This Industry interview is with Jeff Henderson who spent over a decade working for Emerica, had a brief hiatus, and has recently been welcomed back into the fold. Find out more about his time helping to build the brand in the early days, and his plans for what’s coming next…
words and interview by Jacob Sawyer. Jeff Henderson at the local shot by his brother Brian
Jeff Henderson’s skateboarding story began like many with a Variflex complete, opened in San Diego on Christmas morning in 1987. His stepdad was in the Navy which meant a fair bit of moving around was on the cards, and as his love of skateboarding began to take hold the family moved to O’ahu in Hawaii. This is where everything changed. Speed Freaks, and Shackle Me Not blew the roof off what was possible on this important Christmas gift, a Vision Marty “Jinx” Jimenez quickly replaced it, and a new crew of friends were made who would accompany him and his brother as they explored what spots the military base had to offer. One notable proving ground was a 12-foot wide, 5-foot high quarter pipe that almost went to vert. This was built by the base in response to skating’s growing popularity, and was placed at his bus stop to school.
Skating was here to stay for Jeff but his stepdad’s job meant relocating every three years was inevitable. The next stop from O’ahu would be Mountain View near San Jose. As his location changed, so did the whole landscape of skateboarding. Questionable was in the VCR, and train trips from Mountain View to San Francisco entered the picture. Getting to see firsthand what was happening at Embarcadero during this magical time was to soak in the evolving industry in real time. This eye-opening period, and the three years that followed were spent going to school, and skating around the Bay Area during every bit of free time. When the next orders to move came through from the military it meant seriously swapping surroundings, from skateboarding’s spiritual home to the colder climes of Bremerton in Washington State.
This interview begins by delving into the series of events beginning in Washington that led to Jeff picking up a camera. This tool would keep him connected to the thing he loved while out due to injury, begin to steer him towards his destiny, and be his portal into the industry. Jeff began work at Sole Technology in 2003, an evolving role which began with him assisting as a team manager, ended up with him being global brand director of Emerica, and lasted almost thirteen years. We explored the many roles he performed for Emerica, the videos he worked on, the people he brought up, the relationships he forged, and some of the crazy situations he found himself in during a time period that defined the company. This serves as an interesting glimpse behind the curtain of a brand we’re pleased to still be stocking.
Our reason for connecting with Jeff at this point in time is because he has recently been hired by Sole Technology to work on Emerica once again. He has been contracted to take a look at the brand as a whole, begin steering it’s direction, and help forge it’s future. This is an interesting time for Emerica, there are a lot of opportunities for the company moving forward, and Jeff’s excitement about all of them was tangible. Through his long-standing relationships with key team members like Kevin “Spanky” Long, and Leo Romero he has built a plan, and has a vision you will learn about as you read on. The conversation serves to quash the message board speculations that are always humming in the background. From an industry perspective this is full of insights about how things worked for a brand like Emerica during Jeff’s first innings, and what he learned in the process. It also dips into his time away from the industry, and how that has set him up for a re-entry propelled by renewed vigour and appreciation. Enjoy reading tales from someone who has contributed a lot in a variety of different roles, and continues to do so in a new one…
Backside blunt on Eric Simpson’s mini ramp in Washington State. PH: Eric Simpson
When did filming enter the picture for you?
Back when we were living in Hawaii in 1990. My parents had a VHS dad cam back in the day. My older brother Brian would tell me that if I was going to come and skate with him and his friends that I had to film. There was no thought of making skate videos. We would just go back to the house and watch the footage. But I really got into filming heavily later.
When I was seventeen in Bremerton, Washington. I was skating a mini ramp with some friends and trying to learn blunt fakies. I broke my ankle so I was out for six weeks with a cast. Right after getting the cast off I was skating another mini ramp; My leg was weak because I hadn’t been skating and I ended up tearing my ACL. I went back to the same doctor who said I had sprained it. So, I continued skating on it. Over the next couple of years if I landed on it weird it would swell up. One day I ollied a stair set and my knee just totally went.
So the camera accompanied you healing?
Yeah, my parents moved to Florida, and I lived with them while I had surgery. I bought a Hi-8 camera because I couldn’t skate for seven or eight months. I met some friends out there and just started filming and making edits with those guys. I wanted to be involved in skating even though I was told I shouldn’t skate any more.
Was there a specific moment where the process clicked for you?
