I Spoke to skaters working at Lakai...

[@Danwebz]

So ive seen the 9 club interview, yes i think the wave of ads put out by lakai are pretty damn cringe. and its totally possible that the new ceo could be lying to everyone ive spoken to as he apparently did with vince. I think its best to take this video with a grain of salt and just keep in my mind this is mainly hope and speculation. Yes the people i got info from are people i trust and have worked on the UK Side of things for 10 years+ and had direct communications with rick and mike. but its of course possible the new ceo could just be a master manipulator and taking everyone for a ride. Im just hoping that is not the case, but only time will tell.

[@riverlandgoon16st]

As someone who’s recently lost their job and is in dire need of a new deck, I think it’s badass that you’re doing the free pop up skate shop! You’re the man

[@Danwebz]

Dw bro I got you! More details soon 🩶

[@liggerz87]

If your in the UK I'll send you a complete if you want it's the cliché letterbox deck with I think 95 cliché wheels with tensor alloys trucks it's 8 inch

[@D.FRESH1]

After the nine club episode last night with Vince, actual skater that was on the Lakai team, not just a free walking ad, you are looking more like a fool for making this video defending the new suit at Lakai.

[@Danwebz]

as i said many times man im just going off what the people i know and trust have said. Many times over i said its not a total fact as i cant prove it. Also just watched the nine club interview and i do think the new lakai ads are cringe as fuck, i just hope my friends are right about this guy and hes not just fooling everyone. only time will tell

[@himebaughchris4026]

​@@DanwebzYou've "Known and Trusted" Junkies. Watch out for Your Neighbors though, Mr. "Popular". 😂

[@unignostik]

Bro got the CEO memo. Fuckin kook

[@centralalley]

Literally reading press release talking points.

[@noahh2338]

Good job Dan, doing great things bro!

[@thedadtris]

I owned a skateshop for 12 years. Let me tell you, the skateboard shoe business (core brands) were some of the worst to deal with. They were ran terribly and getting your orders shipped and then for them to be correct was like pulling teeth. Not to mention 95% of them were to cool to even get on the phone to get a simple dealer app. It's honestly no wonder most of them aren't surviving or in business any longer. I remember begging fallen to let me carry their shoes. I went to a trade show at DNA dist and told the rep I had a $1000, could I please get an account and order some shoes. He said no. Brand like DC, Circa and Vans wouldn't even speak to me. The industry preaches "Support Your Local Skateshop" but the major brands wouldn't sell to me.

[@lukewilliams3879]

word, where i live vans will not supply shoes to you basically unless you have a storefront in a large shopping mall. yeah thats where all the core skate shops want to be. they seem to hate our shop because we are closer to the skatepark than the CBD

[@VintageEvolutionSkateboards]

So true, they control all !!! The industry has taken this sport and product away from the skaters. I'm trying to turn the page for skateboard collectors, and the skateboard industry is ignoring what I have going on and offer them. So I push back with videos, have a look. Vintage evolution Skateboards 🤘🤘

[@thedadtris]

@@lukewilliams3879 Yea it's absolutely insane the requirements that they set on shops. Pre-booking everything, spending thousands on minimums...it's a setup for failure. They have to realize that not every shop is in California where ppl can skate all year round. DC, Circa, Vans, Fallen, DVS would not sell to me, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that I couldn't even get a response from them (phone or email), they just ignored me. My store was in Ohio and I had 0 competition within an hours distance so I wasn't stepping on any boundaries of already existing accounts. I remember talkin to Mayhew about how fucked up the shoe industry was. He gave me a ton of insight I was not aware of and how shady the business was. Where are you guys located?

[@HighGroundArmwrestling]

DAMMIT WEBZ! IF I CLICK ONTO ONE MORE OF YOUR VIDEOS AND U FAIL TO GREET ME WITH THE CLASSIC "WHATSUP PUSSYS" IM GONNA RAGE AND UNSUB

[@Pexodus11]

It's embarrassing how most skaters act these days. I can't imagine crying about the fact that the person that bought a business is actually good at business. Sponsored skaters are advertising and that's all, idk how they seem to have forgotten that

[@Danwebz]

So funking true man, skaters are some of the toughest people, but also some of the weakest when it comes to dealing with social and business situations

[@jayd3931]

The fact is, he's not good at this type of business as he has no history in it. The shoe industry and skate industry have some unique challenges, and this guy is clueless. The company is done. Abandon ship.

[@jonathanborthwick400]

It’s not about being good at business. It’s about representing skateboarding in a way that relates to a group of people. That’s why we bought the shoes and that’s why we’re bummed it ended up this way.

