Lakai Drama Explained to my Wife

[@DavidBluetile]

Maaaan, you nailed it when you said if you love a brand support them. As a retailer I tried for years to stay behind lakai but the consumer would only buy it on clearance. I get it… you’re saving money… protecting yourself. The part that always bummed me out is that skaters will abandon a shop for not selling “core brands” but won’t pay retail for those brands. Literally one year after a season of sales I looked at my profit and loss for lakai and it was .89 cents… core skaters did that to lakai and can’t point the finger anywhere else.

[@victorr2040]

@@z1DEv_ag you’re spot on in my experience. My mom used to buy me nikes after some of the core brand shoes she bought only lasted a month. To her it was worth the extra money for a couple more months worth of wear. The truth is, most core brand shoes were never the best quality. And now as an adult, I strictly buy whatever skate shoes are on sale. I can’t justify spending 80 + on shoes I’m gonna thrash. Sad reality

[@tomas746]

I dno man there had to be a reason for this. Fully flared was a long ass time ago. Crailtap I think generally speaking did a poor job transitioning from early to mid aughts crew to their current line up. At least as far as maintaining the prestige and coolness of the brand. When I was a kid, girl and chocolate were legitimately cool. I don’t think kids are fucking w them like that these days. They like FA/Hockey, Limousine, Sci-Fi, stuff like that. With Lakai, I thought about buying some shoes a few times. But honestly the shoes are just ok, several of the their models are very similar jn appearance, and some of the color ways are totally sus. Who wants a burgundy shoe w yellow accents? And if they aren’t on sale they aren’t cheap. I’d have more of a problem with this if the bigger corporate brands were putting out really wack shit. But the shoes are pretty good, the teams and skating are good, and they just hire core dudes to do their videos and art direction. And they are paying a lot of people.

[@Skatewives]

thanks for all you do for the scene down in SC. the problem is more frustrating as you get older and see how it happens, and see that it just goes in circles

[@floriangerer3874]

That‘s the mentality that also killed a lot of core shops that didn‘t want to bring in corporate brands...

[@DavidBluetile]

@@victorr2040 it really is a sad reality. the more people think that way the more shops will disappear with those brands. I think thats why we need non-skaters to buy cool stuff just to make up the loss of margin for the large group of skaters that only buys on clearance. again that speaks to those brands and their "supporters". sole-tech just sold to a finance group because they've been struggling to convince their fans that its worth it to spend money on their shoes. that scene just waits for them to go on sale. before long there will be no skater owned brands and people will pretend to miss them. the truth is that there needs to be less product in the market so that shoes dont go on clearance.

[@josephcantu3562]

This was a super fun video idea, you should definitely explore the idea of teaching skate history with this format.

[@Skatewives]

Oo good idea! I'm working on one about how skateboarding has influenced fashion, which has given me a bunch of insight into some of the history of skateboarding... 🤔 I'll add it to the list!

[@josephcantu3562]

@@Skatewives I will definitely watch that video!

[@PMAWoodner]

Great job. Emily, your cynicism about business bros and private equity in general is so on point. When I got back into skating in my late 30’s, I wanted to support Alien Workshop (“Memory Screen” was seminal to my entire artistic aesthetic) and Lakai (since “Fully Flared” crossed over to me when I wasn’t paying attention to skating). It’s such a bummer that both companies have gone through business bro hell. No one who posts on LinkedIn could ever create something meaningful to any subculture. There’s nothing wrong with a business that is good for workers, customers and the culture but doesn’t make huge profits.

[@georgepoulos]

This was an awesome and informative watch! Thanks y’all!

[@neumanneuvers7400]

Stay tuned for the next feature film Lakai Fully F-cked 😢

[@Skatewives]

😂😂😭😭

[@coryander4918]

😂😂😂😂

[@DevRel1]

Good content, yall are really in tune with overall sentiment and business from an insider and outsider perspective. Really cool to hear the story broken down as a skater from the 80s, 90s and early 2000s which a Lakai was a brand that I really cared about and got my son into skating because we loved the shoes and brand.

[@joshkatz]

a hell of a presentation as always, Ryan!

[@Lobroftus]

It’s a weird coincidence that Lakai has essentially been unalived, while I-Path has been brought back from the dead. Very mysterious.

