Phil Shao #16.

Dump Truck.

Phil takes flight at Fort Miley. The photo was probably taken around the same time as his Thrasher cover where he grinded the top bar. It's not the same session because he's wearing a white shirt and riding a board with black wheels on the cover. This Emerica ad could almost double as a Sheep ad. It's wild to think Sole Tech had enough gas in the tank to briefly field four different shoes lines in skateboarding in the late 1990s.

Thrasher - September 1996 Volume 16 Number 9

Tim Brauch #21.

Hiding in the shadows.

Tim's ad would be the first Emerica ad that looked like an Emerica ad with the new company name. I think he's doing a mute air of some sort over a hip in the photo. Tim was moved back to the Etnies roster by December of 1997. I went with another week of Emerica because it completes the story of the changeover and established what the company would be going forward. Plus there are some cool skaters in the ads.

Thrasher - August 1996 Volume 16 Number 8

Rune Glifberg #9.

The dawn of Emerica.

This is the first formal Emerica ad from 30 years ago. It looks like they moved the whole Etnies squad over to the new brand. Etnies was then put on the back burner until the later 1990s since they were also focusing on the all-star team at éS. There are a few long forgotten names on the list. The team didn't stay this big for long as many of the riders left for other shoe companies like Axion, DC, Globe, Osiris, and Vans.

I didn't really have much going on this week. I skateboarded some, but I think I'm worn out and need a bit of a break. Hope everybody has a good weekend.

Thrasher - July 1996 Volume 16 Number 7

Gershon Mosley #8.

Automation avoidance.

GMOS was wrecking spots for a good chunk of the 1990s. He was pushing what you could do with switch stance skateboarding as well as skating mini ramps. He had previously ridden for Powell and Human before joining the A-Team in the fall of 1997. This is essentially an Emerica ad masquerading as an Etnies ad.

Thrasher - June 1996 Volume 16 Number 6

Jamie Thomas #19.

Nice receptionist.

This ad is an outlier in the changeover from Etnies to Emerica. Jamie's trick and headband basically dictated a vintage 1970s look. The 50-50 was in Welcome To Hell, which premiered right about the same time as the mag hit the newsstands. I imagine they wanted a last call for their old style of design before starting the new project. Or maybe not, as they did use something somewhat similar for the debut of Emerica. I like everything about this one.

Thrasher - May 1996 Volume 16 Number 5

Dan Drehobl #37.

Decay of modern society.

It's neat to see how Etnies developed the aesthetic for Emerica in their last couple ads under the old name. Yogi Proctor was the graphic designer and he had a vision for what the artwork should be. Emerica has more or less stayed consistent with this look over the decades. Obviously there will be changes as time passes, but they haven't strayed too far from the original concepts.

I don't associate Dan with Etnies as much as I do with Emerica. This must've been his first ad for Etnies since I don't recall any others. He had his fair share of ads for Emerica in the later 1990s and early 2000s before he switched to Vans. It's also a little odd to see him wearing the Etnies shirt since he usually wears thrift store tees, plain shirts or button downs.

Thrasher - April 1996 Volume 16 Number 4

Chris Senn #15.

Etnies America.

I decided to take a look at the transformation of Etnies to Emerica for the next two weeks. The publicly visible part of the change happened in 1996 and moved along from month to month in the ads that ran in Thrasher. I'm sure there was more behind the scenes stuff that took longer, but the advertisements create an easy to follow chronological breakdown of what happened. I'm going by memory so things might end up a tad hazy. Anyway, this Etnies ad has the company listed as Etnies America. I'm considering it the starting point of the changeover.

Chris Senn is in peak SOTY form in this ad. His son Anakin makes a guest appearance. It's wild to think the kid would grow up to be a pro skateboarder like his dad.

Thrasher - March 1996 Volume 16 Number 3