[@meyersguitars2196]

Great video and what the new owner has done makes perfect sense when running a business. I hate to say the skate team has had too many people on the team for way too long way past their prime is just going to drain a company dry when any company needs to be profitable. I look forward to seeing what he does with the company moving forward.

[@thylordezekiel]

the price change is really well done tbh. we were going to buy from the skate shop anyway but now the people who dont go to skate shops (probably dont even skate) will boost revenue from online sales & popularity. WW

[@PhilGc]

Those IG ads that Nine Club showed with Vince were crazy, did you get the chance to see them? 🤯

[@Danwebz]

yeah just seen it now. cant lie they are extremely cringe inducing

[@Little-by-little-more]

Sounds like Lakai had some pretty loose (bad) contracts in place in the past. Not even wearing the shoes in promos. Man...almost any other industry would give that athlete the boot instantly for breaking the contract.

[@hennyellswo5244]

A lot of mf wearing NB and Nike getting super mad about lakai not being owned by a skater. Who probably sold the company at one point? As in wanted to stop being a part of something and -cash/sell out- nine club talk was kinda gross. Vinny getting weird about 3 month probationary period, pretty normal for jobs. Then whinging about losing his financial security or you know you could work with lakai and prove you are worth extending contract or to see if you like it while you line something else up like an adult and keep feeding ur kid. Brands are only as cool as people think they are. This whole situation is wild looking in as someone who actually has to pay for product.

[@midskateboarder]

ThatWasEpic has you beat on the giveaways (bro bought out two entire skateshops and gave it all away) but thats sick that you're doing that man, props

[@Danwebz]

Dammit! I’d love to watch that, it sounds sick

[@midskateboarder]

@@Danwebz kzbin.info/www/bejne/g3bZZHd9rcR2fsk is one video (he actually did it twice)

[@CFCVideos]

who was the guy who put out a part in adidas? should not be a secret if he did this.

[@olfi500]

mj. that hppened 10 years ago tho

[@Pcat_DREAMS]

Marc Johnson leaving is old news

[@ruiserrao]

Looks like you are in love for Marc, good for you!

[@rodjames760]

I think alot of people are wondering if Mike and Rick will be apart of the brand moving forward?

[@Sandybowls_9001]

The fact he gave the founders 10% stake keeps me hopeful.

[@Danwebz]

Yeah man, much better than someone who was just out for profit would do

[@technofaza]

except they didn't take it because he fired the whole team

[@dberksk8]

Skaters don't know how to run a business. All these companies pay skaters to do what? The skate team model is outdated. The skaters are simply brand influencers, but in today's day in age, do you really need that?

[@djmon1987]

Skateboarding will be all the poorer without companies having teams. Riders get people hyped on a brand.

[@Goodmorningyouall]

Wow!!! Golden youtube deck… you are awesome

[@cameraop8210]

Can u please ask the owner at Lakai if they intend to get skaters from New Zealand on the team? Everyone usually ignores the skaters in New Zealand, while generally we do suck compared to everyone else I do understand why no one cares about us. The reason we suck is because we have weather that rains nearly every day but there are some good skaters here. If we got more indoor setups we would probably get better. The only famous pro skater we have ever really had though is Lee Ralph and that was in the 80s. Arguably he only got good when he moved to Australia though. He had a pro model for Vision. Just to put it in perspective I know England is a grey wet dump but New Zealan is considerably worse, the country is basically one big pile of wet mud I wouldn't recommend holidaying here as theres nothing to do and its wet and cold. If you are young and can skate and you were cursed by being born here I would recomend to move to Australia as soon as u can and from there if u can get to Europe or USA.

[@antoniohysell8077]

Is Guy still on the team ?

[@t.o.3323]

bro guy has been on nike for at least 5 years lol

[@haroldcampos9661]

chairman of the skateboard

[@sammcauley]

Nice PR piece this

[@Moodyskates]

Dang I wish I was in the UK

[@johndoeyedoe]

It wasn't just them operating at a financial loss for several years?

[@JosephACampbellJr]

Are you and your shop looking or willing to sponsor anyone? How would a skater go about trying to get in contact with you and your companies? Especially if they are in America 🇺🇸 I’d love to try and complete the checklist ❤ Cheers Webz 🍻

[@jimmysmits3938]

Bahaha the new owner paid this guy to be nice . lol acting like ten year old Marc Johnson drama is news some one on the team told him .

[@JamisonMyth]

So you lost your flow deal with Lakai because legacy pros were getting paid and not repping the brand - and this makes sense to you? Are you sure this isn’t PR stunt to try to win back your flow deal?

