Also, one simply cannot deny the quality of the product being released by big brands. Nike managed to produce by far the most popular skateboarding shoe in recent memory with the Janoski, a shoe that has proved to be so successful that Nike bought the rights to the word “Janoski” off pro skater Stefan Janoski before allowing the shoe be customized to one’s own tastes on the Nike website alongside other non-skate Nike classics like the Air Max and Dunk. The sheer amount of technology at the disposal of Nike and their ilk has even motivated other core skater-owned brands to up the quality of their output, Lakai being the most regularly used example, out of fear of being driven out of business like one of the 90s and 00s most recognisable shoe brands És and relative newcomer Gravis, the home of Dylan Rieder’s notorious seemingly elf-inspired “formal” skate shoe.
So, all things considered, New Balance’s desire to get in on the act is no great surprise, but there are nuances particular to New Balance’s upcoming launch that are unquestionably curious, and could be soon to mark a shift in how an outsider athletic brand like New Balance goes about ingratiating itself with the quick-to-complain skateboarding community. Instead of entering the market as an autonomous entity with their own network of distributors (which one would imagine would they would have the capabilities for), they have partnered with Jamie Thomas’ Blackbox distribution, home to Zero, Mystery and $lave skateboards and, perhaps more interestingly, Jamie Thomas’ own footwear brand “Fallen”. Thomas himself was one of the leading voice’s in criticising various skaters for inking sponsorship deals with big name outsider companies to the perceived detriment of skater-founded shoe or clothing companies, and this willing collaboration with New Balance seems to be remarkably out of character.
The most significant distinction to be made here, though, is that though for years now countless skaters have parted ways with smaller companies in favour of aligning themselves with the big athletic shoe brands, Thomas and Blackbox’s relationship with New Balance seems to be the first time a company owner appears to have decided to work alongside the big corporate interlopers that are supposedly putting the small skater-owned brands out of business.
The line between skater-owned and “corporate” brands has never previously been blurred to this degree. Throughout the various press releases and trade interviews, Thomas and Blackbox’s involvement in New Balance’s launch has remained somewhat nebulous though financially speaking it seems Thomas has nothing to lose as such considering he doesn’t appear to be taking any great risk other than perhaps subverting his and his various brand’s reputations as being for-skaters by-skaters. New Balance also appear to have put themselves in a position to pick the brain of an individual who has unquestionably been hugely successful in the business side of skateboarding as well as the practical jumping off/down massive yokes side of things.
