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Companies come and go, and on the odd occasion one manages to hold on tight for the rocky and submissive ride of the industry, Etnies have become one of the rarities of being skateboarding through and through, whilst setting itself in concrete with an identity we recognise.
The free styling Frenchman Pierre Andre Senizergues (Etnies founder and owner) has always had a deep passion for skateboarding, he began his development of nourishing skateboarding after a huge popularity crash in the late 70's. All this quickly changed through the early 80's, skateboarding took a positive growth through out Europe and the rest of the world. Pierre decided he would use the movement and begin writing a skateboard magazine 'Skate info', with a group of friends using a Parisian priest's photocopier and typewriter, they began to connect the skate scenes through out France to build it from the foundations up, from level to level. The mid 80's saw skateboarding coming fully in to its own, stepping away from its surfing influences, pioneering fashions and tricks becoming more advanced. From this explosive time Pierre decided to take a leap and migrate to California where he would try and "live the dream" skate everyday! For Pierre this was a slow burner, living homeless for a time, sleeping rough on the streets or in his car, he found that a lot of skaters were in the same boat, including the Gonz! After a few months of living in California, he returned to France, on his journey he met an established shoe manufacturer which had 200 years of history under its belt. Pierre used this link to produce Etnics, the predecessor of what was quickly renamed to Etnies, this new skate shoe brand was taken to the USA where it rocketed in to the Etnies we know today...
Watch the two chapters from The Berrics and delve into the inspirational history of Etnies shoes.
