Parker: “Surf Can’t Let Nothin’ Die!”

Do you like big shoes from the nineties?

A few weeks ago our own Chasbert “Hot Tip” Smith clued us in to DC’s renewed attempt to earn some money off surfing.

DC Comes Back to Surf. Read here! 

Today everyone’s confirming it. Ashton Goggans, looking slick in a pair of cuffed jeans, interviewed Bruce Irons on Facebook this morning. Bruce says he’s back on DC, earning a buck by being himself. Leo Firovanti, Kanoa Igarashi, and Zeke Lau are joining him, presumably because they already ride for Quiksilver.

Curious thing, big floundering surf giant owning a skate company. Surf can’t let nothin’ die. Keep trying and trying. Losing and losing. Not like DC’s a relevant brand in the tail end of the second decade of the twenty first century. Late 90’s, early oughts, that shit was hot. Now not.

TWS Business has an, at times, curiously worded article on the subject.

Six years later in 2004, with Bob McKnight at the helm, Quiksilver acquired DC Shoes in an attempt to collectively bolster the synergies between the two brands… Fast forward three bumpy years, and DC Surf is back—admiring the mere hiatus the program and some of its founding members took to—let’s just say—wait out the storm. “It’s something that’s been in our DNA since the category launched in ’98,” said Jeff Taylor, senior vice president of global brand and marketing at DC Shoes. “We never lost sight of it.” 

Not that DC was ever really a surf co. A spin off of long defunct Droors Clothing, Quik lost big trying to cash in on the tail end of the last big skate boom.

Curious thing, big floundering surf giant owning a skate company. Surf can’t let nothin’ die. Keep trying and trying. Losing and losing. Not like DC’s a relevant brand in the tail end of the second decade of the twenty first century. Late 90’s, early oughts, that shit was hot. Now not.

Pretty sure it’s the same in skating. Could be wrong. Don’t follow the planks with wheels too closely anymore.

I highly doubt their newly rediscovered interest in salt water types will last long. Dip their toes in, pull out when the cash don’t flow. Maybe try again later.

Like Nike.

On the subject of companies that sponsor surfers but aren’t really surf co’s, time to include Quik on the list. Snowboards, skateboards, shoes. Owned by an investment management firm. Even Wikipedia calls it an “American retail sporting company.”

Yeah, the dudes who work their may like surf, but the majority shareholder sure don’t give a fuck.