Euro Skate Shoe Market 2008

18 Apr 2008

Brethrens and sistrens, gathering these Ten Commandments didn’t require anybody to climb up a high and dangerous mountain. Yet yes, the road was rocky, some replies scarce. However, the truth ended up manifesting itself. What was the Euro shoe market like in 2007? What’s in store for the Holiday 08? Twenty main brands and a handful of shops enlighten us with their wisdom. Gospel written by Seb Carayol.


Commandment I: The USA Thou Shalt Not Always Imitate
Cliché and Blueprint lead the way, the feet just followed. Now the classic skate footwear companies pay attention to the subtleties of the old continent, while the Euro-born ones struggle for recognition. Besides Rip Curl, who boasts their own fully European catalogue, Globe is still ahead in the Euro-awareness game, and according to Euro Sales Commercial Director, Laurence Poole, will be developing Europe-only models such as “the Encore (their best-seller last season incidentally), the Asbo, the Focus, the Magnum mid plus lots of specific colours, special make ups”. A stance soon to be adopted at another Euro-active company, Element, (who’s past highlights include a pro-model deck for Mickael Mackrodt). Although Euro Marketing Director Phil Lalemant declined to be more specific than this, “We will, this year, it’s too early to tell which ones though”. For their part, Vans has a plan - it will offer a Chukka Low interpretation to Austrian Chris Pfanner.

Apart from these kinds of initiative, it is mostly all cosmetic: éS has issued its Euro-only Accel TT Deluxe, Emerica its Francis Blueprint, Osiris its Troma and Merks in different colourways, and DC its Fighter Mach S European collective. Not forgetting also that Podium put out a set of “UK shop series” within its Original Intent Line, plus some Lakai Jensen/ Brady released worldwide. And they did well outside Europe, which has an explanation. “Obviously the Royal Fam and the French connection are made up from riders from Blueprint and Cliché - two brands that are now well respected globally,” Matt Anderson explains. “Whenever collaborations are done with both of these groups it is always well received in the US.”

For the rest, it’s all a matter of counting what works and what doesn’t. Adio noticed that so far, “High tops have worked in the US but not here”, while the Lakai/DVS camp observed that “the US can sell lots of EVA running shoes and we can only sell a few”, and DC couldn’t help but remark that airbag technology and bigger shoes sell better in the US.

How to adapt to Europe’s taste? Some companies don’t really need to wonder, for they are from Europe. At Mcarta’s, the UK-based, politically-minded brand, director Bob Rasool plays the smaller company card to the max, “In 2008, we will offer custom print of shoes at extra cost, through the retailers,” he promises. Seems to be working too, he claims a 27% growth in the past year. Not as impressive as the “more than 100% growth” allegedly experienced by Swiss company Oro, who “believe in the real European fitting”. Yet... for local brands, being noticed is the key. Straight outta Germany, Sykum has found a way to stand out, for 2008, brand manager, Johannes Furst predicts that one of his top three selling colours, as in 2007, will be purple!

Commandment II: Towards The East Thou Shalt look
Julien Duval is ecstatic. Well, almost. “Russia has the growth pattern of the late 90s, early 2000s,” C1rca’s Marketing Manager for Europe explains. “It’s like kids are discovering skateboarding.” No surprise then that in the past year, the country has become the biggest market for Osiris too, as International Sales Manager Jimmy Mokry stresses – Mother Russia is no longer just an exotic, delirious all-marble playground for touring US pros. Some brands also mention the Czech Republic as one of their strongest places. For Adio’s rep Stephan Beckman, the country is the biggest outlet, while Fallen’s International Sales Manager, Brian Howard states that the Republic now plays in the same field as Italy, Spain and Germany.

