Reynolds in Adidas, Feelings?

[Level 80 Undead Warlock]

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Remember when there were no skate shoe companies? Then a couple of wack ass freestylers guilted everyone in to buying their shitty shoes.  Skate what you like, but don't think for a second Soletech gives a shit about anything but the money.

[close]

If that was truly the case why would they do a tour with Lakai? They did that to make money yes, but also to get kids to support skate companies in general.

Do you think Nike and Adidas would team up to promote each other? Hell no, why? Beacause their one and only priority is making profit from skateboarding.

[close]

To make more money. This isn't hard. It isn't about saving the culture, or else why would etnies be all over the mall and have a dirtbike team.  Why would es drop their ENTIRE TEAM? They're selling you an idea, guilting you in to being loyal.

[close]

It's weird to me how a company trying to adapt or explore other avenues to survive in a tough market is so heavily frowned upon, but then a larger company sucking EVERY AVENUE dry is brushed off. Why does Nike get a pass for being sold in mall/chain stores but every other company doing it is wack? I can't find Etnies at Wal-Mart, but I bet I could find some Swooshes around.

[close]

Because of the narrative. Nike isn't guilting me in to a purchasing because I owe it to skateboarding.

[close]

You should want to support these brands and the diversity they offer. Can you honestly sit there and say you are ok with only have 2 or 3 shoe brands to choose from? That is the reality that’s fast approaching.

Honestly, what diversity? And look, I'm not a Nike fanboy either, I just don't buy in to the narrative that I owe anyone any loyalty.  My money is my own, and if Emerica and Lakai don't stoke me out anymore, and they haven't in years, I'm not going to throw money their way. My last 3 shoe purchases were Proper, Proper, and Adidas, and I loved each one of them.  In 2017 I had half a dozen soletech models and they all ended up at the salvation army after a week or so.

[Monkey_Mcpott]

I love Reynolds and I love Emerica. I'm conflicted but at the end of the day if Reynolds does decide to go to Adidas I would want nothing more than for him to get the similar transition that Daewon got in which people eventually accepted it then realized that he held on for as long as possible and deserves the fans respect. He is humble and pushes all of his brands without trashing another which is why Marc will never be able to live past all of his Adidas hate prior to getting on.

[Ernest Borgnine]

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Remember when there were no skate shoe companies? Then a couple of wack ass freestylers guilted everyone in to buying their shitty shoes.  Skate what you like, but don't think for a second Soletech gives a shit about anything but the money.

[close]

If that was truly the case why would they do a tour with Lakai? They did that to make money yes, but also to get kids to support skate companies in general.

Do you think Nike and Adidas would team up to promote each other? Hell no, why? Beacause their one and only priority is making profit from skateboarding.

[close]

To make more money. This isn't hard. It isn't about saving the culture, or else why would etnies be all over the mall and have a dirtbike team.  Why would es drop their ENTIRE TEAM? They're selling you an idea, guilting you in to being loyal.

[close]

It's weird to me how a company trying to adapt or explore other avenues to survive in a tough market is so heavily frowned upon, but then a larger company sucking EVERY AVENUE dry is brushed off. Why does Nike get a pass for being sold in mall/chain stores but every other company doing it is wack? I can't find Etnies at Wal-Mart, but I bet I could find some Swooshes around.

[close]

Because of the narrative. Nike isn't guilting me in to a purchasing because I owe it to skateboarding.

[close]

You should want to support these brands and the diversity they offer. Can you honestly sit there and say you are ok with only have 2 or 3 shoe brands to choose from? That is the reality that’s fast approaching.

[close]

Honestly, what diversity? And look, I'm not a Nike fanboy either, I just don't buy in to the narrative that I owe anyone any loyalty.  My money is my own, and if Emerica and Lakai don't stoke me out anymore, and they haven't in years, I'm not going to throw money their way. My last 3 shoe purchases were Proper, Proper, and Adidas, and I loved each one of them.  In 2017 I had half a dozen soletech models and they all ended up at the salvation army after a week or so.

Why on Earth did you keep buying Soletech shoes last year?  After 3 weekly trips to the Salvation Army to dump off my nonfunctional shoes I would have called it quits. 