[@チャーリーブラウン-w8l]

iPath has been trying to find itself back into the business for years now. It's pretty much a Frankenstein project at this point

[@Lobroftus]

@ I loved iPath back in the day, when I saw they were coming back I made sure to buy a pair as soon as their online store opened haha

[@チャーリーブラウン-w8l]

@@Lobroftus Hopefully it doesn't become a nostalgia type of cash cow project. Which could be a possibility

[@OG_VeniVidiVici]

isn't Ipath osiris? what happened to osiris lmao

[@チャーリーブラウン-w8l]

@@OG_VeniVidiVici No, iPath is owned by Madison Parker capital. Don't have much issue of who owns Osiris besides the OG founders.

[@erickt9415]

Most informative video on the topic I’ve seen. Great breakdown. As someone who loves lakai since fully flared, it’s sad to see this happen.

[@GRiNDWiZARD187]

thank you both for going down this Lakai rabbit hole, F'n sucks how the ship went down.

[@隠れた]

Guess I can keep dreaming about some classic reissues

[@rmriwatch]

I think we are just getting back to reality. There's very few "sports" that does not require athletes to compete for sponsorship. These days if you are not Palace or Supreme, brands that already have crossover appeal and distribution, it's very hard to afford a skate team. It's literally impossible to get any Crailtap brand in Eastern Europe, they somehow never managed to build up distribution here, so other than ordering from abroad, there's no way to support Girl and it's brands. To me that seems to be the biggest problem, dozens of times I see great looking products from them and no way to actually get it. Let's also not forget Girl and Chocolate had the biggest skate team for decades, it's beyond me how these facts can/could coexist for so long.

[@tunelowplayslow5623]

Skateboarding goes in "cool" cycles. It needs constant change to stay fresh and exciting. After a certain age the odds of you being able to harness or predict these changes is near impossible. I stated skating in 95' and Lakia always came off like they were better than everyone else. They were the first to coin the phrase "Find our product in finer skateshops." By 2002 the tech shoe/swooshy pants thing was over and IMO Lakai just tried to copy what was cool by making some over priced boring vulc shoes. Not necessarily bad or ugly shoes but just kinda boring. What Lakai did have was an amazing team and videos leading up and including fully flared. The hype for that video was so immense that their was no way they were going to be able to keep that trajectory after it dropped. Then Pretty Sweet comes out and basically doubles down on the giant expensive skate video and I genuinely believe people just lost interest or aged out of that whole girl/chocolate/lakai camp and their super high quality expensive glossy skate videos.

[@gabrielhunter3351]

Solid video. Thanks for laying it out. I was curious what went down. Basically what i had imagined. Too bad.

[@Ender_FPV]

Lakai's quality has been trash forever. Just their aged branding isn't enough anymore these days no one can afford charity. They needed better quality if they wanted sales.

[@reginaldkillington41]

As time goes on its truly amazing emerica is still alive.

[@Skatewives]

Ryan has been skating Emerica's most of this year and loves them

[@チャーリーブラウン-w8l]

Emerica has always been ran by a suit and tie individual in the backend, so they were never really as "Core" as the other brands.

[@Skatewives]

@@チャーリーブラウン-w8l the founder / CEO of Emerica has a pretty rich history in skateboarding. I'm sure he has worn a suit and tie before, but not sure what more you'd be looking for in a "core" founder - he's kept the brand alive for almost 30 years while regularly putting out videos and giving dozens of skaters a paying career

[@zaa-flips-it]

Barely....it got sold recently and they killed a lot of projects they had in the works

[@alexanderkozij]

I appreciate the both of you trying to understand the situation and translating it to skaters. You are correct in a lot of ways, but there are some incorrect assumptions. Number 1: Even if you work with a bank for financing of business. You have to use some of your own capital and will be a guarantor for the loans. Number 2: The traditional skate business model, although might cater to the ‘cool guy’ factor of skateboarding. It’s actually very difficult to make money. Over the past decade one of the only skate brands that has made money, is Revive. The brand doesn’t interest me, and it’s considered corny. But they made money. Number 3: Good skaters don’t necessarily make good business people. And it’s the ability for good skaters and good business people work together, that makes brands survive in the long run. It’s what Adidas, Nike and New Balance had to do.

[@fr-ik3749]

if you care about something and want it to stick around, support it! that simple

[@asherdgray]

“I’m not against capitalism” and in the same breath “why does this keep happening”…capitalism.

