Support Your Local Skate Shop

It used to be easy to spot one of your own fellow skaters no matter where you were in the world. It used to be as easy as checking out what shoes they were wearing and you knew instantly if you were in the presences of your own kind. The main reason for this is because back then when you actually fashioned yourself as a skateboarder, you actually were a skateboarder. Nowadays I see posers as far as the eye can see, the general consumer market is saturated with skateboard products. Just take a stroll through your local mall and you will see that everybody wants a piece of the “Xtreme” pie. I was in Walmart last night and walked by a display of Tony Hawk doing a hand plant in the name of teen vitamins?

The whole thing really distanced me from skateboarding for awhile as I watched skateboarding trends and fashion be raped by the masses. I just find it funny that the same jock itch Idiots that used to shout “Skate or Die Dude” as they drove by in their Bitchin Camero’s are now sporting Hurley shirts and Etnies skate shoes. In my opinion skateboarding has been soldout and watered down leaving the workhorse of the skateboarding industry in the dust, your friendly nighboorhood skate shop.

Sadly there is no stopping the wheels of progress and I like a good deal just as much as the next guy and we have all sold out skateboarding to some extent but at some point you have to say enough is enough. The bottom line is SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SKATE SHOP! If your buying your gear online make sure it’s skater owned and operated like 360skate.com or try driving past the mall and visit your local skate shop, I mean there’s a novel idea, buy your skate stuff from a skate shop because thats where you’ll find the “real deal” and real people.

What most people don’t realize is that most skateboard companies will only deal with local skate shops or at the very least grant them access to products way before they will be released to the mall rats. Chances are the people that work at your local skkate shop actually skate and have either used the products your interested in or know someone who has. They are gonna know what’s hot and what’s not, what is crap and what is worth spending your hard earned cash on.

I came across this press release about Foot Locker trying to get their “foot” in the skateboard industries door.

Foot Locker Inc. said it will buy skateboard-apparel business CCS from Delia’s Inc. for $102 million in cash, as the sportswear retailer tries to capture more younger customers.

The skateboarding-inspired apparel market has been a bright spot as consumer spending dwindles in segments like basketball shoes. CCS sells products such as skateboard shoes, apparel and accessories — from brands including Volcom, Nike and DC Shoes — directly to consumers through catalogs and the Internet. The company expects to generate $80 million in sales by 2009.

Retailers like Foot Locker have come under increased pressure to adapt to teenagers’ shifting tastes, which have migrated into action sports like skateboarding and BMX bike riding. In August, footwear sales in both basketball and action sports categories were roughly the same, with action sports sales growing 30% to $300 million, according to SportsScanInfo, a market research group.

“We believe that expanding our offerings in the skateboard category will allow us to broaden our appeal to the teenaged male, providing an exciting growth opportunity for our company,” said Matthew D. Serra, the chairman and chief executive of Foot Locker, in a press release Monday.

The deal will allow Foot Locker’s “retail operations to have greater access to hot-selling skate products that have limited availability at some of the firm’s brick-and-mortar formats,” John Shanley of Susquehanna Financial Group wrote in a research note Monday. However, the firm remains “cautious on Foot Locker’s near-term sales and earnings prospects given the current macroeconomic environment.”

Photo Courtesy of redbullskateboarding.com

In an ongoing quest to discover new talent, the Red Bull TenStep will host its next contest in downtown Boise (ID) on September 27, 2008, behind Mack and Charlies. This will be a one-day event with an open qualifier in the afternoon and the finals that evening. Schedule of events as follows:

Registration: 12:00p-1:00p
No entry fee required. You must sign a waiver to participate. Space limited. Once registered, you must show proficiency on a flat bar before you will be allowed to enter the qualifier. If you are travelling and would like to reserve a space in the qualifier, contact shelly.williams@us.redbull.com or contact #2@FORB.com.

If you are under 18, a parent/guardian must sign for you. If a parent/guardian is not able to attend, you must download a waiver (attached here) and have your parent/guardian sign ahead of time. Bring your signed waiver to the event site during registration and have your parent/guardian available for a confirmation phone call during this time. No exceptions.

Open Qualifier: 1:30p-3:30p
Qualification will be a rolling process and we will take the first/best 16 skaters to show proficiency and variety. Once you have qualified you do not need to continue skating although the feature will remain open to all registered participants for the scheduled period.

