I hope Jordan Powell is gonna be one of the ams announced for emerica.
Jordan is the raddest dude. He's been out with us every weekend and came on our last trip which he killed it on.
that "we only add skaters (dudes) who fit in the van" statement is really tone deaf in 2021
Expand Quote
Expand Quote
So check this out, Emerica needs to find out who’s behind all those designs and seriously fire them. As a Emerica fan, I have never been more disgusted with a catalog from them. Those extra rubber shoes are gross. Stop trying to sell the reynolds vulc, them shits are dumb and no little kid wants them. Printed shoes? Yuck, seriously, let’s try again next season...embarrassment to a great company
Stop selling one of the top selling shoes? Great idea.
Expand Quote
Dear @EmericaTM
Some thoughts on a possible/hopeful 2021 relevancy:
Romero, Dickson, Spanky, Provost, Servold, and Leabres are sick. Your team is pretty much interchangeable though. The handrail hammer stoner metal tight jeans aesthetic is cool but if all your riders besides Spanky follow that template then they seem like legos. Interchangeable. Consider sponsoring some new, unique talents. A tech skater, a GX 1000 hill bombing psychopath, or a Fancy Lad type might be nice. I love Servold but I don't ever need to see him bs boardslide another handrail.
Christ-on-a-crutch... you gotta get some women and people of color representing your brand. C'mon man.
Get some ams.
Make tee shirts, hats, jackets, etc that are inspired. You've been phoning it in there for years. The Emerica logo is cool but you need to consider that it isn't enough to warrant a clothing purchase. Look to Indy, Spitfire, and Thrasher as brands that take their softgoods seriously.
Having insoles available for purchase is a fantastic idea. Vans insoles are garbage. Footprint is a dumpster fire and you guys could really do well with some cool tech and possible variety.
Make interesting video edits. Your instagram is like a wasteland besides reposts. Content of high quality breeds interest and brand loyalty: Polar is a good example. And when you look back at Green and note that Dickson didn't get a SOTY nod then that should tell you something about the failure of a formulaic approach since he killed it in that video.
The Gamma seems like a step in the right direction. Diversify and excel. The Shifter boot was cool. Not everything has to be Vans-Lite.
I think you might benefit from studying NB# as a company that learned from its failures.
Interact with skateboarding. Listen- we want you to do well but we can't save you. Ultimately the young skaters decide whats up and they are finicky and uneducated about Emerica's influential history. They need to feel represented and psyched.
Please don't be salty about this, Tim. I'm generally hoping you guys come out swinging for 2021. The Gamma looks nice. Jon Dickson is beyond incredible and Spanky is a wonderful, far out freak. Good luck! <3
Hey dude. Not salty at all. With that said, I will explain a few things. I can see what you're saying about the team but there is more than just tight pants wearing handrail skaters as there are also skaters like Spanky, Winkowski, Leabres. With that said we have several new riders being announced this year including some ams. What most people don't seem to understand is that getting new riders takes time and isn't as easy as it may seem like. It doesn't happen overnight and filming parts, shooting ads, putting together a video, putting out a proper announcement etc. takes time. Regarding the whole "you need (insert race/gender/sex orientation) skater" doesn't make sense to me. There's nothing wrong with being diverse and that's what we're doing but we're doing it naturally instead of forcing it. Nobody is getting on the team for any reason other than them being an awesome skater and being able to hang in the van. Point blank, somebody's skin color isn't going to get them on the team, their skating is and that's all that matters. For the record, we have tried to hook up all sorts of diverse people based off of their skating. Some say yes and some say no and that's just the way it works. If you follow our Instagram like it seems like you do, then you would see that we hook up a lot of talented skaters regardless of their skin color. Regarding the apparel, do you think we've only made logo apparel? We've done full apparel collections with dudes like Spanky consisting all of his art, Dickson apparel, and a ton of cut and sew. Not sure if you saw in the catalog or not but the G6 Foam insoles are actually being sold individually already. Go look at our Instagram again and you will see half of our content is from us whether it's product, photos/video from our videos or ads or just clips that day of me going out skating with the team. Instagram is a great platform and everybody reposts and if it's all we were doing, then yeah I'd have to agree with you. As much as social media is a necessity, it seems like you take it a little too seriously and expect really high quality posts all the time. We've got 4 video projects coming out this year and I'd rather save our footage for those and create something memorable than wasting them on Instagram edits but to each their own. Having over a million views between Green and the Rough Cuts means more to me personally. FYI, Dickson wasn't on the SOTY poll due to it being a total accident, not because of some "failure" on our end. I appreciate you taking the time to write this out and hope I was able to clear up a couple things. This will be my last post about the brand in this thread as this thread as already derailed so much from it's purpose and don't want to take away anymore from that. With that said my DMs on here and Instagram are always open to discuss Emerica, skating or just shooting the shit. Thanks guys.
cool to hear you have 4 projects in the works
if you don't think representation of women in skating makes sense then there's not much else to say
good luck out there dude
Only replying to these because you guys definitely are making some wild accusations and seem to be putting words in my mouth. No one said anything about “fitting” or “needing to be a guy” to get in the van. Also, hanging in the van was more of an expression of saying you have to get along with the team as you’re gonna be together out skating, on trips, etc. which is actually extremely common for pretty much any brand out there. Can’t even tell you how many times a skater didn’t get on x, y, or z due to them not being able to get along with the team. Let’s get one thing straight, I didn’t say a single thing about not caring about girls in skateboarding because I do care about that. One of my favorite skaters of all time is a female and I loved Alexis’ latest Cons part, and really enjoyed “Credits” and thought it was awesome to see such a well put together video with some of the raddest girls in skating at the moment. I back females in skateboarding 100%. I specifically said that we put somebody on the team for their skateboarding versus their skin color. We don’t care what race or sex you are. If you’re a woman who is a rad skater then that’s all that matters and it will happen. For the record, we hook up a few girls and I’d love to have more which is exactly why we have tried getting other girls as well and are gonna keep trying. I mentioned in my original post that we are diversifying this year and that it doesn’t happen overnight. Over the last 2 years, I can’t even tell you how many people I have tried to hook up who have been white, nonwhite, young, old, gay, female, trans. If people would rather be flow for a big corporate brand then that’s okay but we’re out there trying. If you have complaints, feedback, compliments send it to me personally so we can have this thread go back to its intended purpose.