Industry

Hello skate shoe fans. Well it’s 2010 and it’s been about 6 months since we’ve posted to sdK  Our day jobs have kept us a bit too busy to keep the site up2date, and unfortunately that doesn’t look like it’s going to change much in the near future.

We’ve been trying to use Twitter to post the odd interesting update from the skate shoe world, but it doesn’t really allow us to cover anything in-depth and we’re usually just posting links or re-tweets to stuff…but hey! It’s better than nothing, right?!?

Anyhow, here’s wishing you a happy and healthy 2010. Even if we update sdK once a year, we’re never shutting it down and we’ll always try to be the best source for skate shoe news on the web. We’ll do our best to to keep the Tweets and the occasional posts coming in 2010.

Thanks for reading.

Since Twitter seems to be nearing its apex in the mainstream media, why not? Here’s the current round-up (with more added daily):

Brands
Supra – @suprashoes
DVS – @dvsshoecompany
Ipath – @IPATHfootwear
éS – @eSFootwear
Globe Shoes – @GLOBEskate
DC Shoes – @dcskateboarding
Emerica – @emerica_skate
Etnies – @etnieskate
Osiris – @OsirisSkate

Skaters
Tony Hawk – @tonyhawk
Jereme Rogers – @jeremerogers
Shaun White – @Shaun_White
Rob Dyrdek – @robdyrdek
Brandon Biebel – @BBiebel
Mike-Mo Capaldi – @Mikemo327
Ryan Gallant – @ryangallant420
Stevie Williams – @dgkstevie
Keith Hufnagel – @hufone
Steve Berra – @steve_berra
Terry Kennedy – @terrykennedyfs

And of course, don’t forget to follow us @sdkicks either!

Many people reading this will be growing up in a world where Nike SB is the first name they think of when it comes to skate footwear. Many others however, will be amazed that we live in such a world…

This is the first in a two-part editorial post. Part 1 focuses on Nike SB’s rise to the top, and Part 2 will focus on what the crop of other skate shoe brands can do to compete with the SB juggernaut.

First, a few qualifying statements. This editorial isn’t full of new and revolutionary ideas. Several articles have been written on the subject, most notably in TWBiz and the excellent book Made for Skate. My attempt is to collate and color with my own thoughts on how the worlds largest sporting goods company was finally able to not only crack the exclusive skate shoe market, but rise to the very top in a few very short years.

With that out of the way, let’s examine some truths…

• For many pure skate shop owners, SB’s have become their best selling SKU. Shop buyers are lining up to buy whatever Nike puts out, and are often placing orders for Nike’s when they used to order Vans, Etnies, etc. (arguably the brands that kept them alive or got them going during the 80/90′s depending on how long they’ve been around)
• This is Nike’s 3rd or 4th attempt (depending on how you count) at entering the skate shoe market. imagine that as 3 or 4 failed independent start-ups. That’s a lot of $$$$ down the drain. They really wanted to make this thing work.
• Nike’s ultimate breakthrough into the skate footwear market is an interesting case study in itself. The short version has 3 factors, 1). very controlled distribution. ie. they made the product seem very exclusive and made a huge effort to only get them into what they regarded as “key accounts”. 2). The coincidental timing of the Dunk regaining popularity combined with the subsequent release of the “SB Dunk”, and 3). The fact they actually put together a decent team and creative marketing around it. Those 3 things laid the groundwork for Nike SB’s dominating run in skateboarding footwear.
• They have more experience and greater access to the materials and factories used in shoe manufacturing than anyone else in the entire sporting goods industry (note that I didn’t say “skate industry”). The general consensus is that their products are superior because of this fact (a fact I still think is very debatable).
• They own both Hurley and Converse. As you may have read on the site, they’re also rumored to being going after DC which is currently owned by Quicksilver. They clearly see the “action sports” market continuing to grow and are pretty clear that they want in for the long haul.
• If Nike didn’t sell another skate shoe after today, it wouldn’t matter one bit to their bottom line

Credibility

Credibility, is an interesting thing. If there’s one thing Nike SB still struggles with, it’s legitimate credibility among the core skateboard culture. Cynics will say that skateboarding the corporation took over skateboarding the culture a long time ago, but others (including this author) will beg to disagree.

The credibility case is simple to explain. Nike is a large multinational corporation. It isn’t owned or founded by skateboarders. It has no roots in skateboarding or even action sports culture, and as mentioned above it only recently started making specific skate footwear. So the skeptics argument continues…Nike is a public company that needs to produce good financial results every quarter to keep The Street and its shareholders happy. It needs to show that it is still growing and that it understands the major trends in the sporting goods industry. Therefore Nike simply see’s its involvement in the skateboarding/action sports world as a sound business decision. A strategic play if you will, and nothing more. If skateboarding/action sports weren’t growing, weren’t icons of pop-culture, and if Dew Tours and X-Games didn’t exist, they wouldn’t be here and they wouldn’t give a shit about this market. Sound about right? Well, I’m sure a few folks might disagree, and will probably cite the talent that have been brought in to run Nike SB up in Beaverton. Sure they get their checks from the fruits of selling many many Jordans and Manning jerseys, but they’re trying to build something real in skateboarding, something that will last, and something that ultimately has some longevity and, of course credibility.

Only time will tell whether the skeptics or the disciples are correct, but regardless what we know today is that SB have become very very successful.

Nike SB isn’t alone however when it comes to facing credibility issues. As an example, Vans is now owned by VF, a North Carolina based conglomerate that also owns Wrangler, Lee Jeans, The North Face, Jansport, Eastpak, and Nautica to name a few. VF corp did just over $7 billion in revenue last year, compared to Nike’s $18.6. Compare that to Quicksilver’s $2.2 billion which includes their core brands, plus the ski/snowboard divisions, and I’m sure DC’s revenue share is less than half of the total. Either way you slice it, VF is big, even next to Nike. Yes, Vans is still based in Cypress, but arguably the oldest of the “old skool” are part of very large company now and you better believe that the folks in NC are watching over every move and take up most of the seats at the board.

So maybe credibility isn’t such a big deal after all. If a company that also manufactures Lee Jeans can sell thousands of skate shoes every year and hold a ton of respect while doing so, then the biggest sporting goods brand in the world should have no trouble holding a legit position in the market. If we agree that’s the case, then what’s left for the rest of the skate shoe brands??? Well it turns out, a lot. Tune in to part 2 to find out what exactly.

Twitter this, Twitter that…well now you can get all your skate shoe info here (or from the handy sidebar widget):

http://twitter.com/sdKicks

Rest assured, we won’t be broadcasting what we had for breakfast or which shampoo we just switched too. We’ll try and tweet (I think that’s what you say) interesting stuff the didn’t make it to the blog for whatever reason (small release, mildly unrelated to skate, we just didn’t have time, etc.). Enjoy!

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