[Level 80 Undead Warlock]

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Remember when there were no skate shoe companies? Then a couple of wack ass freestylers guilted everyone in to buying their shitty shoes.  Skate what you like, but don't think for a second Soletech gives a shit about anything but the money.

[close]

If that was truly the case why would they do a tour with Lakai? They did that to make money yes, but also to get kids to support skate companies in general.

Do you think Nike and Adidas would team up to promote each other? Hell no, why? Beacause their one and only priority is making profit from skateboarding.

[close]

To make more money. This isn't hard. It isn't about saving the culture, or else why would etnies be all over the mall and have a dirtbike team.  Why would es drop their ENTIRE TEAM? They're selling you an idea, guilting you in to being loyal.

[close]

It's weird to me how a company trying to adapt or explore other avenues to survive in a tough market is so heavily frowned upon, but then a larger company sucking EVERY AVENUE dry is brushed off. Why does Nike get a pass for being sold in mall/chain stores but every other company doing it is wack? I can't find Etnies at Wal-Mart, but I bet I could find some Swooshes around.

[close]

Because of the narrative. Nike isn't guilting me in to a purchasing because I owe it to skateboarding.

[close]

You should want to support these brands and the diversity they offer. Can you honestly sit there and say you are ok with only have 2 or 3 shoe brands to choose from? That is the reality that’s fast approaching.

[close]

Honestly, what diversity? And look, I'm not a Nike fanboy either, I just don't buy in to the narrative that I owe anyone any loyalty.  My money is my own, and if Emerica and Lakai don't stoke me out anymore, and they haven't in years, I'm not going to throw money their way. My last 3 shoe purchases were Proper, Proper, and Adidas, and I loved each one of them.  In 2017 I had half a dozen soletech models and they all ended up at the salvation army after a week or so.

[close]

Why on Earth did you keep buying Soletech shoes last year?  After 3 weekly trips to the Salvation Army to dump off my nonfunctional shoes I would have called it quits.

They were cheap enough. Some of the es models with the sti midsole, the sesla and sense, started out fine but turned shitty super fast.

[Betaphenylethylalamine]

The sesla is not a skateshoe.

I love the look and feel of them but I'd destroy this shoe skating in 1 day

I'm fine with Reynolds on Adidas. Emerica isn't a shoe I care much for these days, love the team and aesthetic though.

If I could get paid to ride Nike or adidas I'd jump ship on any other company right quick. You'de be a idiot not to.

[Ernest Borgnine]

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Remember when there were no skate shoe companies? Then a couple of wack ass freestylers guilted everyone in to buying their shitty shoes.  Skate what you like, but don't think for a second Soletech gives a shit about anything but the money.

[close]

If that was truly the case why would they do a tour with Lakai? They did that to make money yes, but also to get kids to support skate companies in general.

Do you think Nike and Adidas would team up to promote each other? Hell no, why? Beacause their one and only priority is making profit from skateboarding.

[close]

To make more money. This isn't hard. It isn't about saving the culture, or else why would etnies be all over the mall and have a dirtbike team.  Why would es drop their ENTIRE TEAM? They're selling you an idea, guilting you in to being loyal.

[close]

It's weird to me how a company trying to adapt or explore other avenues to survive in a tough market is so heavily frowned upon, but then a larger company sucking EVERY AVENUE dry is brushed off. Why does Nike get a pass for being sold in mall/chain stores but every other company doing it is wack? I can't find Etnies at Wal-Mart, but I bet I could find some Swooshes around.

[close]

Because of the narrative. Nike isn't guilting me in to a purchasing because I owe it to skateboarding.

[close]

You should want to support these brands and the diversity they offer. Can you honestly sit there and say you are ok with only have 2 or 3 shoe brands to choose from? That is the reality that’s fast approaching.

[close]

Honestly, what diversity? And look, I'm not a Nike fanboy either, I just don't buy in to the narrative that I owe anyone any loyalty.  My money is my own, and if Emerica and Lakai don't stoke me out anymore, and they haven't in years, I'm not going to throw money their way. My last 3 shoe purchases were Proper, Proper, and Adidas, and I loved each one of them.  In 2017 I had half a dozen soletech models and they all ended up at the salvation army after a week or so.

