|
HS: You mentioned that you’ve skated in the shoes a couple times, and I wondered how the process of testing shoes has changed over time with etnies?
Pierre-Andre: Skateboarding has really evolved over the last 20 years. At the beginning, the first etnies were pretty big shoes with big rubber cap toes. They evolved in the mid-90s from high tops to low tops. Then again, they were pretty puffy in the late-90s, which came with the baggy pants and other things that fit with the shoes. Entering the 2000s, things get slimmer and slimmer, and now the shoes are quite slim, again to fit with the style of denim. They are slimmer, so to is the shoe.
What is happening with skate shoes, they are always ahead of the new trends that are coming. Skateboarders being in the street, just like an artist or painter, they are always ahead of the curve. Knowing what’s coming up, and what’s cool. They always have an idea of challenging convention and revamping how things are made. We are the same.
Overall, the trend and the fashion, it is always something that makes sense.
The other component for etnies is minimizing the carbon footprint. And, this is for Etnies and Soletech, we plan to be carbon neutral by 2020. This means we will release no CO2. For future generations it allows for better air, and we will have a more humanized world.
HS: Going back to the shoe itself, where there any specific design inspirations?
Pierre-Andre: On the process, we always start with getting the team together. In this case, Busy P and SO Me. In the beginning, the design from So Me was just a scribble on a piece of paper. This is the way it should happen. You have to have comebacks with the paper and the pen to really design, to create. We went back and forth. We talked about the idea first five years ago, but because we are all very busy, it took along time to get to where we are. I think the result is amazing, and the shoe works very well. It really was something where we went back and forth.
Pedro: It’s a long time coming, but it is relevant to way we live our lives in music and in skateboarding.
|
|
|