[@JamisonMyth]

Also if you have an inside source why not name them? Rick and Mike are an inside source too

[@Danwebz]

I didn’t lose my deal, as stated in the first video. This is the second vid

[@JamisonMyth]

@@Danwebz I misunderstood - guess it’s confusing who’s fired and who isn’t. Is it actually disputed that the whole skate team got let go?

[@djmon1987]

You sound exactly like PR for this venture capitalist. People who still work at Lakai are desperately trying to stop the company tanking - you are just lapping up the bullshit. When Marc says they want a ‘worldwide team’ they are just going to send shoes to randoms on Instagram. Lakai DID hook up non-US skaters over the course of its existence: Lucas Puig, Nick Jensen and Danny Brady, Karsten Kleppen, Kyonosuke Yamashita etc. The point was that Rick and Mike curated the team incredibly carefully so that you knew those skating for Lakai were among the best. Bottom line, as a skater we want to support the skaters we admire by buying their pro boards, shoes, supporting their companies. I’m not keen on supporting some random businessman who’s sponsoring a bunch of randoms.

[@Danwebz]

That’s fair and you’re welcome to believe that. I don’t mind either way. But my regular audience knows I wouldn’t lie about these things

[@Ryan-Herron]

@@djmon1987 agreed - they’re about to embark on the Cariuma business model

[@darioargento21]

@@Danwebz”you’re welcome to believe that”. lol, it’s literally what’s happening. You born yesterday or something? This guy bought a legacy skate brand to profit off of tanking jt. He’s going to make it Cariuma 2.0 and sell to discount stores. Embarrassing

[@Danwebz]

@@darioargento21 welcome to believe that was in response to him saying i was PR. not the rest of the statement

[@djmon1987]

@@Danwebz This is pure damage limitation. And I understand that, if your shop has Lakais to shift. But Lakai was built by Mike and Rick. Without them, what's there to support? It just becomes another shell company, like current Osiris, DVS, Airwalk etc. etc.

[@Ryan-Herron]

referencing Marc Johnson switching to adidas in 2016 seems kinda irrelevant to 2024 team issues, no? further, you talk a lot about the new CEO's passion for skateboarding - is there any evidence of this? You don't bring any facts or evidence to the table, only that you "talked to some skaters." When you say he wants you to buy Lakai's from skate shops, then why is he dumping a ton of money into paid ads on instagram and reddit linking directly back to Lakai's website?

[@Danwebz]

I’m just going by what I found out from skaters I trust. The Marc Johnson point was part of a wider point of some skaters have a history of not doing there bit to support the brand both in the past and present as I stated. You don’t have to believe me, nor do you have to care. I’m just hear talking on my channel as I normally do and you’re welcome to watch or not watch, I don’t mind 🤓

[@bleepbloopblahp]

@@Danwebz I've quite enjoyed a lot of your content but I really dislike this "You don't have to believe me or watch my videos" response you seem to be falling on when people offer reasonable criticism. You dish it out and I have supported you when you have done so rightly. I think there is very reasonable questions and criticism being put on you in these comments and the way you are dismissing it is disappointing to me. I can just not watch, I can not believe you, that doesn't address the reasonable questions and criticism and makes it appear like you are avoiding it. Maybe all you need to do is flesh this out and say some of the things you have obviously avoided mentioning in your video. Maybe you could talk to some others involved and get some further evidence to back up your claims (or contradict them, it's cool to be wrong) and then share that. It would help me take you more seriously going forward. You don't owe me anything but I am one of your viewers and I like to support you in that small way. I may not be alone or grossly outnumbered in that regard.

[@himebaughchris4026]

Aww... Lakai doesn't want a Junkie who did Brandon Novak type things to get a fix that thinks he is "Better" than Everyone now? 😏

[@centralalley]

This is beyond embarrassing.

[@michaelhughes743]

I bought a pair online a year ago and I can't stand them they are super heavy 😂🤣

[@Danwebz]

That’s fair, everyone has there preferences

[@will.davlin]

socks to bed = best mood ever next day🟧❤😂🎉🎉🎉😂

[@KeenFocus]

Dan webz expert on finding rotten thing and highlighting it, despite all the good vibes in skateboard

[@Danwebz]

Worlds not all sunshine and rainbows and too many creators act like everything is amazing. This is real life

[@Poltergits-Lampost]

Nice vid man! Grown up chat teaching the youth dem 🫡👍😎 balanced 👌

[@Danwebz]

Yeahhh boi