[close]

Why on Earth did you keep buying Soletech shoes last year?  After 3 weekly trips to the Salvation Army to dump off my nonfunctional shoes I would have called it quits.

[close]

They were cheap enough. Some of the es models with the sti midsole, the sesla and sense, started out fine but turned shitty super fast.

Ok fair enough.  We've had different experiences.

[Gray Imp Sausage Metal]

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It's funny, because everyone who claims that "skater"-owned shoes are great seems to be vehemently against buying from "corporate" shoe brands, but they also know inherently know that their Emericas skate better than a pair of Blazers or a Busenitz? Can someone enlighten me on how you can comment on a brand's product without using it first?

[close]

In my case, heckler I have been given a pair of Busenitz and a pair of Janoskis. The Busenitz were like wearing high heels with wax rubbed into the sole, by far the most slippery shoes i've ever worn. The Janoskis skated exactly the same as any shoe I've ever purchased from Lakai or Emerica. Not better, not worse.

Personaly, I've never said that Emericas "skate better" I've only ever said that the argument that Adidas, Nike etc are of a higher quality is bullshit.

Suit Up, I tend to agree with you about the quality argument (actually most of your argument(s) really) but I think in the beginning Nike and Adidas DID have better quality than what was currently around in the "core" market. Nike, I actually have no clue about because I never have/ never will purchase any of their shoes but Adidas quality for their first few years was amazing.
Having said that, even the biggest Nike head will tell you that at some point the quality in their shoes (specifically dunks) dropped and all Adidas really does these days is release 50 different colors of the matchcourt every season and ignore their riders that could actually produce good shoes (i.e. Silas). Anyway, from here on in it's only "core" skate shoe brands for me dog

[ungzilla]

splap

splap

[Swithflip]

The quality argument is pretty weak. I never skated in a big shoe company like nike or Adidas better then emericas or Lakai. Janoski is good but his heel escapes. Best Adidas shoe is ease, pretty good on the grip.

[Gray Imp Sausage Metal]

The sesla is not a skateshoe.

it isn't? looks like it holds up fine

[Betaphenylethylalamine]

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The sesla is not a skateshoe.

[close]

it isn't? looks like it holds up fine

They say it is, but whatever. Its not built for skating. It's paper thin upper with comfy sole.

They still look cool as fuck though. I own em but I'm not skating them

[colt cannon lunchbox]

This brings me back to my old thread where we discussed whether it was better for me to buy lakai and emerica's from CCS or nike's from my local.

My local only stocks nike, converse, adidas, and vans (besides maybe a few old soletech colourways)


Regardless on the core vs corporate argument, as Gay Imp said, the companies simply make boring ass shoes, and bring nothing new to the table. Es has new shoes coming out almost every season. Lakai is the same. Meanwhile, Cyrus Bennett picks a few colours for a dunk.

[Swithflip]

Ishod only has a dunk collorway. Its shame.

[georgethecat]

The quality argument is pretty weak. I never skated in a big shoe company like nike or Adidas better then emericas or Lakai. Janoski is good but his heel escapes. Best Adidas shoe is ease, pretty good on the grip.

I agree with your first sentence. I have no idea what the other three mean.

[ArtVandelay]

 The identity of Emerica is interwoven with Andrew Reynolds. He defines the company. I couldn't imagine him anywhere else, and couldn't imagine Emerica being able to carry on with out him. Maybe that's mostly because I don't want to. Change is hard! If this is true I'll be crying to his part in stay gold for the next year.

[coneklr]

The identity of Emerica is interwoven with Andrew Reynolds. He defines the company. I couldn't imagine him anywhere else, and couldn't imagine Emerica being able to carry on with out him. Maybe that's mostly because I don't want to. Change is hard! If this is true I'll be crying to his part in stay gold for the next year.

