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When news reached these shores that Lakai had been sold and the entire team had left, we have to admit we thought it was done. We're not going to get into the politics of the whole shindig but the release of this new 'Lakai in Tokyo' and, by proxy, the announcement of a new team suggests that is not the case.
Similar to the unaffectionately and colloquially titled Newprint (Blueprint after it was sold to Max Dufour's Pure Distribution) a whole new team on a legacy brand rightfully draws consternation. But the quality of previous output from filmer/editor Luis Mora is strong and so we felt we had to at least give this a chance. Factor in Bastien Salabanzi as one of the new riders and our interest was definitely piqued!
Bastien is joined in Japan (we used up all the country's nicknames in the Shingo Ogura write-up!) by Roman Hager, Gabryel Aguilar and Jumpei Tsutsumi and the skating is obviously good. The brand will no doubt have to do a lot more to convince fans of its former iteration that it has a valid place in skateboarding but, as far as relaunches go? Well, we still remember Josh Love and Cameron Wetzler...