Even with this new Eldorado rising in the East, old Europe hasn’t gone to sleep. Although everyone agrees that sales have slowed down (albeit having now stabilised), the traditional markets are still going strong. For Globe, the UK has been the best in the past year, while Germany remains strongest for Emerica/éS, while for Element and Rip Curl France stays big. Having their European offices based in France certainly helped these last two, as it did in Supra’s case, where Europe MD, Steve Veytia claims that the most rock-star of all shoes brands sold strongest in France, UK and Spain.

Not to be outdone by the rise of the eastern territories, the south of the continent also faired well for some brands. Vans Product Director, René Nay confirmed that the past year saw record sales (rumour has it they outsold everybody else in Europe), and that “the biggest growth came from southern markets like Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal.” Relative newcomer Dekline confirmed strong sales in southern countries too and saw Spain as its biggest income generator, while Etnies claimed Italy as their No. 1 sales patch.

Comandment III: Thy Cupsole Thou Shalt Not Have Been
Thrown In The Trash
Thought they were so passé, déjà-worn? Well, after a few years’ hiatus, eclipsed by the heel-crushing, vulcanised low-tech, the cup sole is back. But it’s learnt its lesson, and tries to not sacrifice the feel now. “Vulc’s won’t die but will slowly fade away”, DC marketing manager Tamsin Adlington envisions. “We have never had any because we have Performance Wrap Cup Sole, which looks like vulcanised but is more resistant”. The same trick was found for DVS’ Euro bestseller, the Monument Carry Hart colourway.

Almost everybody leans towards this sort of hybrid solution. Sole Technology hides impact absorbers insides its Vulc soles, Globe announces “Vulcs, but with a unique construction”, while even Fallen admits that the waffle sole “still leads the trend, with maybe a growing interest in cup soles again”. Just a backburner simmer for now, the whole world hasn’t reverted back... yet, Element stresses that its Cold Connect soles “are doing great, so we’ll keep these in the line for a while” and with Lakai’s best sellers having been their all-Vulc Select models, they don’t see a reason to shift. How about the historic pioneer of vulcanised soles, Vans? René Nay, states, “We sell 50% vulcanised styles and 50% cupsoles styles”. Even so, as an insider at Lakai / DVS admits, “bulky shoes with prominent branding still sell by the ton.” Only, not to hardcore skaters, as Vans also confirms. Not yet anyhow. René Nay adds: “We see a bigger demand of technical and bulky styles in the upcoming season.” Like it’s 1999 again!

Commandment IV: Midcut Styles Thou Shalt Wear
Dekline’s International Sales Manager, the singularly monikered Pooch loves colloquialisms. “Slip-ons are going the way of the jitterbug”, he sums up the imminent death facing the enduring trend. And Fallen’s Brian Howard agrees, “The craze is slowing a bit, probably due to the flood of them in the market place.” Everybody seems to have got the message by now, and Element also concur - last season, their Granite model (a slip-on) failed to meet sales expectations, while the Griggs (a midcut) was flying off the shelves. Lesson learnt?

For the coming season, mid-tops will be the rage, as a quick survey among the brands revealed. Only two exceptions surface, DC Europe, who see “no decrease or increase in the high top models, low tops are always the best selling model”. And at the opposite end of the spectrum, Supra’s Steve Veytia stated that, in both the US and Europe Muska’s uber-high Skytop model was the absolute bestseller of the past season, and the probable one for next season too.

Commandment V: Bright Colours Thou Shalt Like
“Those guys in the States are colour blind”, Etnies European Sales Manager Mickel Tingley only semi-jokingly reveals, regarding certain colour patterns that failed here. 2008 shouldn’t disappoint him, with most brands straddling between ultra-classic and ultra-loud. Zoo York illustrates this stance perfectly, as Rick Harrison Wolfe, VP of brand development explains, “Holiday 08 will be all about combining pop colours (think 1980s) and ‘casual’ sneakers (the use of brown and casual shoe leathers)”. And that’s maybe just the beginning, as Phil Lalemant warns, “Our Omahigh gets a lot of attention. It is Brent Atchley’s favourite shoe and we like to play with bright, 80s colour combinations on it”. Globe goes one step further, announcing “fluro colours with a retro 80s influence”, although at the same time conceding that “white, black and brown still lead”. Adio too anticipate along similar lines, announcing “more black and bright colourways”.