[@C137mrr]

Damn… I genuinely didn’t know berrics broke down to Berra and Eric 🫣🤦‍♂️

[@jameskastner1425]

"an overpriced mainstream version of a skate brand"😂😂 very well said

[@MiamiMorslav]

You cant have your cake and eat it too. Nobody will ever take away what Rick Howard and Mike Carrol meant to us especially in the 90s, I’d rather remember them as that, skaters skating and enjoying themselves on pavement than old guys sitting in an office crying about not being able to be good businessmen. Culture is nature and therefore culture is not soft, or predictable. A Terrence McKenna quote comes to mind … “culture is not your friend”. Now street culture, where skateboarding culture traditionally got much of its aesthetic due to proximity, would understand the lakai situation as simple hunger economics. The hungrier fish are going to eat, period. And Americans are often sitting ducks when it comes to international businessmen who are simply hungrier. ❤ get stronger. Business is business and skateboarding is skateboarding and it’s fine to mix the two, just dont expect to win at business because youre good at skateboarding.

[@ollie_walker]

Here for this content!

[@violated5H4RK]

I loved lakai as a kid and had a good amount of their apparal but as an adult paying for my bills and responsibilities [kids] I can’t afford how expensive their clothing is and I mean the quality isn’t there to justify $40 a t-shirt! One wash cycle and it shrinks! I can get cheaper name brand shirts with much better quality. It’s sad to see them go.

[@osego21]

Ryan wishes he had the charisma his wife is gifted with and i dont blame him

[@Ryan-Herron]

I’m workin on it… slowly but surely

[@iiiKingLongSwipeiii]

I still have that t-shirt fully flared it's still crisp

[@clyde19788]

I think you needed to explain more about Huf. It started off as a skate show brand with apparel but as major companies ate away at the core skate shoe audience and street wear companies with skateboarding roots like supreme started to make money they dismantled their shoe company and focused on street wear. Also the Japanese are huge on street hence why that company bought Huf and Stussy

[@Skatewives]

Agreed that there is more to dig into on HUF. One hesitance to going into the depths on it is that with Keith Hufnagel no longer with us, it feels a bit more disingenuous to hold their feet to the fire. In particular, the timing of the sale of HUF to TSI Holdings was very similar to the timing of when Hufnagel would've been diagnosed with brain cancer (based solely on timelines publicly available - unclear if that was an actual reason) and thus it makes things a bit murkier to report and pass judgement on

[@iiiKingLongSwipeiii]

DVS, Matix and Lakai were all owned by *Podium Distribution* which was Kevin and Brian Dunlaps baby

[@Growhealthy1990]

You’re better off just going corporate at this point. At least Nike is straight up with their b.s

[@HighBongHurley]

Yeah and you get high quality. My Nike dry fit T-shirt is the most comfortable thing I've ever worn

[@flux_time]

I like my Lakais. I work in them. Got the Pharcyde slip ons and the shoes. Wanna get the public enemy stuff too.

[@mountainspiredvt2586]

Wow I never put that berrics name connection together.

[@DH702..]

Same

[@jimboshrump]

💀 its spelled like the combination of thier name and not the actual word so😅

[@WeftySnowflake69]

I feel like an idiot.

[@Skatewives]

glad I'm not the only one! 😜

[@mountainspiredvt2586]

@@jimboshrump the actual word and meaning for Berries w/o any reference to their names already makes sense and is a bad ass name.

[@thegreatlifeofjake]

Thanks for putting this video together. I heard Soletech sold Emerica and Etnies. Can you do a video on Emerica?

[@Skatewives]

Soletech did sell a majority stake to the Nidecker group, but the situation as a whole is very different from the Lakai one. Two primary reasons: 1) Nidecker group already runs many reputable snowboard brands, 2) the key employees of Soletech stayed on board and now just work at Nidecker. Should the story evolve we may do a video, but for now it is a lot less juicy than Lakai's saga. Don Brown's Nine Club episode should answer a lot of your questions as well. Keep firing away on more ideas though - this one was fun to research and make!

[@grahambreaux504]

Humidity skate shop forever!

[@Twiddlies]

I wear lakai telfords everyday but havent skated in years. I wont buy them at retail though. I just wait until a good sale and buy 4 or 5 pairs to have on hand.

[@morrissey07]

Mama jama

[@likespinningpats]

They were running a big sale on the lakai site last month and i snagged a couple pair of shoes and several shirts. I'm not sure I'll be wearing any of it now, bummer.

