Louie Lopez #2.

Consolidated was right.

The general talk in skateboarding lately has been of the team cuts at Converse. I guess the brand isn't selling as many shoes as they used to in the heyday of the Cherry era and parent company Nike is looking to make some adjustments to help the bottom line. It sucks for some of the riders who aren't the bigger names because they probably won't be able to land another shoe sponsor simply because the money isn't out there.

It's strange that this spot hasn't changed much since Steve Nesser ollied it back in 2006. I wonder what the place is?

Thrasher - July 2021 Volume 42 Number 7

Adidas.

It's no wonder the big time shoe companies found it hard to gain traction in skateboarding in the 1990s. They were simply trying too hard to be hip and followed many of the awkward alternative advertising trends of the era. It's also worth noting that DC and éS were inspired by the aesthetics of the bigger shoe brands and pulled it off much better than who they were inspired by.

It's one more week of random stuff and then I've got a couple features ready to go. I wanted to get the early days of Adidas out of the way since it was on my mind.

Tongue: Thrasher - March 1997 Volume 17 Number 3

Positrak: Thrasher - October 1996 Volume 16 Number 10

Fire: Thrasher - September 1996 Volume 16 Number 9

Rob Welsh #11.

Neon Optical Art.

Rob preserves his graphics with a frontside bluntslide. He's riding an Aesthetics board and would turn pro for them later on in 1999. This has to be one of the more disorienting and vibrant Venture ads ever.

Vert Is Dead is on a late summer break.

I'm taking next week off from this thing. There's a chance I might take two weeks off. I'll see how it goes. I've found a few interesting items that I have to put together. It feels like I never have time for stuff any more.

I'm still looking for the Adidas Norton ad with Paulo Diaz. It was a sequence of him doing a manual trick in a garage or warehouse setting. The shoes were available from Sartorius in 1995, which corresponds to the release date I found. I've checked most of the Transworlds and Thrashers from 1994 to 1997 and haven't found anything. I'm wondering if it ran in a different mag or even a non-skating mag? I'm going to put this one on the back burner because it is driving me crazy. I don't really like Adidas so I'm not sure what my motivation is to find it beyond proving that it exists. I did find a couple of other Adidas ads. If you think Nike had an awkward initial foray into skateboarding, Adidas struck out swinging on three straight pitches.

There's been rain and early sunsets so skateboarding has been lackluster lately. I did check out the new park on the Seneca Nation's Reservation. It's a little Grindline creation with some ledges, a tiny hip, quarter pipes, and a bowled wall type of obstacle. The place is really fun and has me stoked on skateboarding again. Have a good weekend!

Slap - April 1999 Volume 8 Number 4

Skip Pronier #11.

Brickyard.

I've always been a fan of Skip after reading a couple of interviews with him in Thrasher and Transworld a very long time ago. He rode for the Black Label, Vans, Indy, and TSA Clothing.

The photo is by Dean Yoshihara.

Thrasher - June 1997 Volume 17 Number 6

Javier Mendizabal #8.

Barbed wire skies.

I gave Strongest of the Strange a rewatch a couple weeks ago. It's such a great video and hard to believe 21 years have passed since it was released. Javier has one of my favorite parts ever. He's living in France, painting, and surfing these days after being pro for Cliché. I never knew that Javier was getting some boards from Stereo.

The photo is credited to Palo. I'm not sure on a full name.

Slap - November 1999 Volume 8 Number 7

Brad Hayes #2.

Here for a good time, not a long time.

Good Times Operation (GTO) was a clothing company from San Diego that was around in 1995. The team was Marc Johnson, Brad Hayes, and Tony Tieu. Marc was often wearing their shirts at the time and that's what made me think of them. GTO also had a women's line called Ethyl. Brad rode for Acme, Origin, Volcom, and a couple other companies. According to the quote section in Big Brother once, his sponsor me tape was heavy.

Transworld - November 1995 Volume 13 Number 11

Josh Kalis #16.

Three Stripes.

The early days of Adidas sponsoring skaters recently came up on the Mostly Skateboarding podcast. I'm inclined to believe Josh was on Adidas for a hot minute by virtue of being in an ad for them. He was wearing shell toes on the cover of the November 1995 issue of Transworld, too. Julien Stranger is also wearing these shoes in an Anti-Hero ad from February of 1996 so Adidas must've been making some effort to get into skateboarding. Did Josh ever discuss the sponsorship? I don't recall him doing so, but he does give a lot of interviews so I could've easily missed it. I wonder if this was maybe a one-off advertising project? It's an interesting little detour before Josh would find his home at DC Shoes. It would take more than a few years before Adidas finally staked out their space in the skateboard footwear marketplace.

Transworld - June 1996 Volume 14 Number 6