How would you make a lame brand cool again?

[JB]

Dwindle reps bout to be in here like

only dwindle brand that has a chance of being "cool" is enjoi, and the main thing holding enjoi back is the fact that their a dwindle brand.

[Big Baby Jesus]

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Dwindle reps bout to be in here like

[close]

only dwindle brand that has a chance of being "cool" is enjoi, and the main thing holding enjoi back is the fact that their a dwindle brand.

Blind could be cool again too, you just need to scrap the entire team and start over and revert the art direction to early to mid 90s. Only reason that probably won't happen is because dwindle is owned by a public company that has shareholders to answer to resulting in profits and revenue being more important than reputation. If they just wanted to break even but be cool they could do it.

[Jacob Gary]

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DC is the only brand I see that has hopes of getting back to being "cool" again. You can tell they're "evolving" with the times and trends through T Funk, Chase Webb and Shanihan. My overuse of quotations was to emphasize the bullshit trend hopping-ness of the situation we as a community tend to cultivate, myself included.

[close]

DC's problems are-
1. Sold all over TJ Maxx/Marshalls/Ross to randoms
2. Heavily associated with the SoCal "Bro Dog"/Moto X scene

They have some good product though.

Yeah except for the puffy shoe era is coming back and DC will be on top for a minute again.

[expired]

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DC is the only brand I see that has hopes of getting back to being "cool" again. You can tell they're "evolving" with the times and trends through T Funk, Chase Webb and Shanihan. My overuse of quotations was to emphasize the bullshit trend hopping-ness of the situation we as a community tend to cultivate, myself included.

[close]

DC's problems are-
1. Sold all over TJ Maxx/Marshalls/Ross to randoms
2. Heavily associated with the SoCal "Bro Dog"/Moto X scene

They have some good product though.

[close]

Yeah except for the puffy shoe era is coming back and DC will be on top for a minute again.

Are we really going to ignore this, add it to the list

[HungUp]

Irony?  Nah, real answer is... you don't. No not never.

[FS-OverKOOK]

^^^Maple...brought back memories of Donger's face high ollies and 4 block lines...Miss those days

[DannyDee]

For most you'd have to revamp the team. In theory, you could try to do something like Adidas Originals with Blind and World. Darkstar was never cool, so I don't think you can appeal to nostalgia.

[somethingmustbreaknow]

For most you'd have to revamp the team. In theory, you could try to do something like Adidas Originals with Blind and World. Darkstar was never cool, so I don't think you can appeal to nostalgia.

darkstar battalion era was cool.
dope team, dope video & their
shtick wasn't played out. i dug
it. that video 'till this day, is fire

[DannyDee]

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For most you'd have to revamp the team. In theory, you could try to do something like Adidas Originals with Blind and World. Darkstar was never cool, so I don't think you can appeal to nostalgia.

[close]

darkstar battalion era was cool.
dope team, dope video & their
shtick wasn't played out. i dug
it. that video 'till this day, is fire

That video had good stuff, but I don't think they had enough popularity or are iconic enough to appeal to Nostalgia. If World or Blind hired McKee and Cliver for a couple runs and silk screened decks, they could absolutely appeal to nostalgia to an extent I don't think a brand like Darkstar could. The main issue on top of that though is, you'd need to have a team people cared about. I back some of Blinds current skaters (mainly Morgan Smith), but no one cares about their team.

[somethingmustbreaknow]

agree. for me, the only things
that  could possibly revamp a
brand that is considered lame
is if they stick together a good
team AND film a full length vid
that's coherent with good parts
filming editing music and so on.

[Mongoloid]

I feel like Santa Cruz is a good example of a company that had a long period of being stale, but turned it all around.

I love the moves they are making these days (Aside from some of the collabs).

[Jacob Gary]

I feel like Santa Cruz is a good example of a company that had a long period of being stale, but turned it all around.

I love the moves they are making these days (Aside from some of the collabs).

I personally still feel like they're stale. I would say that the only real reason you could say they're doing well is because of their OG status. Nobody I know that skates thinks current Santa Cruz is cool (which is just one area though).

It mostly just seems like another Zumiez brand to me.

[Molte]

I've had a couple of friends praising Darkstar wheels.

DC is doing something for me again these years. I really gave up on them at one point. I know I'm not alone.

One of the best shoes I've ever had was Etnies' Jamerson 2. It was cheap, it was simple, cool looking, very durable, logo was small, nice color ways, good to skate right out of the box, never got soggy.

I don't see born loosers acquiring sudden greatnes for re-establishing their brand. Some brands could re-gain quality, but I don't see SLAP approval beating numbers at business meatings.

[givecigstosurfgroms]

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I feel like Santa Cruz is a good example of a company that had a long period of being stale, but turned it all around.

I love the moves they are making these days (Aside from some of the collabs).

[close]

I personally still feel like they're stale. I would say that the only real reason you could say they're doing well is because of their OG status. Nobody I know that skates thinks current Santa Cruz is cool (which is just one area though).

It mostly just seems like another Zumiez brand to me.

  The veteren team thing saved santa cruz from extinction.  They even had a different logo for a 5 years or so but went back to the old one cause the veteren thing sold well.

[ImportantGuy]

I like how certain people think their opinion on what's cool is the Truth. Someone somewhere thinks Blind is the shit.

[ckswank]

irony

[Zurg]

I like how certain people think their opinion on what's cool is the Truth. Someone somewhere thinks Blind is the shit.

hopefully, cuz their new video isnt changing anyones mind about blind

[DirtyBurger]

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I feel like Santa Cruz is a good example of a company that had a long period of being stale, but turned it all around.

I love the moves they are making these days (Aside from some of the collabs).

