Grassroots (aka lawn, turf, pitch, field or green) is part of nature. While the earth may have had grasses growing everywhere since the dawn of time, lawns didn’t come into their own until the Elizabethan times. People love walking or playing on grass, others seem to love tending to their lawns. Whatever the case, the grassroots are around us constantly. They are a part of who we are.

Astroturf was invented in the 1950’s. In 1965 the Houston Astrodome opened with natural turf and a glass roof. Unfortunately, the glass caused glare for the players. A decision was made to paint the glass panes white. You can guess what happened next. Yep, the grass soon died. The answer? Artificial grass. In 1966, the Astrodome converted to AstroTurf and the first football game is played. (the Houston Cougars beat the Washington Cougars – go Cougars, the ones from Houston!)

But as many of you know, it took a while for AstroTurf to gain acceptance. Take a look what I found in Wikipedia…

Turf gained a bad reputation on both sides of the Atlantic with fans and especially with players. The first Astro turfs were a far harder surface than grass, and soon became known as an unforgiving playing surface which was prone to cause more injuries, and in particular, more serious joint injuries, than would comparatively be suffered on a grass surface. This turf was also regarded as aesthetically unappealing to many fans.

But like with practically everything else, it only took time (and plenty of research money) to develop the next generation of AstroTurf. Wikipedia again
In the early 21st century, new artificial playing surfaces using sand and/or rubber infill were developed. These “next generation” or “third generation” artificial grass surfaces are generally regarded as being about as safe to play on as a typical natural grass surface — perhaps even safer in cold conditions.
Many clubs have installed the new synthetic grass surfaces, most commonly as part of an all-weather training capability. Other clubs which have maintained natural grass surfaces are now re-considering artificial grass. With football clubs in Europe looking to reduce both the maintenance costs and the number of winter matches that are cancelled due to the playing surface being frozen, the issue has also been re-visited by that sport’s governing bodies

Why do I bring this up? What could this possibly have to do with skateboarding?
Quite a bit actually.

First, let’s agree that we need BOTH the grassroots AND AstroTurf. Trying to argue which one is better, is like trying to argue hot vs. cold. It all depends where you’re at. Obviously, it makes a hell of a lot more sense to play a game on AstroTurf than NOT play a game on frozen grass. Also, if you never have time (or are too old or ill) to take care of your lawn, AstroTurf is a perfectly acceptable substitute.

People don’t start out playing baseball, football or soccer on AstroTurf. Nope, everyone starts on grass. If you get really good, you might find yourself playing on AstroTurf. But most people wind up as spectators, paying money to watch people to play a sport on AstroTurf. They also spend a lot of money on all the mementos that professional sports lovingly produce. So, you may never wind up as a professional football player, but you can wear the jersey. Go Cougars!

Grass, on the other hand, is lot harder to maintain. There are bugs. There are weeds. You get uneven patches. Sometimes you go through a dry spell. Other times, you are inundated with too much rain. Maintaining a healthy lawn takes a lot of work, but you can derive a lot of satisfaction knowing that you’ve created something truly special. That’s the joy of working with something natural.

People who work at sports stadiums get paid to maintain them. This includes taking care of AstroTurf. When was the last time you got paid to take care of your lawn? Maybe there’s a better way to get my point across: when you were growing up, how many stadiums paid you take care of their AstroTurf? How many lawns did you cut for your parents and neighbors? The grass is part of our community in a vastly different way than AstroTurf.

A gardener tends to the lawn, ensuring the grassroots are well taken care of. They understand the importance of developing and maintaining strong roots. Strong roots. You know what we mean by strong roots. Special ties, staying true to who you are – a sense of place, of community. The oxygen of skateboarding is the grassroots. But there are some who take all the wonders and magic found in the grassroots while at the same time lay down AstroTurf. We need to guard against this. If we wipe out all the grassroots and replace it with only AstroTurf, it will be a pretty sterile world

Hungry for just one more metaphor? I knew you were!