[@Skatewives]

I'd skate the shoes and hold onto the shirts. If Lakai gets fully run to the ground, OG Lakai shirts might be fun to open up in a decade

[@xaviermartinez9688]

thank you!

[@rhonin420]

Great episode! something told me to skate Shaw when y'all were here. next time!

[@insanogeddon]

Most 'skater run' companies sold chinese trash for HIGH prices. Hard to meke it work long term with said skaters putting excess demands they personally could never meet on others.

[@souldiarrhea]

My favorite skater Cody Chapman rode for Lakai for a long fucking time. I've seen him in Converse lately. Guessing he didn't make the cut?

[@BobSk8s]

Nobody stayed

[@gohumannotape]

hugs from germany ❤

[@emcee1337]

counterpoint: lakai was dead before roca got involved, since people started buying more and more adidas and nike.

[@andrewnickelson3785]

The Lakai website was updated last week and all the "sale" stuff is no longer on sale, plus all the shoe prices went up. I'm not paying 120$ for Telfords. You don't have Lakai without Rick and Mike.

[@andrewnickelson3785]

I also ironically bought what may be my last pair of Lakai shoes from Tactics.

[@rmriwatch]

@@andrewnickelson3785 Rick and Mike basically drove Lakai out of business, let's not fool ourselves here. They also had no issue selling the brand out right years ago. I get the nostalgia, but the reality is Lakai would be dead already if it was up to them.

[@andrewnickelson3785]

​@@rmriwatch Blasphemy. Thou shall not besmirch the good name of the Girl gods on a public forum.

[@kurtisbray]

I love this channel

[@DanielMaruniak]

28:52 sounds like something that someone who is beginning to be against capitalism would say.

[@jacobvargas1393]

"Vote with your dollar" -Paul Schmitt

[@Skatewives]

and a full-price dollar at that. shops aren't gonna get by if you're only shopping the sale rack! easier said than done, unfortunately 🫤

[@superduty_toughwork]

"I'm not against capitalism.. but how many times are we gonna watch this fail?" Just... wow.

[@nikokaapa]

wow

[@ideliver7289]

I’m old now but I’ve been skating and buying skateboard products for a long time , I remember the good days where these brands like Lakai , Emerica or circa were 100% skateboard brands and were cool and the products were good , I know the big brands killed them and I tried to hang on as long as I could but as a consumer I couldn’t buy low quality products for high price tag any more , it doesn’t make sense for the wallet , it came down to I can get a pair of manchesters and they last 3 weeks or I can get a pair of janoskis and they last a month or two

[@Skatewives]

a harsh slap of reality for sure, when the brands we love start to have a tough time keeping up

[@JimiCabrera-k1s]

Hahahahaha “Mark your a bad mama jammer and not in a cool way.”-girl

[@iamreptar4534]

Damn I used to be a huge lakai guy just liked that I bought things from a brand founded and ran by skaters.

[@MtZaba]

skateboarders will never support lakai like this. idk who would ride for them or make content for them knowing what happened with Rick and Mike and the team. Skaters don't forget. Unless Rick and Mike come out and specifically say it was all good and that everyone should support this version of lakai, then MAYBE people will support. But if they don't and just keep quiet, this thing is DOA

[@caseysmith544]

Also does not help if Lakai is seeing a knockoff brand made in Mexico by a Mexican company sold using AliExpress as the selling platform selling for $25--$40 USA with $25 being when on sale.

[@voi907]

And how many days later lakai says bye? On the point of supporting who you like, seriously... You like fred gall buy some domestics .. if you like nyjah buy disorder if you must. Jokes aside... Your money is how these brands survive just thumbs ups and hearts on socal media don't keep business doors open. The beauty of USA is we can all choose who we support with our dollar and they will thrive. Keep buying cariuma and Nike doesn't help anyone but faceless dudes in offices.

[@johnonyoutube892]

Why did Rick and mike sell it in the first place?

[@jasraboin]

exactly… it’s on them. the shoes sucked just like girl boards sucked. cheap ass materials

[@phillydelphia8760]

​@@jasraboin girl boards always seemed to be the best shaped boards and nicest pop imo. The quality of Lakais were up and down, but the MJs were a great shoe.

