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with 60 days left until 2006...

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vilms
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:49 am Reply with quote
Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 1070 Location: London
I'll wear some extra thick shorts then. Just in case.
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DomitianX
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 11:26 am Reply with quote
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Joined: 28 Sep 2003 Posts: 2473 Location: Faribault, MN
Its seems skateboarding or any other "fad/sport/activity" becomes a victim of its own success after a while.

When Michael Jordan was huge everybody and their mother bought Nike's and was looking for pick up games all day long everyday. Companies came out of the wood work in droves to sell, make, and design basketball stuff by the truck load.

When the home run race was huge a few years back everybody and their mother was at the local ball fields playing.

With the X-Games everyone and their mother got into skateboarding and along with them come the leeches.

Skateboarding is going to hibernate again soon. Its about that time in the cycle but there are a few things that will keep it more awake than it has been during the other lulls.

1. There are a lot of the parks that are city/county owned and operated. They dont really rely on a business model to keep them open like the private parks do. If a private park doesnt make money, they cant pay the rent and they have to close. If a city owned park doesnt make money its not as big of a deal and it can stay around longer. All the parks I skated as a kid were privately owned businesses. These days only one of the parks I skate at is a privately owned business.

2. Skating today doesnt seem to be so much of a fad like it was back in the 80's. You dont see guys like Hasselhoff dressing up in stupid day glow outfits trying to "relate" to the younger demographic. Yeah there are some pro skaters out there pimping stupid products, but you dont see the poser celebrities trying to act like they skate like you did in the 80s.

3. There is a larger base of older skaters to help keep the scene alive. Back when I was a kid the only guys that skated were kids. You didnt have Moms and Dads out there skating too. If Dad wants to go out and skate he may bring the kids with to skate too which will help keep them interested instead of telling the kids to grow up and not buying their skate gear for them anymore.

I agree though that there is going to be some consolidation in the main stream skate market. When companies like Plan B start up they come out with 500 different products which floods the market and turns their product into a generic commodity. Zoo York is another fine example. When I check out the catalogs I get from the distributors I am amazed at how many different boards/wheels/shirts/hats there are out there for each company. There is no way a shop can stock all that gear and still stay in business unless you are a company like CCS or Active.

Very few of the kids I see skating skate pro boards. They either skate price point boards, shop boards or blanks.
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skategeezer
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 1:20 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 03 Jul 2003 Posts: 1227 Location: Toronto
so, what do you do if you've built your entire business on pro decks?

this becomes a significant problem...and it will only get worse.
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MileHighSkates
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 1:32 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Posts: 2708 Location: Boulder County, CO
DomX's comment about the eBay low-ballers is extactly why we stopped carrying pro/name-brand decks under 33" long. Let someone else fight for a single-digit markup, I sure as hell ain't going to.

What the industry doesn't realize is that people WILL pay for superior performance, construction, etc. They're generally not under 18 (although some are), however, so I guess they simply don't exist in some companies' eyes. It is not uncommon for my customers to buy, build, and ride $200+ longboards.

Educating people on different products' strengths takes time, and too many people are looking for the quick buck. When people understand the power of "value add," it's a whole 'nother ballgame.
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DomitianX
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 2:19 pm Reply with quote
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Joined: 28 Sep 2003 Posts: 2473 Location: Faribault, MN
I place alot of blame on outfits like RAX that will give anyone an account and dont enforce any real price control with these guys. To make any real change the manufacturers need to have some price control with the distributors that need to have some price control with their customers.

Also, distributors shouldnt be undercutting their customers either. It irks me to no end when I see distros like Eastern and others sell direct to customers for less than most shops charge. There should be some enforcement by the manufacturers that you can be either a distributor or a shop but not both.

There are some decent distributors out there, but there are also alot that really dont care.

But like MileHigh said, its all about the quick buck.

Quote:
What the industry doesn't realize is that people WILL pay for superior performance, construction, etc. They're generally not under 18 (although some are), however, so I guess they simply don't exist in some companies' eyes. It is not uncommon for my customers to buy, build, and ride $200+ longboards.


I think thats one of the problems as well. The Industry hasnt woken up to the fact that there is an older generation out there that will pay a premium price for premium product. One of the points in my previous post is that there really never was a strong contingent of older skaters until recently. I dont think they know how to handle that yet.

