By Mike Lewis
Sat, Mar 10 2012 12:52 am | 0 views | Comments Editor's Note: Our new Sunday BIZ section includes in depth features, interviews, and reports that dive deep into the issues and personalities shaping the industry—bringing the girth of a Sunday paper without a trip to the driveway or sawing down trees.
Pierre-André Senizergues with the Fall '12 etnies Bledsoe Low. Photo: Lewis
Almost 30 years ago a young French skater named Pierre-André Senizergues came to the States with big dreams and an even bigger pool of talent and ambission. Senizergues's story spawned from humble beginnings—he launched his career working at TransWorld SKATEboarding, sleeping in a car in the parking lot, before going on to not only become a pro skater and World Champion, but one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the industry.
Senizergues' first brand, etnies, is celebrating its 25th anniversary last year, and along that journey he has gone on to launch four more labels, shutter one, and seen numerous economic cycles, fads, and trends. During the roller coaster ride of life, Senizergues has stayed true to his vision of making the sport of skateboarding more sustainable for the people passionate about it, and the world a better place. We caught up with Senizergues earlier this year in Orange County, California for a look back on the ride, the lessons learned along the way, and what he has up his sleeve for the next 25…
You've been in the industry a long time as an athlete and entrepreneur – why did you originally get into the business side of it?
I've been in this industry for over 30 years. At one point, I decided that I needed a shoe that could perform so it doesn't get destroyed in one minute, something that can be more durable. I wanted to create something to help skateboarding grow.
I was thinking shoes can be sustainable for the sport because everybody wears them. If you can make really good shoes for skateboarding, but at the same time that other people can wear, it creates a platform for sustainability for skateboarding as a whole.
From skating to trees, Senizergues's roots are definitely showing.
You've seen a lot of economic cycles over that time. In the past, when the market dipped, it was more about fads, but recently it's been more about the economy. Where is skateboarding at now?
I've seen the up of seventies, the fall of the seventies, the up of the eighties, the fall of the eighties. Starting the cycle again now is really an economic challenge, which is different than the cycle before because the industry is much bigger now.
During 2008 to 2011, the economy contracted in general. I think the industry needed to be more efficient, and I think in general the industry is probably more efficient as a whole now. The industry has had to contract and had to make cuts, had to become more and more efficient and it had to settle itself better for 2012.
Do you think we've gotten to more or less the right size?
As an industry we're better set for 2012. I see a strong possibility that the US will come back now—there are some signs already. For Sole Tech, we decided there's probably too many brands on the market right now, too much choice for the consumer; too much choice for the retailer; too much choice for distributors, so we have to look at really choosing better. Being more focused.
That's one of the reasons, in 2011, we decided to put éS on hiatus. It is a very strong brand, but there are too many brands so we need to focus. We see growth in Emerica, we see growth in Altamont, we see growth in etnies, and we see growth in ThirtyTwo already in 2012. I think it was the right move, putting one aside and focusing on the others.
It's really easy to say that the market needs to contract a bit to the right size, but normally when people say that they're talking about putting their competitors out of business and not looking internally at what they can do to better focus their efforts. That's a good example of looking internally to get the size correct, market wise.
Yeah, exactly. People always focus on things that are out of their control. You can't control everything. You can just focus on what you can control.
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