FOLLOW THY SOUL ~ PART TWO 4-16-08
BY CORKY CARROLL
While Pierre Senizergues embodied the risk-taking and entrepreneurial spirit that drove the Etnies brand, his empire began to take full shape as he launched an additional three new footwear brands- éS, Emerica, and ThirtyTwo-and consolidated all four labels under the Sole Technology umbrella, including the newest addition of the company’s first and only apparel only brand, Altamont Apparel. Today, with headquarters based in Lake Forest, California, over 400 employees, international distribution in more than 70 countries, and regional offices in New York, China, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, Sole Technology is one of the leading action sports footwear and apparel companies in the world.
In addition to being one of the true pioneers and most celebrated names in the action sports world today, Senizergues has taken footwear technology to a new level with the development of the Sole Technology Institute (STI), the worlds first and only biomechanics research facility dedicated to studying the impacts of skateboarding on the human body. He has also dedicated resources to giving back to the youth and created a positive environment for kids to enjoy skateboarding with the Etnies Skatepark of Lake Forest located at Sole Technology’s headquarters. The 40,000 square-foot skatepark will be expanding in the near future to make it the largest skatepark in the world.
An ardent advocate of the environment, Senizergues’ ultimate goal is a company that is successful on the balance sheet, the streets, the slopes, the runways and ultimately on our amazing planet. In addition to giving back to youth and action sports, he has continued to devote resources to implementing an aggressive company-wide sustainability strategy with a full commitment to corporate responsibility. To date, Senizergues has already executed the installation of 616 solar panels, the conversion to water-based cement manufacturing, introduced waterless urinals, the addition of the first ever environmental affairs manager, corporate wide-recycling efforts, the creation of a sustainable footwear and apparel collection, the etnies SEED Project and an eco audit to study the impact of Sole Technology’s business practices to develop more environmentally friendly solutions.
His commitment to the environment extends into his personal endeavors with his role as executive producer of the highly acclaimed documentary, The 11th Hour. A film that creates awareness and discussion around the environmental issues we are facing and the movement to motivate people to reduce the footprint they leave behind on our planet for future generations.
In recognition of his endeavors, Senizergues has received numerous accolades; including the Orange County Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Immigrant of the Year Award, OC Metro’s Hot 25 and Most Influential CEO’s in Orange County, Footwear News’ Power 100 and most recently, Orange County’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award. Senizergues was also recognized as one of the Top OC Innovators by the Orange County Register and by Global Green USA with a Corporate Environmental Leadership Award for his environmental practices and corporate responsibility by revolutionizing the way Sole Technology does business.
When I took a tour of the Sole Technology research facility with my son Tanner, up and coming skateboard wizard, I was blown away. They have programs that can measure the stress on every point of your body doing an array of skateboard moves. And much, much more. The scientists that work there are board riders themselves and therefore relate exactly to what they are doing. This is a long, long way from the two by four with a metal skate nailed onto it that I started out on. We are NOT in Kansas anymore toto.
BUTTHEADED INTO SUBMISSION
The Wave ~ 4-16-08
BY CORKY CARROLL
From time to time somebody comes along and invents a totally new move in surfing. I have seen tons of new maneuvers pulled off for the first time, named and become part of the whole surfing picture. Back in the early days of surf movies and magazines it was a lot easier to come up with new stuff than it is now days though. The door was wide open. With new and better equipment being developed people were breaking ground with new stuff on a daily basis. Mickey “the mongoose” Munoz coined a whole slew of moves all in one afternoon surfing at Malibu while John Severson was filming for his surf movie “Surf Fever.” John took still photos from the film and used them in the first issue of SURFER magazine. There was Mickey featured proudly introducing his new “El Quasimoto,” “El Mysterioso,” “El Telephono” and a couple other “El somethings.” Not too long after that I had one of my own go on record, the “El Rollo.” It took about forty years for that one to actually start to get done right by guys who can actually do it.
One of the more well known moves coined over the years is the “Cheater five” which actually started out as the “Paul Strauch Stretch.” It was invented by the great Hawaiian surfer Paul Strauch. There are also such great maneuvers such as the “Turtle Roll,” (not sushi), “Duck Dive,” the “Roundhouse Cutback,” the “Off the Lip,” “Hanging five,” “Hanging Ten,” the “Stinkbug Squat,” the “Layback,” the “Reverse Bird,” the “Fireplug Pullout,” the “Barrel Roll,” (also not sushi) the “Drop in,” the “Side Slip,” the “Spinner,” the “360,” “Shredding,” “Ripping the place apart,”
“Pearling,” “Gagging,” and the always popular, especially here in Surf City, “Huntington Hop.” The list is endless.
I bring all this up because a good friend of mine just came up with a new one of his own. I won’t use his real name here because it might embarrass him a little bit. I will just say that it is very close to the name Lloyd and he is a goofy foot dude who lives in Marina Del Rey, California. Lloyd is a mellow guy who has surfed his whole life and traveled all over the world surfing and studying various forms of various other stuff. He is an excellent hand drummer and also knows at least three yoga stretches along with the ability to talk softer than any other human being I have ever met. When I am with him I never know what in the heck the dude is talking about because I don’t hear all that great anymore and his loud voice is something just below a normal persons whisper. I just nod a lot and occasionally throw in a “wow,” or a “yeah,” or maybe a “no kidding?”
The other day Lloyd and I were out surfing one of my favorite local breaks and having a nice peaceful session. The waves were about head high and peeling off pretty fast. There were quite a few beginners out on that day and some of them were sort of getting in the way a lot. But it was a nice day so everyone was mellow and happy. My pal Lloyd took off on a pretty fast peeling left and was working his way down the line when he saw some dude sitting on his board and facing the beach. And the guy was right directly were Lloyd had to go to make the wave. At first Lloyd thought he was going to make it past him but at the last minute he realized that he wasn’t gonna make it. So he tried to pull to the top of the wave pull out. But it was too late for that too and it looked like he was gonna run the dude over. At the last second Lloyd tried to jump over the guys head. He almost made it too. But not quite. Just as Lloyd was flying through the air the guy sitting on his board turned his head and Lloyd’s Butt connected directly into the dudes face and broke his nose. It was a bloody mess.
Lloyd was feeling pretty bad about the whole thing when he got to the beach. But I made him feel better when I clued him in that he had just invented a whole new move. It is sort of like “Head Butting.” But in this case it would be “Butt Heading.”
He had to smile when I told him, “Heck Lloyd, it’s a first. You just Buttheaded that Barney into submission.”