Sure they reissue all the boards to make some cash on nostalgia and all that, but I dont think they have really opened their eyes to the older skater yet. For the most part, the older guys are the ones that are going to spend the most money and kids are going to spend as little as possible. Myself, I dont have any problem dropping $55-$60 for a board of decent quality. My son would never spend that much money since that can be 2 to 3 weeks wages at his part time job. He would buy the cheapest board he could and spend the rest on something else. And I think thats the only mentality the big companies are marketing towards.
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MileHighSkates
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 3:09 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Posts: 2708 Location: Boulder County, CO
DomitianX wrote:
I place alot of blame on outfits like RAX that will give anyone an account and dont enforce any real price control with these guys. To make any real change the manufacturers need to have some price control with the distributors that need to have some price control with their customers.

Also, distributors shouldnt be undercutting their customers either. It irks me to no end when I see distros like Eastern and others sell direct to customers for less than most shops charge. There should be some enforcement by the manufacturers that you can be either a distributor or a shop but not both.

There are some decent distributors out there, but there are also alot that really dont care.


Amen, brother. When someone who isn't old enough to drive gets a wholesale account, something is seriously wrong.
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skategeezer
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 3:27 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 03 Jul 2003 Posts: 1227 Location: Toronto
these are excellent points that are being raised

ironic, that some of the very companies that railed against the big five (for all kinds of practices they felt were unjust) have now become like the very companies they once vilified.

skateboarding is about progression...but progression in ALL areas...product, distribution, rider demographics etc etc.

wonder if the powers that be are reading these posts.?...
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Cappy
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 4:28 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 13 Sep 2005 Posts: 11580 Location: Cloud cuckoo land
DomitianX wrote:

Also, distributors shouldnt be undercutting their customers either. It irks me to no end when I see distros like Eastern and others sell direct to customers for less than most shops charge. There should be some enforcement by the manufacturers that you can be either a distributor or a shop but not both.

There are some decent distributors out there, but there are also alot that really dont care.

In Germany i found only one decent distributer who also sells stuff like skaterbuilt, cohort etc.. If a had not him, i dont know where to get my skatestuff. The hell, i cant get in a skateshop here and buy a bigger Board than 8", trucks wider then that or wheels bigger than 58mm. And thats not only my city here in germany.
I talked a lot to my local Shoppeople, and they are fine with me, that i buy direct from a distributer. They dont stock that stuff, because they dont see a market in other stuff and second they can not get what they want, only what the Ceo are willing to ship is from us to germany.
I can tell you, we have the ugly/boring skategraphicsboards and shirts here what you ever seen. On the graphics you see who is making the decisions, a non skateboarder !!

I'm reallly looking forward that the "streetfactor" and everything what comes with that (blanks etc) is going to die.
Skateboarding must be splitted again in pool/vert, freestyle, slalom, street and other pro riders - who skates for there joy and skatecompany and not making the clown for a shoe or whateverfashionlabel.

_________________
...O...................O.....
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mealsonwheels
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 8:16 am Reply with quote
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Joined: 26 Apr 2004 Posts: 7296 Location: Geelong Australia
...well with '06 only days away, I was absolutely flabbergasted today when I rocked up to the lightly populated local skatepark to see four 13-15 year old kids riding huge pigs with mini cubics etc.

After first reading your prediction a few weeks ago, I have thought about it a lot and with this recent sighting, I'm convinced you are onto something.

I spoke to the dudes (all mates) and they told me how they were stoked to finally get their boards for Christmas and said they were sick of the attitude of both the skaters and BMXers at this park. I know what they mean - there is a certain click going down there (being 30 and of reasonably strong build, the tight jean brigade just gets out of my way and puts up with my old school style ).

They found not being pressured to do all the tricks and to be able to just cruise around and carve up the bowl and banks (In shorts! Heaven forbid ) with their own style was what they had been looking for in skating.

I was stoked to see this and to finally see some free thinking from some sub 20 Y/O skaters. Their cess slides were a pleasure to watch between the flipping madness

I'm probably way off the thread topic now, but what I saw today just solidified a few things for me after thinking about the direction of skating for the last few weeks.

Cheers,
mow
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gamby
Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:21 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 05 May 2003 Posts: 4925 Location: No Prov RI
Here we are, at the dawn of the emercgence of skategeezer's cryptic predictions.

I tell ya. There was a poll ahwhile back about what was the best year for deck design/shape. A few said 2005. Now, more than ever, I agree. The variety of wood that can be had now is staggering. Despite the potential loss of Indy 169s and 215's from the market ( ), we can basically get any shape we want (reish, custom shapers, and stuff like the Stereo Raygun 2) and run it on any wheels we want. It's pretty fucking awesome.

Very strange to hear about groms on pigs, though. Cool at the same time.
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