DC SHOES
Nothing better than wearing shoes from a brand that is concerned with the performance of skaters during the maneuvers. The history of DC SHOES is essentially the history of modern skate shoes. Practically ubiquitous with its initials stamped on shoes and caps on tracks and skate competitions, the American brand has become a powerhouse in the extreme sports segment offering products with a high level of innovation and technology to increase the performance of athletes, whether professional or amateur.
The story
The story began in 1989 with a series of accidents. That year, Ken Block, then 22, abandoned his career as an architect to become a snowboarder and started producing a line of screen-printed shirts. Shortly thereafter, in 1991, he joined his friend Damon Way, a skateboarder who had suffered a severe head trauma that shook his dream of becoming professional. Both started a prestigious clothing brand called Eightball Clothing, which became popular in skate shops. After hiring the father of a friend, Blehm Clay, to help expand the company, the following year, the huge success led to the creation of a line of jeans under the brand Droors Clothing. The appearance of the Droors Clothing Shoes brand in 1993 was the result of the thought of these two young people that skaters, as well as other sportsmen, also needed specific shoes, so that the practice became more comfortable and the performance was improved, thus providing athletes competed at a high level.
The first batch of new sneakers was manufactured by the renowned Vans, but the bad finish did not please the owners of the company, much less skaters. In view of this, the brand was renamed DC SHOES and its sneakers (initially two different models) started to be manufactured by the French company Etnies. In 1994 the brand innovated by introducing lace protectors, known as Lace Loops. This was a small step for tennis in general, but a big leap for shoes aimed at skateboarding, thus avoiding accidents. From then on, DC SHOES continued to develop all its products focused on technological innovation and style, always aiming for the maximum performance of athletes. One of the fundamental factors for the enormous initial success of the shoes and consolidation of the brand in the market was the endorsement of the pair of professional skaters Colin McKay and Danny Way (Damon's younger brother and creator of Mega Rampa).
The result of all these actions can be felt in 1996, when the company, then with 50 employees and sponsoring eight professional athletes, earned US $ 21 million. In the following years, DC began to launch specific products, especially footwear, for other action sports, such as snowboarding, surfing, BMX and even motoring. In addition, he has assembled world-renowned teams in various extreme sports. With that, the sponsored athletes raised the brand name by developing, testing and signing products in conjunction with DC, thus giving great support to the company's promotional efforts. In 1999, after launching its first advertising campaign on television, DC SHOES added to its product line children's shoes.
At the beginning of the new millennium, DC SHOES shoes were sold in specialized and multi-brand stores in many countries around the world. After producing more than 2 million pairs of sneakers in 2001, the brand became so important on the skaters' scene that, the following year, its entire history became a book, Agents of Change - The story of DC Shoes and its athletes, written by journalist Eric Blehm. With the expansion of the brand, other projects were developed such as Artist Projects, Double Label Projects and Remix Series. Culturally, these projects are as relevant as the models signed by professional athletes, demonstrating a strong influence of street artists and musicians. With that, musicians and artists adopted the brand's products in their shows and presentations, exposing DC SHOES to all types of audiences, thus conquering new consumers. This also aroused women's interest in the brand's products, which led to the launch of a line specifically developed for women.
The huge success in front of an increasing consumer audience caught the attention of the traditional Quicksilver, which on March 9, 2004 ended up acquiring DC SHOES for the amount of US $ 87 million. In June 2007, the brand officially landed in Brazil to continue doing the same work it does worldwide. He assembled a strong team of athletes formed by Alex Carolino, Filipe Ortiz and Carlos Iqui, three great names in Brazilian skateboarding, and gradually gained confidence to carry out a unique work and with a special audience for the world skate scene. Innovation remains the company's main focus, as in the DC SHOES PURE tennis model, which brings Dynamic Grip sole technology that makes each part of the shoe have a different hardness for different functions. In the beak, the rubber is softer for ollie and flip maneuvers; on the heel, where wear is greatest, it is harder. The upper part, in synthetic leather and nubuck with padded inner part, provides a soft contact with the skin.
As innovation is a priority for DC, a snow research and development center, Mountain Lab, is located near Park City in Utah. In this advanced laboratory, snowboard athletes, designers and the brand's product team work together to keep DC within their focus, developing boots and clothes to practice the sport.
Mind-blowing marketing
DC SHOES has always stood out for its bold and creative marketing actions. In some of them the protagonist is Ken Block himself, one of the main rally drivers in the world since 2005, founder and boss of DC SHOES, who loves to challenge the danger to promote the clothing and footwear brand. The first successful project was launched in November 2008 with the video Ken Block Gymkhana Practice (click here to watch), where the pilot shows his flying skills at an air base in California. The enormous success of the first video (seen by over 13 million Internet users) led to the launch on June 1, 2009 of Gymkhana Two, where Ken Block shows a demonstration of expertise and total skill in drift, a vehicle driving technique with rear-wheel drive that consists of sliding in curves escaping the rear.
No resources were spared for the production of this mind-blowing promotional video. The location was the port of Los Angeles, with filming that lasted 4 days, involving dozens of professionals to capture the entire Ken Block journey made on board a 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STi, properly prepared and tuned by the company Crawford Performance to reach the 570 horsepower and sideways, drifting in the most natural way possible. The more than 5 minutes of performance are absolutely stunning, with controlled skids to fill the eyes of those who appreciate technical and aggressive driving, 'thin' the width of a hair and Hollywood special effects. Check out the video by clicking on the icon below.