Rooftop off etnies after 14 years of service. A summary by Rooftop himself.

Jan 11, 2008

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 8679 times

After 14 years with etnies the time has come to move on. In late 1993 I sent etnies a sponsor-me video, half of which was footage from the video "Dirty Deeds". Surprisingly I got a phone call back from Don Brown, I wasn't really expecting one because etnies at the time was a skate only company. A few days later I headed down to their offices and picked up a package. I had my first real sponsor. I was 16 years old. By the time 1996 rolled around I had convinced them to give me a budget to start a BMX program. I asked most of the guys to ride for etnies at the South Padre X Trials contest.

Some of the original team was Mike Griffin, Taj, Joe Rich, Dave Freimuth, Nate Hanson and a few others. Soon after that everyone started to get paid, which was a huge step. It was really the first "skate"company to really support BMX with more than just product. Advertising followed.

Sometime around 1999 we started work on three signature shoes. Taj, Joe and I. This would make a huge step in BMX and a huge step for etnies. etnies was truly at this point leading the way in supporting BMX as a shoe company. They were sponsoring events, selling shoes at bike shops, and filming for their first full-length video "forward".

Soon other skate shoe brands started involving themselves in BMX. etnies had paved the way for these companies to follow. Since then etnies has sponsored huge BMX events, and continued to pay riders and support bmx.

etnies allowed me to travel the world and go and see things that I thought I would never see. After 14 years, starting a team, pushing for salaries, 3 pro shoes, 2 video parts, countless trips, I am finally parting ways with etnies. After being told they were not renewing my contract a few months ago I tried to reach my bosses via phone and email. The end of the year came and I had still not heard anything back from them. All I wanted to do was say thanks. So here it is. Thank you to everyone who I have worked with from design to sales and everything in between. You have made the last 14 years of my life an adventure. I truly feel like I am losing a family. I have ridden for etnies half of my life.

I'm excited about the future and all the upcoming projects I have coming. I will now be getting shoes from GRAVIS FOOTWEAR. I will also be getting my liquids from VIVAWATER in 2008.

Thanks for everything.

Rooftop