Sad to say, but a number of companies engage in the practice of AstroTurfing. What is AstroTurfing? Paging Wikipedia:

Astroturfing is an English-language term referring to political, advertising, or public relations campaigns that are formally planned by an organization, but designed to mask its origins to create the impression of being spontaneous, popular “grassroots” behavior. The term refers to AstroTurf, a brand of synthetic carpeting designed to look like natural grass.
A basic explanation is: if a grassroots movement grows upward from collective efforts, on a local level, of dedicated people donating their time and efforts to further a political or social cause they deem to be good for the many, then Astroturfing (Astroturf being an artificial grass) is an artificial grassroots movement, one that is made to appear as though it is a real grassroots movement, but it is usually done to advance a cause for the benefit of specific individuals or group(s), and most often not at a local level.
Let me break this down another way: For years people learned about skateboarding via their friends, through magazines and videos. For many years, you only discovered things through a few channels. There was a command and control structure in place. THEY told YOU what think. This served the industry well. It served skateboarding well….for a time. Diversity worked but then things changed and the focus on one type of skateboarding took root.
But then things changed. It took time. The internet has changed things. The explosion of new products changed things. Time has changed things. Hell, “Dogtown and Z Boys” changed things!
Thanks to the web, skaters are exposed to what ELSE is happening out there. The filters have been removed. The fertile soil was infused with seeds. I planted one back in 1995 when I started the Skategeezer Homepage. But every year, new seeds are planted. I sense that the seeds that were planted over the past few years have sprouted. They are also widespread but most importantly they’ve got deep roots.
The grassroots break down AstroTurfing!
For years the concept of variety within skateboarding (and showcasing a variety of skateboarders) has been marginalized and dismissed at every opportunity. There is a fully orchestrated campaign keeping anyone but “core” companies and “core” skaters out of the picture. Skaters have moved on and voted with their feet and wallets. But many in the industry find themselves precariously balanced between the grassroots and the AstroTurf.
Now that the crap has hit the fan financially for many skate companies, there will be a campaign to embrace all types of skateboarding. You can see this developing at a rapid pace. Folks who dismissed variety are now scurrying to claim their turf.

The question is what are they laying down? grassroots or merely AstroTruf.

Chris,

I wanted to take a moment to respond to your Skate of the Nation. Before I do this, let me just say that I think EVERYONE wants skateboarding to progress. We all want skateboard companies to be viable economic entities and we absolutely want independent skate shops to thrive. A number of the problems that many in skateboarding are now facing are sadly merely the results of some not-so-smart decisions. For many years, the leaders in the skate industry ignored the writing on the wall…or should I say the writing on the web, the durometer of the wheels and size of the decks. More on that later…

You start with following:

I, for one, am glad to say goodbye to 2009 and pray 2010 is a better year for the skateboard industry. Like most every facet of our nation’s economy, skateboarding took a big hit in 2009. It may not appear that way from the outside, what with the biggest contest purses in history and big budget Nike commercials on television featuring Paul Rodriguez and Ice Cube, but trust me, things ain’t pretty in Skateville.

I agree about 2009. It was a crappy year. But people are buying skateboards- a lot of skateboards but I am not sure they are buying them at their local shop.

I think that the ACTIVITY of riding a skateboard is actually doing pretty good. We have an influx of new skaters….and older skaters are staying with skateboarding. Also, we have new genres within skateboarding exploding. Sadly, none of the 5 major skateboard magazines have covered the biggest story within skateboarding this past decade or so – the enormous growth of Longboarding. How big is it now? Well, open up the latest issue of Transworld Business and you’ll see Sector 9 has the LARGEST share of the skate hard goods market.

You continue with:

Jamie Thomas, pro skater as well as the owner of Fallen shoes, Zero, Slave & Mystery skateboards, bluntly puts it best when he says, “Skateboard sales have been sucking this year.” That’s an understatement. I own three NJ Skateshop stores in New Jersey and this past Holiday season was our worst in seven years. I have friends that have owned skate shops three times as long and they’re saying the same thing, across the country. Barak Wiser, who is the head buyer and operations manager for the Skatepark of Tampa, sadly admits, “I know there are a lot of shops that closed up in Florida.”

So where are customers shopping? Ebay.Ten decks for $99.99 including grip. Quality? Well who even knows – you pay your money and you takes your chances. On-line retailers? Over the past few years, customers have gotten comfortable with online purchases. But more importantly, many are willing to forgo the immediate satisfaction of an in-store purchase for savings on the web. I went to your website. You’ve got some very cool products and a wide selection. But truthfully, there is a ton of gear that you aren’t carrying compared to a site like www.socalskateshop.com.

