Category: Features

The hype on éS shoes returning started last September when a Japanese trade show suddenly unveiled a booth full of Accel’s. Since then, much talk of the brand returning to the game was rife so it was inevitable that at some point skater-owned company Sole Tech had to spill some beans.

CEO and co-founder Pierre-André Senizergues clearly had a lot to get off his chest and chose this interview as his biggest priority of the entire launch.

Let’s rewind a bit, to before you put éS on ice and stuck her beautiful memory in a deep freeze. How heart-wrenching was it to finally go, “yeah, we got to do it”, what was the main reason behind it, and why resurrect her now?

It was a very difficult decision to make of course as we love éS.

What we decided to do was something that no other brand in skateboarding has ever done and create a new concept of a creative retreat. We may have even been the first brand of our size to ever to say “let’s take a break…take a breath of fresh air, reassess where skateboarding is going, and decide where do we want to go.” It was the toughest decision of my life, as I love éS so much, as do millions of skaters around the world. But, it really was the right thing to do.

With being on a creative retreat for almost 2 years, we have been constantly bombarded with love from éS fans to bring it back. We are still in creative retreat where we have been designing and creating, so we thought, why not show some of what we’ve been up to.

So where is skateboarding going?

That’s the big question for everyone and I don’t think anyone has the one right answer! What we do know is that from the skateboarders’ perspective things are moving faster than ever. And sometimes it seems faster than what the skate industry can keep up with. The market is trying to keep things moving in sameness, but the playing field has changed dramatically. Crucial to all presumptions must be to rethink, embrace and face change head on by doing things differently.

So where do you want to go?

We’re all skateboarders driven at Sole Tech, it’s in our blood to do what’s best for skateboarding. We’re still looking at éS as being in creative retreat mode. We’re curious to see the response from coming out with a few new éS styles. By dropping some amazing new products, we feel that it still allows us to keep things tight and figure out what to do next. No big plans, just wanting to start a conversation with our fellow skateboarders that love skateboarding in our community.

We see there’s no team in place on this re-launch. When will that come?

It’s been interesting to see how many people are asking who is on the team – the team side of things is one of the most exciting areas as there are so many amazing skateboarders around the world today. But, figuring out a team is way ahead of where we are actually at right now. Right now, we’re focusing on designing product, staying low key in our creative retreat and support skateboarders that support skate stores and their communities. We’re already getting hit up by a lot of top riders but we want to take our time and figure out the best decision for skateboarding.

Clearly then there’s no rush to bust down the doors with this launch. Even though people like us are chomping at the bit to bring it back, surely there’s a risk involved in thawing that ice too quickly right? The internet may suggest it wants the brand back but actually crossing the skate shop door and parting with cash is another level.

You’re right. We have listened to what our skateboarders are saying, but we’ll really see how serious the support is when it goes into the skate shop. But, what’s refreshing regardless is that we’re small again and we’re not bound by the creative restrictions you have as a large brand. We deliberately don’t want to grow to fast as we want to do this right. I truly believe that skateboarders want to get back into éS shoes. Some of the comments on social media have been amazing and we’re reading every single one of them. We love seeing how much people love what we love about éS and they are there to cheer us on as we start moving toward them.

Talk us through the technology behind these three new models.

Sole Technology is a specialist in building the best skate shoes and we’ve been doing it for the last 28 years. Our designers all skate and get it. They test the shoes themselves as well as with our biomechanics lab and I’ve tested them myself as I always do. The shoes we’re coming out with are really, really good!

We have special features we developed to have the shoes fit like a glove for better board feel. We also developed a new material that integrates a urethane compound and heat to fuse on material like suede leather – it is extremely durable and grippy. Amazing cushioning system developed, approved and proven by our STI Lab.

They also look great and we have decided that this incredible value must come at a democratic price for skateboarding so our skateboarders can afford it – not like the crazy priced shoes like we’ve see over $100 (US) from sports brands!

Let’s discuss the landscape of the skateboard shoe industry since the last time we both spoke about Sole Tech back in 2006. We discussed Nike’s entry into the market and you said:

“I’m not sure exactly what they do. I understand why some people disagree because they’re coming into the market and trying to steal the scene that has been made by a lot of decent people. But it’s very difficult to do it, I think you really have to be in skateboarding for a long time to be able to do it.”

Things have changed somewhat 7 years later. What is your opinion now?

