losers and that traffic cuz slap made pine pine sorry pine 

[UL8]

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Luis Mora should take what he’s learned/the supplier relationships he presumably has now and just build something new. Unless the whole goal is to make buck (which maybe that’s just it), would be better for everyone involved. I would think the team and Luis would be happier in the long term if they built something themselves rather than riding the past glory of a company they didn’t have any part in building.

[close]

Problem Is None Of These Guys Have The Spark Or Intellect To Make Something New, Theyd Rather Glom Onto Something That Already Exists And Pretend Theyre A Part Of Its History

Id Call Them The Black Flag Of Skateboarding But I Have More Respect For Those Teenagers Than Anyone Involved With This Iteration Of Lakai

[close]

I think that's true but I also wonder if they're passing around Lakai, hoping it will let them still use some of the factory connections and supply chain stuff or whatever and that's easier than starting from scratch?

[close]

Plus name recognition for consumers

[close]

Yea, guess it really is all about the money. Refuse to believe these guys are deluded enough to believe they’re carrying on any sort of legacy, especially since the people who built that legacy have said they want the company to die. I have no idea what’s going on in the life of anyone associated with the brand and don’t want to judge. I’d just say that Rick and Mike did a huge amount to make skating what it is today. If you love skating, a huge part of what you love was built by them. I’d hope these guys could at least understand that.

[close]

Pretty sure someone already pointed it out in this thread, but Rick and Mike pretty much drove lakai into the ground well before they “unknowingly signed away the company” or whatever Mike said in that living proof interview. It’s weird how many people are acting like lakai was some bastion of core skater owned purity when you know damn well you weren’t buying Telfords after 2013. And if you were, you probably still are and don’t care or know who’s behind the brand anyways.

*edit- also Mike is a Beibel apologist so fuck him.

I mean, all good points. Fully Flared was pretty lame too. I guess it’s less about the brand itself for me and more about Rick and Mike and Lakai being part of the Girl universe (though maybe that’s dumb). I’d just feel weird about it cause they did so much to shape skating.

[The Ghost of Lenny Kirk]

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Luis Mora should take what he’s learned/the supplier relationships he presumably has now and just build something new. Unless the whole goal is to make buck (which maybe that’s just it), would be better for everyone involved. I would think the team and Luis would be happier in the long term if they built something themselves rather than riding the past glory of a company they didn’t have any part in building.

[close]

Problem Is None Of These Guys Have The Spark Or Intellect To Make Something New, Theyd Rather Glom Onto Something That Already Exists And Pretend Theyre A Part Of Its History

Id Call Them The Black Flag Of Skateboarding But I Have More Respect For Those Teenagers Than Anyone Involved With This Iteration Of Lakai

[close]

I think that's true but I also wonder if they're passing around Lakai, hoping it will let them still use some of the factory connections and supply chain stuff or whatever and that's easier than starting from scratch?

[close]

Plus name recognition for consumers

[close]

Yea, guess it really is all about the money. Refuse to believe these guys are deluded enough to believe they’re carrying on any sort of legacy, especially since the people who built that legacy have said they want the company to die. I have no idea what’s going on in the life of anyone associated with the brand and don’t want to judge. I’d just say that Rick and Mike did a huge amount to make skating what it is today. If you love skating, a huge part of what you love was built by them. I’d hope these guys could at least understand that.

[close]

Pretty sure someone already pointed it out in this thread, but Rick and Mike pretty much drove lakai into the ground well before they “unknowingly signed away the company” or whatever Mike said in that living proof interview. It’s weird how many people are acting like lakai was some bastion of core skater owned purity when you know damn well you weren’t buying Telfords after 2013. And if you were, you probably still are and don’t care or know who’s behind the brand anyways.

*edit- also Mike is a Beibel apologist so fuck him.

[close]

I mean, all good points. Fully Flared was pretty lame too. I guess it’s less about the brand itself for me and more about Rick and Mike and Lakai being part of the Girl universe (though maybe that’s dumb). I’d just feel weird about it cause they did so much to shape skating.

