Watching Big Dogs Die
Yesterday, me and m’lady went to the mall so she could get a pair of sandals… our first stop was at Payless Shoes, where I spied something that weirded me out a bit:
These are lady’s “garden clogs”, which seem to be a pretty popular cheap shoe (I’ve been seeing a lot around town)… the thing that struck me is that they’re from Airwalk… for those of us that were skating back in the the 80’s and 90’s, Airwalk was one of the big names in skateboarding footwear… Tony Hawk, Jason Lee (yeah, the actor), and lots of other big name pros rode for Airwalk, now they’re selling rubber shoes at payless? Damn! It’s almost like seeing one and old friend getting strung out on crack or something. Anyway, my surpirise wasn’t over yet… we went next door to a store called “The Shoe Depot”, where they had a rack of clogs that looked exactly the same as the ones above… I walked up and read the label, only to find that they were made by Vision Street Wear… another huge name in skate shoes back in the day. At one point and time, I’m betting that nearly every skater over the age of 25 rocked at least one pair of Visions… now they’re forced to pay the bills by selling junk shoes at the mall. It’s kind of sad, but at the same time, it’s just as good… both Airwalk and Vision, who were rooted in skateboarding, chose to make money the number one priority in their businesses, forgetting that skateboarding was what made them the giant comanies that they became… now they’re just sellouts… nothing more than brands that are stamped onto junk products. I just figured I’d throw that out there.
On an unrelated note, the Hammond Daily Star’s Sunday edition (today’s paper) has a Reader’s Choice survey in the back of it… I’m a survey-filling nerd, so I’m putting Small Time’s name down in every category that it fits (I’d mark Small Time’s as my favorite place to buy produce, but I can’t honestly say I’ve ever picked up a head of lettuce from Kerry). The results will be published in a future version of the paper, so if you’re inclined to mark down the shop in the sections that fit, it’d be rad to see. If you don’t want to do that, then you can make a really big paper airplane out of it and see how far it floats.
Ok, sorry for the ramble, it’s Sunday and I need some more coffee. Peace!
July 9th, 2006 at 2:30 pm
Yeah that airwalk\vision clog thing is f’d up but im rockin a pair of airwalks right now (and not those cheap jcpenny shoes either) and they aint that bad so airwalk still has the capabillity to make good shoes.
July 10th, 2006 at 7:42 am
Oh yeah, no doubt about it iceman… I’m not knocking your kicks, I’m really just weirding out on the fact that they’ve gone on to make so many shoes that don’t relate to skateboarding… it’s weird seeing a brand like that everywhere all of a sudden, especially when at one point, you could only get ‘em at skateshops.
July 10th, 2006 at 11:01 am
Yeah no doubt and i always wanted to get my hands on a pair Visions but i coud never find any
July 29th, 2006 at 6:20 pm
I saw those very same garden shoes myself… Being an “old School ” as my son calls me.. my sweetr daughter says mommy dont you have a bunch of those airwalks. Told her nothing lookin lookin like thoose!!! Shite blose me away!! on sale 8 bucks!!! she wanted some I just paid 45.00 for some vans. and those visions I still have an old pair ..lol they have holes in the side from olieing and they are the cow print.. old!!!!!