I feel like this could also be said for Altamont and when he seemed to be less a part of it is when it started going to shit for me ( definitely after they dropped Herman's sig jean and added fucking overalls  )

[coneklr]

Also sorry I went off topic ... I tried to care about the shoe debate for a while years ago, but honestly the reasons I liked emerica back in the day were the same reasons I liked Adidas more recently ... the team, vibe and aesthetics.  While I don't like a lot of the Adidas shoes out today and def not the clothes, I really like a few of their shoes and I really like the team and vibe they have ( same with NB although I haven't found a shoe from them that fits me yet ) where as I can't get down with Nike's big ass undefined team, Emerica's new feel ( outside of Drew, Spanky, Romero, and Hsu I'm not a fan at all ) I mean can anyone tell me Lakai feels like an actual team anymore, Supra has always been meh and es dropped a killer team and now has skaters just repping them? I feel like they all just want our money, even the skater owned companies ( if there even are any anymore ).  If you want to keep up this fight, I'd say State or Proper are really the only two choices that seem valid and buying them from your local would be the biggest difference you could make in supporting skaters!  Just this guys .02

[Ghost Face]

I'm pretty sure that if there was problems at SoleTech that they'd drop all the non-skate teams first (surf/BMX) of Etnies etc. Maybe it's just an emerica/Es thing but Etnies won't go anywhere anytime soon.

[GershonSweaty]

I'm pretty sure that if there was problems at SoleTech that they'd drop all the non-skate teams first (surf/BMX) of Etnies etc. Maybe it's just an emerica/Es thing but Etnies won't go anywhere anytime soon.

You would hope so.

After a point a companies bottom line becomes so important that generating revenue is a necessity. Has anyone considered sole tech can’t afford Reynolds anymore ? After Sheckler (& maybe Jolsin is he still not pro?) The boss is probably the highest paid rider.
Could he have asked for money, been given more pro models (re structuring old styles) to generate more margin for him ? It’s probably not worked as expected. So he’s renegotiated it’s not been successful and he’s left ?

If after X amount of years in a job if you’re not getting a pay rise you do something about it.

tldr; Reynolds wanted more money or creativity so he left wasn’t pushed.

[other2]

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I'm pretty sure that if there was problems at SoleTech that they'd drop all the non-skate teams first (surf/BMX) of Etnies etc. Maybe it's just an emerica/Es thing but Etnies won't go anywhere anytime soon.

[close]

You would hope so.

After a point a companies bottom line becomes so important that generating revenue is a necessity. Has anyone considered sole tech can’t afford Reynolds anymore ? After Sheckler (& maybe Jolsin is he still not pro?) The boss is probably the highest paid rider.
Could he have asked for money, been given more pro models (re structuring old styles) to generate more margin for him ? It’s probably not worked as expected. So he’s renegotiated it’s not been successful and he’s left ?

If after X amount of years in a job if you’re not getting a pay rise you do something about it.

tldr; Reynolds wanted more money or creativity so he left wasn’t pushed.

Exact thing happened with Koston and es’

[rejectpaul]

i would suck if reynolds left Emerica and would take a long time to get used to seeing him in Adidas (or anything other than Emericas) but saying that, he would be at a better place ($ wise) and it would potentially free up alot of $ at Emerica, to add new riders (Wimer is long overdue) more travel expenses and so forth.
They'd still have a stacked team too, who could all receive a payrise. Leo, Hsu, Spanly, Figgy, Provost, Leabres, Dickson, the euro dudes and young ams.
they should put Emerica in the van on KOTR

[Atiba Applebum]

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I'm pretty sure that if there was problems at SoleTech that they'd drop all the non-skate teams first (surf/BMX) of Etnies etc. Maybe it's just an emerica/Es thing but Etnies won't go anywhere anytime soon.

[close]

You would hope so.

After a point a companies bottom line becomes so important that generating revenue is a necessity. Has anyone considered sole tech can’t afford Reynolds anymore ? After Sheckler (& maybe Jolsin is he still not pro?) The boss is probably the highest paid rider.
Could he have asked for money, been given more pro models (re structuring old styles) to generate more margin for him ? It’s probably not worked as expected. So he’s renegotiated it’s not been successful and he’s left ?

If after X amount of years in a job if you’re not getting a pay rise you do something about it.

tldr; Reynolds wanted more money or creativity so he left wasn’t pushed.