I believe there are a lot of decent people that love skateboarding and hate that the market has been bought by sports brands not coming from skateboarding!

It’s interesting to go back and read that article, thanks for reminding me of it. You did a great job covering a lot of my history in skateboarding, it was cool to read through it again. Looking specifically at this question, I have to say, the second part of my answer reminds me a lot of what we’ve just been going through the past 5 or so years in skateboarding. I think what I said back then, still rings true today, so I’ll just put it out there again:

“Yeah, we were born in skateboarding, and if there is a danger for us to survive, then we’re going to do whatever it takes to survive. I think it’s a bit like a country trying to conquer a country. But this time it’s not a country and they are trying to conquer something they know nothing about and the country will defend it with their last bit of blood because that’s what they are.“

So, I want to quickly divert from skateboarding and look at what happened in the surf industry, right around the time we did that interview. A large athletic corporation came in to the surf world. They over paid for everything, took over every event, bought all the top riders, bought up the media, bought up all retailers space and then after a few year announces that the “category” is unprofitable and cuts the ENTIRE category.

What they did with this was artificially inflated the price of everything so the new rate for all the endemic brands to compete increased dramatically. So much so that it tipped the whole surf industry upside down to the point of where legit, passionate brands have gone bankrupt or on the brink of being so. There’s now rumours that other categories are going to be cut. So, let’s see when skateboarding is going to be on the list because it’s not what they would consider a “profitable” enough for their large portfolio of business.

When you are driven solely by profit, there’s no soul in what you are producing and that means no regard for the community in which you trying to be a part of. I like to say that substance wins out over time and I think we’re seeing the results of their “substance.”

Interesting point and only time will tell if your prediction comes to fruition. But humans will always take money from anywhere in times of need, whatever industry they work in. In this case we have skateboarders working for sports brands who should really be giving back to the core scene that gave them the opportunity to make a living in the first place, the publishers who are fueling demand and merging globally to advertise to millions of “sports fans”, and of course the sponsored skateboarders themselves on sports contracts at the front end. Money from sports brands has clearly turned some heads from this capitalist generation, so how does éS (and other Sole Tech shoe brands) compete in 2014 whilst this still exists in skateboarding?

It’s funny you say this, as skateboarding seems to be split into different categories and it doesn’t all add up to equal values. There’s the mainstream sports scene that’s all about big time TV and then there is the fuck contests, video hammer skaters, and then there is a happy group of terrain destroyers out there that thrive off of the scene in their communities.

The interesting thing is the guys in the mainstream money-making zone aren’t necessarily the ones that sell product, there’s also a lot of top skaters in the middle tier that don’t even have sponsors, and then there’s skaters in the local regions that are just as good as the some of the top pros and they are still buying shoes from their local store. We believe today what’s most important is what the brand stands for along with having great product and consumer intimacy.

I feel our skateboarding community needs to be recognized much more. There is an injustice in the fact that this over-inflated market because of sports brands that are only giving to those at the top has left the rest of the skate scene unsupported. But the rest of us have been, are and will continue to be a big part of building skateboarding and our culture.

Talking of support, it’s common knowledge that some skate shop owners hate having to deal with mainstream sports brands, the deals they cut and their expectations to get the next batch of shoes in. Especially once they realise that exclusivity is wearing thin and mainstream outlets are suddenly popping up selling those ‘exclusive’ skate shoes now to any bod in the high street….

I’d say majority of retailers hate dealing with the mainstream brands, but know they have to. That’s why most of these retailers are looking at éS as being something positive to give skaters an alternative brand that is a true skater owned brand.

We really have a lot of respect for retailers that have never bought these mainstream brands in, or in many cases today where retailers are giving them the finger and drop them. It’s a tough decision and we don’t fault those who engaged with them either as they all had to find a way to survive these challenging times. But, it’s amazing when you see people who are able to be independent from the mainstream brand hold. For example, we love Active Ride Shop in California for “Just Not Doing It” and replacing the business with authentic skate brands and say to them “enough is enough.”

I just read an article about what two of the biggest sports brands have done with cutting small running retailers. These are some of their most specialized running stores that have been carrying them for over 30 years and have helped build them up. Then the brand decides to cut and puts them out of business for the reason that they are not big enough and then do not need them anymore.

