We All Need a Fix at a Time like This

This morning I watched Emerica footwear's newest video Green.



Just wonderful stuff. Immediately after finishing it, I decided to go out for my first skate since the winter ended, so mission accomplished boys.

The video managed to hit at some specific part of my brain, this weird space that connects skateboarding to my sentimental side. Maybe it was the use of "Some Misunderstanding" by Gene Clark at the end. It was probably also due in part to the video starting with fast punk music. Either way, it captivated me and gave me that "I need to go skate right now" feeling.

Context is also important here. Last year, Emerica's most visible and longtime rider Andrew Reynolds, one of my very favourites and one of skateboarding's all-time greats, left the company for the greener pastures of Vans. It's probably difficult for non-skaters to get how big of a deal that was, but rest assured that everyone couldn't believe it had happened. Reynolds was synonymous with Emerica and I wondered how the company would fare with its biggest name and cashcow now riding for another company.

Green is Emerica's first video since the Reynolds departure and I think that this in an undercurrent that runs throughout it. In a bold move, the video only features two parts: the supremely underrated Dakota Servold and Jon Dickson. Other riders from Baker and Deathwish, both of which are closely associated with Emerica, make cameos, but all the action focuses on these two. Both deliver amazing parts that touch on all my favourite parts of skating, valuing spots, style, and gnarliness over technicality. Though it's never expressly stated, having just two riders put out long, great parts to make up the whole video feels like Emerica expressly stating "We'll be fine."

This cycle is kind of how the world works. A new shoe company is built around a young star and achieves its peak with Stay Gold. As he starts to age and settles into the part of his career where he is, with all possible respect in the world, a nostalgia act, the company withers like a tree and the leaves fall off. After this, the tree turns green and starts again.