Ware and Tare

I'm just going to try to help you understand something about skateboarding. Both the photos below are of products that I have only skated twice. I ripped the shoe lace, then put on a new shoe lace, ripping another shoe lace the next day skating. The sides of the shoe are worn down, a couple my weeks of skating, there will be a nice hole in the side of them. The shoes are perfect though, they skate great and are super flexible with lots of board feel. The skateboard deck below is really scratched up (which is normal) but it has a chip in the end of the nose from street skating already. The shoes cost me $35 and the board cost me $35. Most skaters pay $60 for their shoes and another $60 for their boards! I search all over online trying to find the cheapest stuff. However online companies will put all the local skate shops out of business. My friend is starting a local skate company called Prison City Skateboards, selling his decks for about $30 each. He will not make much profit, but he is dedicated to helping the local skaters, which will probably help him to break a little better then even.

Fallen Fortes Jamie Thomas Signature shoe.

Given Skateboard Team Model deck art by Kris Markovich.

Something that is interesting that their are many great skaters in the world, but the best aren't making that much money. The ones who are making all the money are sell outs into the fashion/entertainment industry. Skaters like Rob Dyrdek have million dollar skate facilities for their t.v. show. Yet, you hardly see any skating on their shows. While the skaters who are amazing at skateboarding are receiving very little credit for the things they do. They don't have the movie star face/life styling, but they are living what a real skateboarder is. Ad's in skate magazines have started to go from showing a skater doing a sick trick, with their product, to having girls dressed half naked with their product. I thought skateboarding was about skateboarding not girls? There are some great skaters like Eric Koston and Steve Berra who are trying to fix that over at The Berrics, with different things they do. They are trying to bring skateboarding back to skateboarding, getting the pros to get the cash they deserve for their talents, not their Hollywood lifestyle. Just a little skateboarding politics to think about, especially if you are a skateboarder...