Yeahh, Lakai has always been garbage that lived on brand equity leeched from Girl/Chocolate. The biggest suckers have always been consumers expecting good quality shoes because it was rick & mike, but in this economy? Selling was probably the best idea. There are no shoe companies having stellar years rn. If there was a time to sell they picked the exact right time to do it. Just fuckin' run who cares lol.

[matty_c]

I think maybe was partially the era, skate shoes are way better now and that is because nike got involved and then adidas and they had a far superior product

But for bad shoes man, lakai was special
Anyone else remember the cardboard insoles
Man shoes used to wear out from fucking pushing you’d get a hole and wet socks it was fucked

[EdLawndale]

I also wonder if they're passing around Lakai

Lakai is for the streets now

[jgonzalez]

ribs

[Brotherly Shuvit]

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?

[h00man]

lmao they're all fucking annoying

[PalaceButtPlug]

smokin dat lakai pack

[yungtaco]

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?

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

[Brotherly Shuvit]

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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

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?

[DCLOVE]

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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?

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. .

[Sandwich Marty]

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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. .

You act like these guys have the luxery of choice. If you haven’t noticed the skate industry is not what it used to be. People who are extremely good at skating could still get shafted simply for not being in the right place at the right time, and as talented as Roman is, he’s just not that marketable. He's smart to take any offer that comes his way

[MOE SYZLAK]

Would be strange if they folded because I just got an email this morning for Q1 27 prebooks… but then again, its a strange company now.
I also think its just a clickbait ad, if you try and read the comments, it takes you directly to the order page.

[Second Division]

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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]

You act like these guys have the luxery of choice. If you haven’t noticed the skate industry is not what it used to be. People who are extremely good at skating could still get shafted simply for not being in the right place at the right time, and as talented as Roman is, he’s just not that marketable. He's smart to take any offer that comes his way

Louie Barletta said in his Bunt interview that he rode for Skechers back in the day because it meant he could actually make a living off skating and not have to work his job at like a Starbucks or something. I assume many fringe skaters have to make a similar type of calculation. Unfortunately being "core" doesn't pay the bills, but you'd hope this doesn't define him (if you actually like him/want him to succeed).

[DeanMaple]

Is it really done?

[Boring]

Word is they owe their factory a large sum.

[Billy Bitchcakes]

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

[Mr. Jax Taylor]

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

Village PM, Hrs, LRAB In The Last Few Years Alone... If There Was Ever A Time To Jump On The Opportunity Its Now

[SatanicPanic]

Tactics is selling them for $35 but I'm still not sure that's cheap enough

[Cuban_Lynx]

Tactics is selling them for $35 but I'm still not sure that's cheap enough

It's not, tons of stores have Tiago's for $40. Why would by buy that bootleg shit for $35?

[SatanicPanic]

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Tactics is selling them for $35 but I'm still not sure that's cheap enough

[close]

It's not, tons of stores have Tiago's for $40. Why would by buy that bootleg shit for $35?

Exactly. Save $5 or $10 to fuck up my feet. No thanks.

[highena]

Is a bootleg lakai better or worse? I had som bootleg Jerry hsu sco fix fantasy vans some fucking art lame made and they was better then regular vans. I wasn’t even suppose to skate then cuz they was art but that shit is so wak. Ima skate your art shoes dawg. Don’t give them to me. I skated all them fucking Jordan’s with the fancy boxes I was suppose to sell at the nerd store to overweight hash dudes.

[Daewon_Stan]

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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. .

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.

[kintetsubuffaloes]

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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.

joslin doesn't fit with either etnies nor lakai, but I thought I recall that they just cut most of their team loose. idk anything about salabanzi leaving but I'm sure they slashed their budget and he probably got the boot. joslin should have gone to nike if anything, but nobody is really paying out to get top pros in the last few years.

[DCLOVE]

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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.

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.