“I hate when non-skaters wear skater shoes” — every skater that I’ve known since I started skating in 2006
It’s Fall 2006, I was in 7th grade and my dad was picking me up from school. In the last 2 months, I just started skateboarding because my friends at school all started skating. My sister at the time was in her 3rd year of high school and was doing her annual magazine sale. In previous years, I never asked for any subscription, but because I started skating that year, I wanted anything having to do with skating.
For some reason, I remember this moment clearly. I was coming out of the admin office and my friend’s brother who also skated was holding a skateboarding magazine, saying that I got a skateboarding magazine and that my Dad was in the parking lot. I was thrilled as I ran down the three concrete steps, onto the black top, past the safety guards, and to my dad’s car. (I didn’t know it at the time, but the magazine my friend’s brother was holding was mine.) When I realized this, I sprinted out of the car, back to the office to grab the magazine that my friend’s brother took from my Dad’s car with my Dad’s permission. (His mom worked at the school).
Later that night, I found myself looking at all the photos, the small highlights that they had, and reading articles here and there. This was the first time I’d ever look at editorial graphic design, but I wouldn’t learn what field this was until about 2 years ago in 2017. However, behind this story of my introduction to graphic design and advertising, let’s get to the main piece of this post: Fashion.
And no, I’m not going to be talking about this type of fashion. Respectable in another field, but still irks me sometimes when a skateboard is used just as a prop on the runway.
We’ll be talking about this type of fashion.
But before we dive into very specifics. Today, I want to talk about the commercialization of skateboarding and fashion through big companies by shoes (a.k.a Nike and Adidas).
Now I’m writing this as a sociologist. I went to school for sociology. Trying to do this in the most unbiased fashion based on empirical research meaning my own experiences. (I’m also writing this while I’m wearing the recent collaboration of the Nike SB x NBA Bruin in bubblegum)
But all points aside, let’s go back to the skateboarding magazine that I had to retrieve from my friend’s brother. Alongside that magazine was a smaller magazine that was similar to Transworld, but instead of articles, it was product. It was the CCS mail order catalog.
Now, I loved looking at these catalogs because I got to look at all the new products. I remember I would sit and just circle certain products that I wanted. Now, remember, this is 2007. Baker 3 had just dropped about 2 years ago and this was when it was core brands or die, the hardest trick possible was either a bs 360 kickflip or caballerial flip and only a handful of people could do either of them and one person who could do both was Chris Cole. Now every 12 year old can do them without hesitation.
The top brands (shoes) at the time and some of them still are today because they are core brands were Emerica, Lakai, Etnies, Supra, DC, Adio, and Vans. I’m missing a few because it’s been a minute, but the brands that were not power house brands in skateboarding at the time, were Nike and Adidas.
A large part of this has to do with marketing and mass buy in. In 2007, there was a handful of riders on Nike Sb such as Prod and Lewis Marnell (RIP). In a video with Eric Koston, he blatantly points out how the first runs Nike had with skateboarding were a dub. However, now he’s been riding with Nike for the past 10 years. Anything that looked like a running shoe or wasn’t from a core brand wasn’t worn during these times. But now, on instagram, kids are skating whatever shoe that they want which means Air Force Ones. There’s even a hashtag that says #skateanyshoe (popularized by @mellamocurtiss_). While I can go on and on about how much fashion has changed in the last 10 years and how it’s going towards a more gender neutral way of fashion (hooray), today we’re talking about the commercialization of skateboarding in fashion.
Like I said earlier, Nike Sb wasn’t doing so well in the early and late 2000s, but today, they are probably the biggest sponsor in skateboarding. As the late Dylan Rieder said, he’s grateful for all the things that these companies are doing for skateboarding, but right now more than ever do we need to support skate companies. If only it was that simple. A main reason Nike SB has become so big is because of one shoe and because of its mass appeal — The Nike SB Janoski.
Ok, quick history lesson on who Stefan Janoski is. He’s a pro skateboarder from Vacaville, CA. (Where the outlets are if you didn’t know). He’s pro for Habitat and if you didn’t want his trick tip on 360 flips in Transworld’s Show Me the Way, you don’t know where the cocoa puffs are and how mind blowing it was for him to pop a tre flip in a grocery store was at the time (and tbh if you’re wearing his shoes and you don’t know him, do me a favor and at least watch the video below). You’ll see why this guy’s style matches the shoe.
At the time, the trend was preppy. I’ll credit Vampire Weekend for re-popularizing the boat shoe and the fact that I went to a college preparatory with a lot of upper and middle class white boys. (Literally it was an all boy school and I as a brown boy got in on academic scholarship). Anywho, when the Janoski’s dropped, the fact that the silhouette resembled the boat shoe and even had the special laces for it, made these shoes very popular. In addition, they’re really good skate shoes as vetted by Shane O’neil and Luan Oliveira to name a few pros.
For the longest time, these shoes were only available to skaters. I still remember them dropping and I remember I got them through another mail order catalog. (Sorry CCS!) I still have them too tucked away in a box in California. However, I will say though when Nike Sb first came out with these, you could only buy them in finer skate shops and online which meant no Zumiez. I remember the February of my Junior year in High school, a friend asked me where I got my shoes. I told him, they’re for skaters only. That was the one thing that made Nike SB really cool because you only knew where to buy them if you got the mail order catalogs.
However, nothing lasts forever. Eventually, Nike SB made its way to the masses through Zumiez. Once again, I had to look around and say, dam, these non skaters are wearing shoes made for skateboarding. Even though I knew Nike was a bigger brand than the core brands, the Janoski’s are a pro shoe made for skating. The fact that there was a mass buy in for these shoes by letting them be sold at Zumiez low key meant the death of skateboarding as something for the misunderstood kid in middle school.
But a bigger reason Nike was able to get to where they are in skateboarding is money. I’m not saying that they didn’t have humble beginnings. As a cross country runner in high school and college who idolized Steve Prefontaine, I understand that Nike, named after the goddess of Victory by Bill Bowerman, comes from a modest background. But like the waffle soles that Bowerman would make for his runners, it makes sense that if you have the technology, you can make better products and get more people to back your brand. And frankly, Nike has better technology than most core brands. If you look at Tinker Hatfield’s early designs for the Nike Vapor Max, they had a literal air bag in their shoes. As a skateboarder, you would want an airbag in your shoes to protect your feet from heel bruise. Today you can see the technology from other sports have been brought into skateboarding. Many skaters today can be seen wearing Nikes because the technology is better and the shoes last longer for your buck.
When we go to the pro and am rankings though, Nike can also throw money to sponsor almost anyone. And when you’re a skateboarder who barely makes enough for rent and probably lives in their car (check Josiah Gatlyn’s experience), having some type of paycheck that allows you to live and even eat sounds pretty nice. Core brands don’t have that backing unfortunately and can’t sponsor everyone even though they are the original brands that came from skateboarding instead of buying their way in. A good example would be Vans in this case. While Vans was a boat shoe in the 1960s, because they were grippy, they were adopted by skateboarding rather than Nike who has bought their way in.
As you can see, I have a love hate relationship for Nike. From a graphic designer perspective, they kill it. From an ethical standpoint, take a look at team sweat and also take a look at their backing of Colin Kapernick.
Either way you look at it, Nike Sb has done a lot of good for skateboarding, but there’s a few things here and there that you could hate Nike for. At the end of the day, they do make really good products.