Our skateboard industry is made of many small size stores where our culture is nurtured and developed, where our people working in the shop are doing it by passion and do whatever it takes to represent our culture the best it can be. I would hate to see this same thing happen, be turned down and go out of business just because somebody that does not skate at the top of these huge sports corporations decide this.

A UK skater owned shop owner who stocks sports brands, told me just this week that:

“From the shop point of view, we’ve needed the bigger brands because that’s what skateboarders are choosing to buy at the moment and they bring in other groups of customers. If we could survive selling only the most core skate brands then I would happily do that, but right now they don’t sell enough. There is a paradox there in that success means small brands becoming big brands and eventually corporate brands, DC for instance… so where do you draw the line?”

The overarching conversation about small brands vs big brands must be looked at closer with big size brand from action culture vs. from sports culture.

For us, we are not a sports brand, we are skateboarders. We are not monitored by points like sport competitions and score cards – competition does not define us. It is not by who will win a contest or by winning over somebody else. We are defined by pushing our own limit, sharing a great time skateboarding, having fun with our friends and living it day and night.

For Sole Tech and Sole Tech brands, we have always made the consistent decision to be the right size and to remain true to inspire youth through a passionate commitment to authentic skateboarding.

Since day one, starting with etnies, we work on bringing skateboarding to people. We opened footwear categories in the skate shops to draw in people from outside skateboarding to bring them to skate shops and inspire with our culture.

Along the way, the market became very basic in terms of style and product. Now sports brands are opening the skateboard footwear category everywhere with no balance. How is this is going help our skateboard shops going forward? We believe we need to change and bring to our market desirable and different product that cannot be found everywhere. We love the idea of bringing different styles, with authentic brands that have great stories specifically to skate shops to help drive their demand.

This must be done with our people in the community – skate shops and authentic Sole Tech has always supported this and is accelerating now with innovation to bring the right balance back for our skateboard store.

It is clear we can’t do it alone and we need everybody’s support.

How can éS play a part in driving new skateboarders into skate shops to learn about the importance of keeping the skateboard industry run by skater owned companies?

It would be the most amazing thing to see if éS can reinvigorate the business with skate shops. We’re all one big family and we need to support each other. But, no ones wins if the skate brands create inferior products. That’s why based on the demand for éS we can come back and help gain momentum for skater owned brands. Let’s get skateboarding back in the hands of skateboarders.

We want the community to speak. We are trying to figure how can we keep the true spirit of skateboarding out there, and not have skateboarding in the hands of people that do not skate, but by skaters and have them lead the way to stay authentic. We don’t want it becoming a sport that has nothing to do with skateboarding. Skateboarding is more than just performing a trick – it is how we live and all the experiences we learn along the way in our lives with our fellow skateboarders. It’s not a score card!

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There’s a good chance that you may well have seen Godmachine‘s incredible illustration work before on various skateboard graphics, band t-shirts or record sleeves over the years. His knack of delivering the finest gore and dreamy terror for the best of them out there has been noted from here for a while now, so we decided to approach him for some artwork for this year’s Halloween Massacre and delve into his life of art, illustration, skateboarding, music and more. Dive in, it’s a dark place in here but a happy one.

Where did all of this begin?

I grew up in a small village on the Welsh coast, staring at the stars and listening to Fugazi and The Doors reading 2000AD.

When was the first time in your life you decided illustration was something more than a few doodles?

Not that long ago really. I’ve been doodling forever, then one day my wife bought me some canvas and paint and asked me to try it seriously. People bought them so I did more- I didn’t really know what I was doing – still don’t!

Is there one particular drawing that defines this moment as such looking back? Do you still have it?

No sadly, I sold everything I could. I was just amazed they were selling but as I put more and more work in I started to feel that pang of letting pieces go off in to the world. There arena few pieces throughout my career that I can say changed things, the bright colours , the detail in the illustrations, the adoption of tattoo styles into merch, then the use of grey’s on black’s. Hopefully a lot more to come. It’s not hard to see subtle changes in trends and consider bringing them all together. I see a few people able to do this and a lot more who just follow trends.

Why did you have to sell it?

I was working at the time, part time, but it wasn’t an income thing, it was a “holy shit I’m getting paid to do something I love” thing. I was just blown away that I could do something I love and people actually liked it. Coming from a previous life where I thought I was only going to be labouring for the rest of my life it was quite a shock. I was nervous to let the part time job go and even when I was making a living making from art I still considered getting a part time job again. I guess it’s ingrained in your DNA.

