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MD:
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A P.O.P.?
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LM:
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Yeah it’s just like the surfing industry. Surf boards stopped selling like 25 years ago and they just became a point of purchase of a store.
Like you walk into a surf shop and you buy clothes. Surfing did that and all there is are local surfers that sell boards to local guys and
that’s what skateboarding turned into. The Firm sold skateboards. So we’re competing with…. I went on a tour with Duane Peters and those
guys and at every demo there’s like 100 kids maybe and like over 18 days … about 1800 kids… I counted like 5 or 6 pro boards of riders. One Koston.
I see 1800 kids and I see one Koston Pfffttt… and I’m like what I loved and what I want to be involved in doesn’t exist. And part of doing Flip is
trying to make certain teams stronger and other teams drop off so we might have that again. Where the dudes that are really making a difference and
really having an influence might sell boards. That’s what I love about skateboarding is those guys that really influence it.
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MD:
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What do you make of a few things in the industry that can be making things weaker. There’s shop decks, there’s team logo decks, but now there’s also
outsourcing to China and to Mexico. Do you have any thoughts on that?
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LM:
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It’s already done. It’s been done for years. World Industries has been making boards in China for 7 or 8 years. There’s not much to think about it.
It’s where the product is being made.
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MD:
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We’re starting to see a little bit of a back lash and they’re trying to unite under the American flag and buy American. Is that just hype?
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LM:
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That’s just people that have woodshops here trying to get somebody to believe in what they’re selling. It’s all the same wood. It’s all the same glues.
It’s just a matter of control and stuff. Sure I’d rather have it made here but it’s unrealistic to stay in business to make stuff here. Now the shops are
buying it. No kid cares. A kid can kickflip El Toro 20 stairs on a $9 Chinese board or a $25 American board. It’s the same thing...it’s going to snap in a week. I don’t know.
Product from the 1980’s is the best. That’s what I think. It’s all interesting, it’s neat, it wasn’t really high performance, it really meant something,
you knew what it was. It was cool. But that’s not what it is anymore.
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MD:
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What do you think is the difference right now compared to then and now?
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LM:
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Skateboarding is not young anymore. It’s become what it’s become. If you look at anything <long pause>...it kinda follows the same thing. Baseball is
the same thing. It was kids playing stick ball or whatever in the streets. Local governments were scared kids would get hurt so they started making diamonds
and fields everywhere and it became this pastime. Then it became a sport and people went and watched the event and kids went and mimicked it and had fun.
Product was really expensive and they slowly figured out that they can make it anywhere and the prices slowly came down from specialty shops down to any toy
store. Now people just play to play. It’s following the same thing. Skateboarding isn’t young anymore. It’s matured. I’m not saying it’s bad at all.
It’s rad. It’s just different.
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MD:
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Back in the day you could pick up any board and just by looking at it from the top you could tell who’s board it is based on the shape...and graphics would
stay with you for years and years and years. Now a graphic is changing every 3 months. Do graphics matter any more?
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LM:
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There’s a part of the market that it does, yes. The rider does matter. The graphics do matter but just the state of the way things are has changed. If you
change a board, a shop is going to buy it and if you keep it they’re not. But all that stuff can change. As the skateboarding pro market gets smaller
and smaller the cream of the crop is going to rise. The people who matter are going to sell more boards and their graphic is going to stay out longer.
It’ll come back. It just got over saturated with stuff that didn’t matter. Even though it was the professionals promoting it, it wasn’t being focussed
on so much where the kids can actually know who they’re into; they’re just into skateboarding.
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MD:
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Do graphics matter to you?
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LM:
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Oh yeah!
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MD:
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In what way?
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LM:
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They give the identity of the brand and the rider and what it’s all about.
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MD:
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If we go back to your Powell days, you talked fairly openly about how there wasn’t much choice in what your graphics were.
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LM:
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There was a bit of it. I think graphics matter cuz it’s like uhh… first of all… no matter who you are as a skater; they all want to turn pro and
they all want to have their board. People can deny it but if that’s what they’re chasing to be sponsored and have that board with your name on it is
what everyone chases. So when you have that opportunity to have that, you really care what’s on it...the first time. Now that boards change every 3
months maybe the kids care less and less and they’re looking for the cheque. But umm...on Powell...uh...I had choice. They just said "Hey.
How about this?". I was all "uhh… I didn’t really like that".
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MD:
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What was that? The Staecyk face?
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LM:
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It never even came out. They just had ideas. I kind of had an idea of what I wanted. Gave it to them. They said "Uhh it doesn’t really fit."
I was all "Well that’s kinda weird"...cuz it did fit.
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