But the sad truth is that the pie is only so big. When the economic good times ended, it exposed the overwhelming truth: there is an overwhelming amount of similar product sold in what appears to be a huge amount of over-lapping retailers. The chain store retailers were difficult to compete with during the good times, but many independent shops managed. Now, with everyone fighting for every nickel, it’s exposed what I always felt was the key to the skateboard market: distribution is part of marketing. Just because you can put a ton of product in a huge amount of doors doesn’t mean that you have to …unless

Cue your next point:

It’s not just the little mom and pop retailers that are getting beat up either; it goes from top to bottom, from the highest earning pros to heads of companies. Skate apparel manufacturer, Volcom’s third quarter stock was down 18%. Quiksilver, owner of DC Shoes, net revenues were down 13%, $538.7 million compared to $606.9 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008.

Wow. Volcom is down. Imagine, the “youth against establishment” brand is worried about shareholder value. It’s time for a reality check. Huge corporations run skateboarding. Their success is built on growing their market share and continuously expanding. This is fantastic if you make things like potash, phones and potatoes. Commodities. Gotta love em. But skateboarding – and the fashion of skateboarding (which makes up a huge amount of the total dollar volume) is based on a few things other than just extracting the most for the least. At least, it was until a number of people thought they could run it like a regular business. A lot of what I am inferring here boils down to is that elusive thing we know as “cool.” After all, if it’s just a shirt or shoe with a label on it, you can get lots of them for real cheap….on ebay!

But people pay more for certain brand names because they mean something. They associate with a pro…they like the look…it defines their personality…they like the shop where they purchased it. They got what they perceived to be a good deal. Whatever the reason, customers have more choice on skate gear (hard and softgoods) than at any time in recorded history. And yet he we are faced with a collapse of epic proportions.

Where did things go wrong?

This paragraph is probably the most telling in your entire piece:

“It just depends if Zappos, Zumiez, Journey’s and CCS will keep [the brands] going long enough to weather the storm; that’s where most brands survive these days. I think skate shops are more at risk than the brands.”

The skate industry opened up the gates to mass distribution and we now have a massive problem. The amnesia is astounding. The REASON why mass market retailers can sell to the masses is because the independent skate shop builds a certain cache or coolness into the brands. The independent skate shop tends to do a helluva lot more than a chain store. Hell, you’re living proof of that. Passion combined with excellent product knowledge can found at the indy shop. These are two things you might not get from the chain stores.

Put it this way: does anyone really care where they buy a jar of pickles or washing detergent? Whatever is cheapest and easiest. That’s why we call them commodities. You can’t suck and blow at the same. Well, SOME brands can do that…but it takes a huge amount of marketing to hit people with the purple kool aid. The sad truth is that many skate brands can’t claim to support core/independent skate shops and at the same time pray that Zumiez sends them a big Purchase Order.

You wrote:

Pro skater, Greg Lutzka, explains, “The economy is definitely hurting our industry because people aren’t buying as many boards and aren’t spending as much money. It’s hurting our board sales because, as a pro, our boards sell for $60 when a kid can go buy a local shop deck for $35.”
Even shops owned by pro skaters are selling more shop decks than the pro decks. Mark Brandstetter of Nocturnal skate shop in Philadelphia, said he sells two to three of his cheaper priced, Nocturnal shop decks to every one pro model deck. That includes his partner, Kerry Getz’s pro model!

When the War on Blanks initiative hit a few years ago, skaters went ballistic. Many skaters were appalled at the hypocrisy and deception. I believe that many skaters want to support their local shop and will buy a shop deck. I further believe that if it wasn’t for shop decks, there would be more blanks purchased. The War on Blanks set a course for what many are now faced with: The act of skateboarding is healthy…the act of buying branded decks not so much. That’s why Kerry Getz and the 800+ (or however many it is) pro decks are facing tough sales. Consumers have looked at the merchandise, tested and are voting with their wallets.

The economy is hitting other parts of the industry as well. Tony Hawk says his low-priced footwear brand is on the rise. “Tony Hawk shoe sales at Kohl’s are way up. Affordable skate shoes are a big hit, apparently,” Hawk admits.

Really? A big hit? I am not shocked in the least. Tony Hawk is a superstar to young kids. To be able to purchase a pair of what is a professionally endorsed shoe for under $40 (at Kohls, I checked) is going to resonate with cash-strapped parents.

I feel I shared quite a bit here…but I wanted to leave you with one final reaction to your piece.

Jamie Thomas said: “Quite simply, we’re working harder to keep kids psyched on skateboarding.”