Main Event: 7:00p-8:30p
Top 16 skaters compete for a $1500 prize purse and local bragging rights. Judging will take into account difficulty and variety with a loose format. We will narrow the field at the midway point to insure that only the best of the best have access to the feature through the end of the session.

Click Here to Read More from www.redbullskateboarding.com

EA Games Skate 2 Screenshot

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – September 11, 2008 – Compete for stance supremacy! Black Box, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq: ERTS), announced today that it will be partnering with leading global action sports footwear and apparel brand, etnies, to bring their epic Goofy vs. Regular (GvR) skateboarding contest to the videogame world. Gamers will lead a team of goofy foot or regular foot pros as they pit the best skateboarders against each other in the ultimate team competition.

“The Skate franchise has always been committed to showcasing the spirit and soul of skateboard culture,” said Executive Producer, Scott Blackwood. “The etnies GvR competition celebrates the fun, creativity and talent in skateboarding today. Featuring the event as one of the main competitions in Skate 2 felt like a natural integration and a perfect fit.”

Skate 2 picks up five years after the original Skate, a period marred by an unspeakable disaster that left San Vanelona in ruins. Within that time, Mongocorp rebuilt the city but their zealous protection of private property has put a damper on the once thriving skate population. Equipped with double the bag of tricks, gamers are tasked to rebuild their career and revive the New San Vanelona skate scene. With their ability to get off-board to move objects around and with help from a crew of locals, players will embark on a mission to take back the city, one spot at a time. Along the way, they’ll need to get coverage, earn sponsorships, own challenges and enter contests, including a coveted invite to etnies GvR competition.

“I was stoked when EA committed to putting our etnies Goofy vs. Regular event in their new game! GvR is one the best skate contests of the year and has created some of the most hype and friction over the past 5 years,” said Don Brown senior vice president of marketing for Sole Technology and goofy footed skateboarder. “The original Skate was incredibly popular, so we’re really proud to be a part of Skate 2.”

etnies will also be partnering with Skate 2 on an exclusive shoe that will hit an etnies preferred retailer in the United States when the game ships in 2009.

Developed by Black Box in Vancouver, British Columbia, Skate 2 ups the ante in delivering an authentic skateboarding experience with all-new tricks that allow gamers to truly skate it their way – on and off the board.

Skate 2 will be released for the PlayStation®3 system and the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system in early 2009. The game has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

Players who cannot wait until 2009, can pick up Skate It for the Wii^TM this Fall.

For more about Skate 2, visit http://www.skate.ea.com/

Redwood City, CA – August 27, 2008 – Zazzle, (www.Zazzle.com), the only on-demand retail platform for consumers and major brands, today announced the launch of custom skateboards. Developed in collaboration with the Zazzle engineering team and Andy Howell, former pro skateboarder and founder of ARTSPROJEKT, a unit of Zazzle, custom skateboards will be produced within 24 hours of ordering, a first for the industry.

Zazzle worked with Howell to develop the skateboard technology platform, and partnered with the best in the business to offer a unique and comprehensive product offering. Skateboard decks are seven-ply North American maple and Zazzle’s patent-pending manufacturing process is the first to utilize new printing technologies for one-off custom skateboard decks, producing a beautifully vibrant image.

Consumers are able to choose from a wide variety of pre-designed decks by Zazzle’s contributor community and content partners at www.zazzle.com/skateboards, or design skateboards from scratch at www.zazzle.com/custom/skateboards, by uploading their own art, images and text to create the board they desire, instantly. The consumer experience to create-your-own custom skateboard or choose from an extensive array of pre-designed skateboard templates is intuitive, and products are viewable in real time, allowing consumers to view all elements of the skateboard as they design.

About Zazzle
Infinite and Instant, Zazzle is the only, on-demand retail platform for consumers and major brands, offering billions of retail quality, one-of-a-kind products shipped within 24 hours. Offering the largest library of customizable digital images from world-class brands, Zazzle enables content owners to unlock their entire libraries of content, making it available for purchase and customization by consumers. Through Zazzle’s innovative on-demand retail and technology platform, users can instantly create, customize to fit their personal style, purchase and sell a near infinite array of products online. The company launched in 2005 and is based in Redwood City, California. For more information, www.Zazzle.com.

Workers and lurkers skating the mini ramp at USS Skate on International Drive in Orlando.