Was art in the family when you grew up? Who inspired you to put pen to paper back then?

I think some people could draw in the family but no one did it as a career or even as a hobby. It was kinda discouraged if anything. Nobody made it as an artist or singer or film maker where I am from, you either learn a trade, or get in that factory line as quick as possible. I was inspired by comics and art books from a small village library that stocked weird art books and comics that were hard to come by and they helped me escape the small village I lived in.

Illustration is not something you really do with friends after school, it’s more of a solo mission, how did your independence growing up as a kid push your time and energy into drawing?

That’s perfectly put; drawing needs you to be a lonely, boring person who spends all their time alone if you want to get anywhere. Kids think it’s super fun and comes with fame etc, but it’s a quiet, lonely slog. Like I say, I didn’t really apply myself until about 5 years ago, I was too busy being around people, parties, drinks, work, music, boxing, work, skating, gigs, work, etc.

Did you skate much in your adolescence?

Yeah I used to love skating. I remember learning to ollie and my folks being terrified as to them, it looked like I was spending hours literally trying to break this really expensive thing they just bought me. I grew up at the beautiful time of when they decided to put a tail in the front not the board. One year when we’re skating Santa Cruz and drooling over these graphics and buying beautiful Airwalk’s, then the next year we were being tested with offensively exciting graphics and taking the nose bones off our decks. In the village there was a spot that was behind the surgery, it was smooth and had a security light for skating at night and a load of new clean curbs. It was always about street skating for us.

How much did skateboard art influence your desire to reach further into your own artistic development?

It was always about weird books like Beardsley from the library, skate decks and 2000ad for me. I used to spend hours in the skate shop in the nearest town drooling over the graphics of boards – all those colours unashamed and in your face. The attitude of skating was hard to avoid too, no one who spends their days heading face first into concrete has a timid disposition after a while. I was skating and boxing, so you kinda get a confidence to do more things. Thinking about it even today, most of the skaters I know have an artistic flair even if it’s just an eye for trends and fashions.

What about the music scene, as back then the two were colliding across culture hand in hand?

Music played a big part in my life. I remember forming a Beastie Boys band with my friends when I was 8 years old, buying a run DMC tape with my 10th birthday money from the garage. (there were no music shops) One day when I was 14, my mate Stewart brought over this Fugazi album on vinyl and I wasn’t into it at first, but it grew on me. Another day I rented Streets on Fire and that was it, that soundtrack changed my life introducing me to Black Flag, Sonic Youth, Descendents, Firehose, Pailhead and so many more. I used to go to school in the next town and at lunch would go into town and rent out that film every weekend, EVERY WEEKEND. We figured out a way of recording the soundtrack onto tape so we could listen to it constantly. The tape included most of the dialogue of the girl and the skating noises- to this day if I hear a song from that video I can say all the dialogue in and around the tune and even make the deck noises over the top in the right places! That video was a game changer. The shop that rented the video stopped renting it and I bought it off them. I still have it on my shelf today.

You mentioned ‘trendsetters’ at the beginning of this interview, briefly, explain how you see the marketplace for the work you do. Do you see a lot of trend hoppers jumping on board the scene? How bitchy does drawing death get?

Haha, I think the scene can get really bitchy, but I now just stay away from a scene. As Mike Patton says “you have to (at some point) find your own corner of hell and just get on with your work’.” I think too many people want to be a part of too many things and it can get quite incestuous, like a stagnant pool that has no fresh input. It’s best to walk your own road when you get a chance and leave these places. I don’t doubt that community is a great thing in the beginning, you learn a lot, but when you can, you should fly the coup.

As for trends its always going to be that way, none of us are free from fashions or trends. You do see a lot of kids or maybe they are grown-ups who knows, but you see a lot of them jumping on the bandwagon. You can’t blame them, it’s nice to be popular I suppose and be part of something, but like I say, it stagnates after a while. You can spend years pulling small bits from other artists all your life and developing something or sensing minute changes in trends and putting all these bits together to makes something special and new…there are a few of these people around and they are special, and then you get the many who just see them do this and follow them with no idea of where it all comes from. Human nature I guess.

Hasn’t there always been a wave of incredible illustrators in gore even before the days of Pushead when we were kids?

I remember Hieronymus Bosch made me wiggly in the trouser department once. I think Pushead and a load of others were the force that made the wave that people are still riding. God bless ‘em and all who sail within her ma’am.

