DAMON WAY - DC SHOES

Back in the early Nineties, you met Ken Block and started working together on a few projects, notably Eightball, Droors and Dub, which were pretty successful. Then in 1993 you started DC shoes. What enticed you guys into the footwear business?
In 1993 we realized that there was nothing that interesting happening with skateboard footwear. The product and marketing for these brands at that time lacked imagination and were stalled in a cycle of complacency, which resulted in product being produced that was mediocre at best. So we acted by introducing an entirely new point of view with product design, marketing/advertising and the way our skateboard team was managed. This seemed to wake the industry up pretty quickly, which resulted in our competitors at the time, including start-ups, to assimilate to our mode almost immediately. We could feel the competitive bar being raised and a new era of skateboarding unfolding in front of us… A very exciting time from 1994-1997.

I’m thinking that at this time most kids were skating in Vans, Vision, Airwalk or maybe Clydes and Superstars or something. But you were right there - what was the skate shoe biz like at this stage?
Partially answered before, but to add on: Airwalk actually had an interesting period during the late ‘80s where they were introducing shoes that were more than a cup sole and a bland suede upper. They had a number of styles that were actually pretty creative in design and then they ended up going too far down the fashion road, which appeared to partially lead to their demise. Vans, at that time was still heavily weighted towards their vulcanised styles that ultimately fell out of favour as we moved into the ‘90s. Vision Street Wear had already come and gone by then and Etnies was just getting started. I never really saw many kids skating in Clydes or Superstars... It must have been an East Coast thing.