I think that kids are completely psyched on skateboarding. I think there are more insane rippers out there than at any time. There is more product choice and more fantastic parks than I have seen in my 35 years of skateboarding. Working harder is definitely one choice. Cutting back is another.

The other choice is to completely change your mind-set. There are literally millions of people who would want to get into skateboarding but they feel intimated. They look at rails and ledges and don’t feel inspired.

Cue the Gentlemen’s Agreement from 1994…the infamous meeting of skate industry heads.

We must encourage some changes. Modern street skating is rad but we must add to it. Just think if we could have the street scene of today PLUS the mini ramp scene from 89 PLUS the vert scene from 86 PLUS the street scene from 85 PLUS the freestyle scene of 81 PLUS the pools and park scene from the 70’s etc etc . With skateboarding ten times a big, pros could earn ten times as much money and companies make money. If we want those days back we need to open our minds and not limit skateboarding. That’s what skateboarding was all about when we started. There were no rules, it just mattered that you were doing it and having fun.

In 1990 skateboarding looked at the new decade before it and took the steps to bring it back from what was perceived to be the abyss. In hindsight, it’s been a great 20 years and a number of people got very rich. But some huge mistakes were made. The feeling that the good times would be never-ending was painfully mixed with “all the eggs in one basket” mentality. The myopia – the relentless pursuit of rails and ledges and practically nothing else has stalled diversity. But despite this, a new generation of companies and skaters and skate shops stare at the new decade and are resoundingly optimistic. Count me as one of them.

Now, let’s go skate!

For many folks, spying a copy of Transworld Business is somewhat difficult.
Sure, you used to be able to get it for free, but those days seem to be a distant memory.

Anyway, I managed to get a copy over at S&J Sales yesterday. I was looking very carefully at the Industry and Retail awards and what did I spy?

In a section called Turnstile:

When it comes to turn rates, skate hardgoods are the leaders’
Data from the latest twelve months available at time of print show skate hardgoods classes holding six of the top ten spots when sorting by unit turn rates

#1 Brand (by dollar
market share): Sector 9

This is extraordinary. The BIGGEST skateboard company in the world is Sector 9…a longboard company!

Think about this for a moment. I’ll repeat it, in fact!

The BIGGEST skateboard company selling the MOST amount of product is a LONGBOARD company. With the exception of one “check out” feature and the token product shot in their buyers guide, Sector 9 has been completely absent from Transworld Skateboarding.

As the rest of the industry scrambles for market share, it will be very interesting to see where things go. My gut tells me that 2010 is going to be a helluva year.

Food for thought from Mr. Godin…

Perhaps the most plaintive complaint I hear from organizations goes something like this, “We worked really hard to get very good at xyz. We’re well regarded, we’re talented and now, all the market cares about is price. How can we get large groups of people to value our craft and buy from us again?”

Apparently, the bulk of your market no longer wants to buy your top of the line furniture, lawn care services, accounting services, tailoring services, consulting… all they want is the cheapest. The masses don’t want a better PC laptop. They just want the one with the right specs at the right price. It’s not because people are selfish (though they are) or shortsighted (though they are). It’s because in this market, right now, they’re not listening. They’ve been seduced into believing that all options are the same, and they’re only seeing price. In terms of educating the masses to differentiate yourself, the market is broken.

Fixing this is almost always a losing battle. Just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean the market cares any longer.

The Marx Brothers were great at vaudeville. Live comedy in a theatre. And then the market for vaudeville was killed by the movies. Groucho didn’t complain about this or argue that people should respect the hard work he and his brothers had put in. No, they went into the movies.

Then the market for movies like the Marx Brothers were making dried up. Groucho didn’t start trying to fix the market. Instead, he saw a new medium and went there. His TV work was among his best (and certainly most lucrative).

It’s extremely difficult to repair the market.

It’s a lot easier to find a market that will respect and pay for the work you can do. Technology companies have been running this race for years. Now, all of us must.

If Wal-Mart or some cultural shift has turned what you do into a commodity, don’t argue. Find a new place before the competition does. It’s not easy or fair, but it’s true. You bet your life.

[Please note that nothing I wrote above applies to niche businesses. In fact, exactly the opposite does. You can make a good living selling bespoke PC laptops or doing vaudeville today, even though the mass of the market couldn’t care a bit. How he got in my pajamas, I’ll never know…]

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