[@jasraboin]

@ nah garbage. i never had a bad dlx board or a bad pair of emeicas

[@phillydelphia8760]

@@jasraboin dlx always seemed like the ones with cheap ass materials to me. Never owned a pair of Emericas, so I can't comment anything except what friends said about Ellingtons or MJ's (they loved them)

[@Maxeking111]

Dang that ender was a bum down #freelakai

[@Skatewives]

Happy Friday 😕

[@チャーリーブラウン-w8l]

Unfortunately it seems that a lot of fingers want to be pointed at the supporters, with a lot of missing context. So we're just going to skip past the part were a collection of popular Pros didn't ditch out on these "Core" brands to accept the money from the big non-skating brands? The situation began from the inside out and once the big brands has a pinky in, it was the end of this whole "Core" skating stuff. Those are the Facts

[@Skatewives]

Pros leaving Lakai for more money was discussed starting at 5:07 - more to unpack in that arena for sure, but we did bring it up

[@チャーリーブラウン-w8l]

@@Skatewives Mentioning the situation without holding them accountable, Ok.

[@jeremyshepherd8170]

Now do Zoo York.

[@Skatewives]

did a scroll through their instagram and wow, thats a head scratcher. The jenkem article from 2018 is pretty good, but maybe needs an update?

[@Maxeking111]

Woohoo starting the weekend off correctly! Hit meh w day fat hot gosss babay!!! 🐥🐥🐥

[@gustavo1992elgus]

dream date phrase rn: 3:19

[@gustavo1992elgus]

"Is Mike Mo in this?"

[@bobcat2938]

Ty

[@whiskeygolfer]

tbh im scared for skating down the road like i know pros are gonna retire in another decaded who are the youngesters coming up?

[@sctim123]

hot take - lakai has always been wack

[@Babyhipp0z]

Facts 😂

[@TheBeldings-j5c]

Lol i agree. The on brand airwalk

[@tunelowplayslow5623]

Riiiiiight. Amazing riders but the shoes have always been wack and over priced.

[@cronsin9517]

100 agree the only reason i would like lakai is cause they are skater owned even then, i would pick any soletec shoes over a lakai any day of the week

[@tunelowplayslow5623]

@@cronsin9517 riiiiight, imagine buying a pair of Lakais when the Reynolds 2's were sitting right there.

[@ONEBALLINMYBUTT]

I guess it’s time for everyone to grow up

[@cronsin9517]

I will never buy an adidas shoe for skating

[@armin38822]

Really well done video. But the reason why Lakai failed is becasue it was not loved withing the community anymore not becasue Marc with a C bought it. Mike and Rick lost the touch when it comes to marketing,the quality and look off the shoes. Something was not clicking and the change had to be made earlier on. And honestly today as a core skate shoe brand you have to be perfect in order to compete with the big guys. I'm just waiting for others like Emerica,Es,Fallen and few others to just go away since it just won't be profitable anymore to have a team.

[@WeeenieHutJunior]

Typically first thing PE should do is fire the incumbent CEO, worst idea ever when it’s a skate brand lol. PE should stay away from culturally rich industries

[@Skatewives]

Absolutely - PE is looking at spreadsheets, and culture-rich brands are hard to quantify

[@forevershampoo]

They havent been innovative with their shoes for a long time. It sucks because I like the brand and like Carrol. They just got boring.

[@kidkayorepouya-oj7zy]

The skate community is toxic and terrible so this is funny to see

[@DanielMaruniak]

30:55 for something to be devoid of community means that it is devoid of communityism aka communism.

[@stevesharpe3370]

This video was so disappointing. Just a couple of wealthy uptight Middle Aged yt people talking about corporate non sense.

[@DanielIvan707]

Lakai has always sucked. Once Girl started sucking it should of just closed up shop. These brands are completely dead. They had a good run but the kids don’t care you used to be cool in the 90’s/2000’s

[@Skatewives]

you've either gotta really lean into marketing nostalgia or innovate - you can't do neither

[@JeffyPDiddy]

Sad stuff

[@galvanizedgnome]

Does your wife need a boyfriend?

[@Skatewives]

lol my hands are pretty full with this husband I've got 🤪

[@HeavyNeck-oq4nt]

Why are you drinking during this

[@Skatewives]

Cause I wanted to

[@HeavyNeck-oq4nt]

@ you wanted to immediately crack a spicy water while miced up on camera very cool we get it bro you’re rich

[@Skatewives]

@@HeavyNeck-oq4nt homie they cost 40 cents per can at costco