Dekline, along with other new brands on the Euro market, have taken note of this peculiar taste for brightness and will react accordingly. In this ocean of pop, only DC goes unfazed. “We’ll return to the classic black, white or brown, but we feel that grey will be a good colour for Holiday 08, as it is already now,” Tamsin Adlington reveals. Besides this neutral note, the future, for now, looks bright. Not to say blinding.

Commandment VI: Thy Classics Thou Shalt Cherish
Street pioneer Salman Agah recently declared, “Finally, Vans have embraced their heritage, and look... everybody is copying them”, and he was right. More generally, the recent re-issue program sparked a trend that won’t fade right away. For example, a quick question for you? What were the two bestsellers for Airwalk in Europe in 2007 according to Cyrille Ermenier, from the company’s communication department? “The Vic and the One”, first seen respectively in the mid-80s and early 90s. So why stop there? Hailing from a more recent past, the Accel did well on the market too for éS – it was Sole Technology’s bestseller on the continent in 2007, along the Reynolds 3 from Emerica.

As usual, the biggest re-issue program comes from Vans. “In addition to the huge trend in the Original Classic Slip-on’s,” says René Nay, “we face a high demand in our other original styles like the Era (designed back in 1976 by Tony Alva, popularly known as skateboarding’s first shoe!), the Authentic, the Sk8-Hi, the Old Skool, the Half Cab and the Chukka.” In other words, almost the whole collection, from 1976 to 1990. How about a Mike Carrol reissue, some day?

Commandment VII: Thy Retailers Thou Shalt Listen To
One lesson from 2007? The athletic brands haven’t totally taken over yet. As Paris’s historic skateshop Street Machine’s Gregoire Vallot broke it down, The Emerica Reynolds 3 & Leo Romero plus the eS Square One were last year’s best sellers, “with Supra in constant progress”. In another one of France’s finest shops, Wall Street in Lyon, owner Ben Gonsolin noted, “DC led by far, followed by (the) more generalist brands such as Etnies, DVS and Vans.”

That doesn’t mean that the “new kicks on the block”, as Sibs from Focus in Glasgow calls them, have lost the battle at all. Nike SB, Adidas and Emerica were his 2007 winners, and he predicts, “The Nike SB P-Rod 2 Hi’s will be huge! Also, Supra’s Skytops are always available in limited numbers but will fly out the door, especially the jazzier colourways.”

At Native in Newcastle in the north of England, a shop that chose “not to do it”, Scotty’s lists Fallen, Lakai, Adio in order of popularity and added, “seems to me people are looking for simple basic affordable shoes”.

The best sellers podium at First Love in Rome, Italy might well sum up what the future holds in the Euro market - a mix of old favourites and newcomers. For them, Nike SB sold the best in 2007, followed by Vans and Adidas.

Commandment VIII: Thou Still Shalt Cooperate
Co-branding is still going strong in Europe. Sometimes it’s so subtle it doesn’t need to say the company’s name on the shoe! Best example would be Mike Taylor’s Etnies pro-model, launching in 2008. Its logos were drawn by Don Pendleton, Alien Workshop’s classic artist – even though he subsequently left for Element. The result? Looks like an AWS co-branding, but it’s not. Tricky, huh?

No worries though. Some other companies clearly say it loud, and say it proud. Vans, for instance, has been seen as the co-branding champion in past years, co-signing shoes with Thrasher, Baker, Antihero, Alien Workshop, Independent, not to mention its pro-models for non-skaters: Prodigy, Lemmy, Ossy et al. It show no signs of slowing down either, “There will be collaborations with the real keepers of the flame in our industry in Europe”, René Nay confirms, keeping the names to himself for the moment.

