Emerica Skate Shoes
Emerica Skate Shoes is part of the Sole Tech group (Sole Technologies) who also own Etnies and eS. It was launched in 1996 with a strong emphasis on street skating and featuring some of the biggest names at the time including Jamie Thomas, Chris Senn, Marc Johnson, Phil Shao (RIP), Dan Drehobl and Donny Barley. Many other great names have been on the Emerica team roster at some point including Heath Kirchart, John Cardiel, Darren Navarette, Mike Maldonado, Arto Saari, Jim Greco, Tosh Townend, Erik Ellington. Many have moved onto to other things but Andrew Reynolds has been there from near enough the start.
The art direction by ex-pat skater Yogi Proctor has stayed consistent throughout, the brands have never tried to change or follow the whims of skate trends. As a result most of the old shoes and ads still stand up under today’s scrutiny further enforcing the brands core skateboarding history. This is a brand that was born out of skateboarding, not a brand that makes a few skate shoes on the side!
These days the team consists of Andrew Reynolds alongside Brandon Westgate, Brian Herman, Colin Provost, Figgy, Spanky, Jerry Hsu, Leo Romero and Jeremy Leabres with the art guy/legend spot being firmly filled by Ed Templeton.