[close]

I personally still feel like they're stale. I would say that the only real reason you could say they're doing well is because of their OG status. Nobody I know that skates thinks current Santa Cruz is cool (which is just one area though).




It mostly just seems like another Zumiez brand to me.

I like the current Santa Cruz. The last board I skated was one of their P2's, granted it was on super clearance, but I still consider that supporting them. Like someone else said nostalgia goes a long way, especially in skating. Their team also helps also, I'm pretty sure both Jason Jesse and Eric Dresses are on the top 25 influential skaters list, plus they have new younger dudes that kill it, Erick Winkowski, Josh Borden, and Tom Asta are pretty cool to watch. I'd also like to add that I'm pretty sure Andrew Cannon is responsible for making Santa Cruz cool again, lame colabs aside. I guess having a smart brand manager is a big help.

[Szechuan]

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DC is the only brand I see that has hopes of getting back to being "cool" again. You can tell they're "evolving" with the times and trends through T Funk, Chase Webb and Shanihan. My overuse of quotations was to emphasize the bullshit trend hopping-ness of the situation we as a community tend to cultivate, myself included.

[close]

DC's problems are-
1. Sold all over TJ Maxx/Marshalls/Ross to randoms
2. Heavily associated with the SoCal "Bro Dog"/Moto X scene

They have some good product though.

[close]

Yeah except for the puffy shoe era is coming back and DC will be on top for a minute again.

[close]

Are we really going to ignore this, add it to the list

Haha I knew it felt off when I was typing it. Glad to add to the list.

[Betaphenylethylalamine]

Just popped in to say the etnies marana is a really good shoe.

Also the raps

But I'm dead stuck on the lakia freemonts right now

[Betaphenylethylalamine]

Also, alot of companies have a hard time recovering because they start out really strong ie circa plan b world industries DC etc

[ImportantGuy]

Skateboarding is a really interesting industry. Something cool for a week is irrelevant the next. All these companies struggling today were the reference in the 90's. It's impossible to measure ''cool'' yet it's the main currency.

I'm just happy to still be excited about skating, watching the shit show unravel and getting a deck in the shins every now and then.

[straight]

Eric Dresses

[ImportantGuy]

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Eric Dresses

[close]

*picture of Frost wearing a skirt. I just don't have the photoshop skills to make it happen, sorry.

[Chavo]

Venture is a good example. They were once a shitty price point truck company mostly marketed toward sub-$100 completes. Then they hired Steve Rocco as team manager/creative director and ran with that momentum to the present day.

[Gray Imp Sausage Metal]

They might never be "cool" but the Jameson XT is probably the best shoe I've skated in the last 5 years.

Ryan Lay's new shoe is great too (once you throw away the stock insole)

[DISTANT RUMOURS]

Darkstar was the shit here for a while. Some giy I skated with also got tbree huuuuuuuuuge darkstar knight heads tattoed on his leg...

I,always loved their wheels though.

[cherry]

Any company marketing a product through branding is going to be held up by teeth and nail with their consumer groups. When blind and etnies started they didn't have much competition. The world camp had made a product that sold itself without branding. The branding brought in another group of buyers entirely. Etnies was the first shoe company to do a full video. They had competition with vans and other companies but their branding was better for skating at the time. Little by little both of those companies made bad decisions that hurt their riders. They went for the mall and they kicked off homies. Skaters quit and started their own shit lakai girl krooked even emerica is a rebranding of etnies. "making them cool" again would require them to actually take risks and do something creative. Kicking mike v off so Jeremy fox will ket flip riders wear your shoes for 3 years isn't a good move. Telling gonz to retire because he is too old at 27 is a shit move. Those decisions plague the branding of blind and etnies. Their only hope is to push themselves towards the new generation of skaters that haven't watched their favorite skater get used like an old tramp. Its too late for that too because nike and Adidas have all the best skaters and flow more people than we could count. They are just buying time till the profits are so low they dip out. Funny part is gonz rides for Adidas and mike v skates converse. Fuck u pierre

[givecigstosurfgroms]

Kicking mike v off so Jeremy fox will ket flip riders wear your shoes for 3 years isn't a good move.

  Theres a misspelling there so I'm not sure about when the kick off was..   so that would help in telling whether it was a good idea.  Also there can be interpersonal reasons people kick people off, V seems weird.  I wanna keep an open mind tho.  I really hate the one liners he puts out there. "i live in that space, where skating and punk rock collide."

[cherry]

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Kicking mike v off so Jeremy fox will ket flip riders wear your shoes for 3 years isn't a good move.

[close]

  Theres a misspelling there so I'm not sure about when the kick off was..   so that would help in telling whether it was a good idea.  Also there can be interpersonal reasons people kick people off, V seems weird.  I wanna keep an open mind tho.  I really hate the one liners he puts out there. "i live in that space, where skating and punk rock collide."

The misspelling of the word let with a k really inhibited your ability to understand that whole concept? It doesn't seem so with your response. "there can be interpersonal reasons", I wrote that Pierre(etnies) kicked off mike v because he wanted flip riders on the team. Seems pretty clear what happened. They had a meeting (jermey fox wouldn't show) Jeremy was telling Pierre he wouldn't let arto bastien etc sign with etnies unless they kicked off a bunch of riders that "aren't relevant". I used mike as the example because he was the most loyal to the brand and had the best selling pro shoe there for awhile. I've also talked with him about it. Pierre did as jermey told him. Its not about loyalty or even skating with those guys its about curating to the highest selling market they can reach. Now arto bastien mike janoski none of them ride for etnies and they are still just looking for the next "best" kid to market before taking behind the shed shoot