Globe also rocks with Euro-pride - and came up with a limited edition Puzzle collaboration featuring eight of their best skaters. Which will all no doubt sit nicely on shelves alongside the upcoming Haslam Sabaton/Almost co-branded shoe (coming out internationally), as will be the much-anticipated Jerry Hsu/Enjoi cooperation from the Emerica camp.

Commandment IX: Money Is The Root Of All Evil, But...
While the whole concept may be fairly new for éS, for the brand was built on the notion of premium characteristics, not price. This is changing however, as two of its Euro-models will be... cheap. Scott Sentianin, the brand’s European Sales Manager, justifies thus, “Having product at all different price-point levels is super important,” he discloses, “We currently have a price-point from 65 € all the way to 120 €. The range from 65€-80€ is the volume range, this is where we do the most business. I suppose that since éS has traditionally been a higher level price-point it maybe looks strange to the retailer? Not quite sure. They definitely do not lessen the brand image, if anything, the brand gains by having more brand awareness and ultimately more shelf space on the wall.”

Over at Lakai/DVS, Mathieu Tourneur doesn’t necessarily see it that way, “a lot of retailers are after higher-priced products”, he believes. An assumption that Benoit Gonsolin from Wall Street confirmed, “The more techy, air-bubble shoes are kind of coming back, which is good in a sense because big shoes sell for 100€ and Vulcs are more in the 70€ range. So this will raise benefits for everybody, distributors included.” Another battle to be fought on the Euro field. Bring on the price war!

Commandment X: Thy Secret Weapon Thou Shalt Polish
Small ideas, if good, can prove decisive when you are a small European company. That’s the approach chosen by Sykum, Germany’s finest, who will “create socks for all our shoe models,” brand manager Johannes Furst explains. Cool, huh?

Others have decided to use a various range of deadly, lethal weapons. Which can sometimes simply take the form of a re-adjustment of the line. Besides “developing some shoes with a bit more of a casual look and feel to them to complement the slightly more matures pieces in [its] line,” Element also introduces its first Holiday collection, which will count on three shoes using organic materials. Dekline’s Holidays 08 catalogue meanwhile, will merchandise its collection in two sections: “The regular line, that includes the Riders Choices models, and then our Top Shelf Edition, which focuses on our artists collaboration styles and other funky colourways that appeal to the high-end boutiques”, Pooch clarifies.

Those very same boutiques might also like what Globe has in store for them, as Europe should be rained on with a winter line full of “bold prints, mock reptile fabrics, new plaid variations and luxury leathers”.

For the rest, eS proposes a whole lower-priced line in Europe (see Commandment IX), while Lakai doubts the Royal Fam / French Co models will be re-released again but “there will be future projects with these guys.”

Besides these specific cosmetic alterations, the Holiday 08 season in Europe should look as it does worldwide featuring, first and foremost, a handful of technological highlights, and a smattering of anticipated new styles. Emerica will launch an Aaron Suski “recycled” model; DC and Sole Tech will be using one mighty, futuristic arsenal (Super Suede, Dynamic Grip Technology for the former, Full Visibility Heel to Toe 360 degree G2O2 airbag, among other highly advanced solutions elaborated at its in-house STI Lab, for the latter). Supra is announcing its Supra Tuf technology, that will allegedly “make the uppers last three times longer”, according to Steve Veytia.

At a more grassroots level, Vans states, “We don’t lab test and use robotic feet to decide what makes a good skate shoe. We listen to our skaters”. Which prompted the launch of the Boardfeel construction, a cup sole that feels and grips like the original Vulc, only with better cushioning and support.

Osiris counts on the Duffel, Corey’s second pro-model, and on the Corpse, to “carry the Fall 08 momentum through the holidays”, while Rip Curl unveils its own armoury. As the European footwear product manager Hugo Deruères breaks it down, “We are stepping further into the eco-friendly conception with Surfsider and lefthander ‘deck shoes’ models which are part of the Rip Curl planet initiatives (a label we use only if more than 50% of the product is eco-friendly).”