[close]

Exact thing happened with Koston and es’

I don’t think it’s a money thing with Reynolds.  Hasn’t he talked about how he specifically takes the same paycheck as everyone else?   Maybe that was just Baker

[GershonSweaty]

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I'm pretty sure that if there was problems at SoleTech that they'd drop all the non-skate teams first (surf/BMX) of Etnies etc. Maybe it's just an emerica/Es thing but Etnies won't go anywhere anytime soon.

[close]

You would hope so.

After a point a companies bottom line becomes so important that generating revenue is a necessity. Has anyone considered sole tech can’t afford Reynolds anymore ? After Sheckler (& maybe Jolsin is he still not pro?) The boss is probably the highest paid rider.
Could he have asked for money, been given more pro models (re structuring old styles) to generate more margin for him ? It’s probably not worked as expected. So he’s renegotiated it’s not been successful and he’s left ?

If after X amount of years in a job if you’re not getting a pay rise you do something about it.

tldr; Reynolds wanted more money or creativity so he left wasn’t pushed.

[close]

Exact thing happened with Koston and es’

[close]

I don’t think it’s a money thing with Reynolds.  Hasn’t he talked about how he specifically takes the same paycheck as everyone else?   Maybe that was just Baker

I reckon that’s Just Baker, keeping in mind he’s probably a share holder of bakerboys dist so will get an employee salary and a quarterly or yearly dividend.

I agree that the perception of Reynolds is he is forthright and unlikely to be cut throat about money but conversely he is a business man he is a father. It is believable that he may intended to reinvest a pay rise into bakerboys and or new projects and or securing his daughters future.

He’s lived the life of a pro skater if his daughter takes that route maybe he’s making sure she has a cushion if doesn’t work out for her. All things are possible and people change their morals for their children in an instant.

[Lame_Nigga]

I honestly don't think Emerica is in as much trouble as it may seem. Reynolds is pushing 40, he probably knows his legacy with Emerica is set and by going towards a more secure company he can guarantee his retirement. With him leaving that gives them more money to create new shoes or bring on someone new. Or maybe he's doing what Chris Cole did and knows the ship is sinking and is into Adidas's technology

There's 11 (if Kader actually is off just 10) people on the team which is a healthy size, and 5 of them (Romero, Provost, Fig, Reynolds, Hsu) have their own shoes. If they're going through trouble I think we'd see some people drop off or leave

[johnblaze]

don’t ever ask us about our feelings again. this is a place for real men to discuss skateboarding not the view with whoopi goldberg and sharon osbourne.

[Badmeaningood]

They say it is, but whatever. Its not built for skating. It's paper thin upper with comfy sole.

They still look cool as fuck though. I own em but I'm not skating them

I skated in mine for an entire year. That said, they are not nice to skate in. Took months to break in properly.

[redux]

My imagination tells me Reynolds is using his outside ventures (abc, villager, etc.) to create the financial cushion. He comes across as being very committed to staying core so I have a hard time seeing him leaving emerica unless sole tech makes cuts or he chooses to walk away to preserve someone else's spot there. But, I'm an idiot and don't know shit.

[MaitlandPrivado]

i would suck if reynolds left Emerica and would take a long time to get used to seeing him in Adidas (or anything other than Emericas) but saying that, he would be at a better place ($ wise) and it would potentially free up alot of $ at Emerica, to add new riders (Wimer is long overdue) more travel expenses and so forth.
They'd still have a stacked team too, who could all receive a payrise. Leo, Hsu, Spanly, Figgy, Provost, Leabres, Dickson, the euro dudes and young ams.
they should put Emerica in the van on KOTR

Oh you would, would you?

[VHS ERA]

I grew up skating Reynolds Emerica and it would def be weird to see an Emerica video with no Reynolds, but I’m not mad at it. I skate adidas now too. Tbh the sneakerhead in me would be first to line to cop a Reynolds adidas or a Nike SB Ellington

[Garth Marenghi]

Tbh the sneakerhead in me would be first to line to cop a Reynolds adidas or a Nike SB Ellington

Just threw up in my mouth a little.