As a skateboarder did Pushead’s art influence you in any way growing up in skating back then?

To be totally honest, no. I remember the Zorlac board which brought it to a lot of people’s attention and I never liked Metallica. I love his stuff now though, but it wasn’t a big part of my art upbringing at all.

How does someone pitch a design to you as a piece of paid work and how do you format a new piece?

Clients send me an idea and if it doesn’t make me excited I ask them how malleable the brief is, we talk a bit if we need to and then I’ll knock out a sketch. If they like it I go from there. I avoid anything that doesn’t excite me anymore, it’s nice to be in that position and it makes me feel better about just making something for money. In my experience, unless I’m excited about it I don’t do my best and I always want to and try to do my best. I’m massively aware that these people could be spending this money on good things like drugs or women, so that they chose to spend it on me makes me want to make sure they get something good. I sketch in Photoshop and then make new layers till it looks smart.

How fast do you have to work to come up with the ideas in others heads to deliver work that they envisaged?

It’s really difficult to get some people to understand that although I can say “a 4 sided triangle” or “a neon earth colour” that the reality won’t work. I don’t mind spending time talking to clients if their ideas are unrealistic or if I am failing to understand them, I want to be sure before we move on we are on the same page. Sometimes if I can’t get it or it doesn’t work for me I suggest some other artists. It’s easier to spend 10 mins on a convincing email than it is to spend 2 days on a piece that doesn’t work. Some people are really thankful for that, some people think you are being obtuse on purpose, but as long as it stops me drawing shit things and them receiving shit drawings I’m happy.

Do many people actually say ‘nah, that’s not really what I want?’

Luckily not that often at all. Sometimes I will have a flash of inspiration and change the whole thing completely and if they don’t like it I am fine to go back and do the original idea. I’m cool with that and they don’t mind me trying. Sometimes in the past I have had a client that I described everything too, he’d seen my previous work and I had done sketches, but when I presented the final piece it wasn’t what he wanted. That’s why you have to make sure you have everything down in writing so you can refer back to it. I hate having to do phone calls about work because you think you said something, they think they definitely said ‘blue and not green’, but as long as you have it in writing you are fine. With this particular piece I made the changes within my time scale and budget and turned it from a piece I was proud of to a piece that I won’t show anyone. That’s how it works.

What has been the most ridiculous request so far for art that you just could not do?

Some band wanted a picture of a man beating up a girl with the words “fuck you bitch” on it. I really can’t stand that weak minded attitude. I luckily don’t get it that often and I really hope that there are not that many people out there that have that kind of thought process. You really get to put into perspective what’s ‘dark’ when you get a brief “a baby getting ripped out of a women’s vagina”. I’m no prude but I tend to stay away from stuff like that unless the message is one to get behind, but it’s like Jimmy Carr’s jokes – they work because you know the context in which he tells them, you can never be sure of the clients. I also had a request which was the most contradiction ever: an alien looking human with neon earth colours and a four sided triangle…..that type of thing. It’s not the worst but it is sometimes confusing.

If you could have one of your art pieces back right now, which one would it be and where did it go?

It would be a drawing of a cat I did recently on tea stained paper. A black cat with a landscape and a moon inside him. If you are reading this and you have it I would love to buy it back. I think someone paid good money for it so I want to believe it went to a good home. One of my fav’ all time pieces because it was honest, probably the most honest piece of art I’ve ever done.

Do you tend to get busier in the build-up to Halloween or is death and destruction something that your clients generally want all year round?

“Every day is Halloween.” – Ministry. Yeah, pretty much, that. I used to get super busy around Halloween when I first started but that seems to have died off…no pun intended.

Have you ever thought about drawing your own death in advance of moving in in this world?

I am not answering this- I know exactly how I will die.

What ideally would you like to leave behind?

Would be good to change something that lasts forever. You can have my ram skulls and first edition Marshal Law comic.

Any thanks, fuck you’s, big ups etc?

Big up to nice people. Shout out’s to good people. Thank you to my people.

I also want to give a big shout out the band Ingested for allowing us to use the artwork for the Crossfire Halloween Massacre flyer. It’s an old piece I did and it seemed like a good idea to use it for a Halloween inspired poster what with all the colours etc. Go check out the boys and buy a tee of it if you want too from facebook.com/ingesteduk

Where can we find your shit?

In the bog? www.godmachine.co.uk