I didn’t have a fisheye at first so I was just filming a lot of long lens stuff. I started understanding how to frame a shot. I was in Florida for a year and then moved back to Santa Rosa. My brother was there, he had started riding for a small company from there called Insect. There weren’t many concrete skateparks in the US at that time. The Santa Rosa one was popular; it was an hour north of San Francisco so there were always people coming through.
So another crop of people to film.
Tony Trujillo was really young at the time, he was about fifteen, and he was ripping. Mike Rusczyk moved here from Chicago shortly after me as well. I was filming with everyone. Eventually I got a TRV900 and a death lens. I filmed a lot of stuff with Mike Rusczyk for the Foundation Art Bars Subtitles and Seagulls video. Also with Tony Trujillo who was working on his Transworld In Bloom part. I realised this could be something. I was working a day job in a hospital, and at a drug store, but I was filming in all of my free time.
“I realised this could be something. I was working a day job in a hospital, and at a drug store, but I was filming in all of my free time”
When was the first time you got paid for filming?
Jon Miner is from Santa Rosa. He is one of my great friends. Jon wanted me to film him and I ended up contributing clips to some of the Thrasher videos. It was the first time I had got paid for filming skateboarding! It was probably about $100 but I saw it as something I could do. I also made my own video which was called Sloppy Seconds.
How did this lead to you beginning to work for Sole Tech?
There’s a weird connection between Santa Rosa and Sole Tech. When I came to live here, Mike Manzoori was living here. Jon Miner is from here. Tony Evjenth was from here as well. Sadly he has since passed away, he was the team manager for éS back then during the Menikmati days. éS, and Emerica needed an assistant to the team managers. Having known [Mike] Manzoori, and Tony [Evjenth], and [Jon] Miner, they all put in a good word for me. Mark Waters [RIP] was managing that whole teams department, with Justin Regan as the Emerica team manager, and Tony Evjenth as the éS team manager. I came in to assist those guys. Sending out packages, collecting coverage from magazines, helping with events. Anything that needed to be done.
What was the learning curve like?
It was mostly learning how a company operated. As it was a skateboarding company it felt super comfortable. To start off at Sole Tech with those brands was a dream come true. Being around the team guys – these guys I looked up to – and now I’m working with them. It was pretty surreal.
You started when This Is Skateboarding had just been released?
Yeah, I filmed one clip in This is Skateboarding. I tagged along with Miner out to Grass Valley and filmed a 5-0 on a rail of Chris Senn that made it in the video. I was so stoked! I think I started in March of 2003. Shortly after was when Kids In Emerica came out.
Can you tell us a good Heath Kirchart story?
After Kids In Emerica, Miner hit me up to film Heath at a school that was down the street from his house in LA. At this point I’d had a quick hello with Heath at the This Is Skateboarding premiere. I didn’t know him so there was an intimidation factor to going to film. It’s usually about an hour and fifteen minutes to drive the route to his. Heath called me and I had to tell him I was still stuck in traffic and going to be late. It wasn’t good.
“He was the fastest skateboarder I had ever filmed…”
Trial by fire. Jeff filmed this line of heath kirchart for the habitat Mosaic video in high heat
I eventually pull up at his house. He comes walking out of his house ready to go. I introduce myself. He’s all business. I get my camera out the trunk, and we skate the couple of blocks over to the school. There are two picnic tables in a row. He switch ollies one sideways, and then does a switch flip manual on the second. Heath skates so fast. He was the fastest skateboarder I had ever filmed. I was trailing behind him and he was asking me to film more from the side…I was pushing my ass off! So. I figured out another route to get the speed and the timing… but he was trying for a while, and it got to the point where I had to ask him if we could stop to take a water break! He’s the dude fucking skating, I’m just filming! I had to drink water or I was going to pass out.
It was one of the funniest things to him though, he thought it was hilarious. The footage ended up in the Habitat Mosaic video. We’re good friends to this day and laugh about it now. I didn’t blow it!
A couple of years of assisting and you became Emerica Team Manager?
With my role; I took it so seriously. I wanted to make sure that everyone was stoked on what I was doing. Justin Regan was the team manager at the time but he was getting promoted to the global brand marketing manager for Emerica. I wrote this whole letter to say why I thought I would be good at the team manager job. He ran it by the team and everybody was down so I became Emerica team manager in 2005.
“I wrote this whole letter to say why I thought I would be good at the team manager job. He ran it by the team and everybody was down so I became Emerica team manager in 2005″
Who were you responsible for adding to the team or the workforce?
Justin Regan had already been working with Brandon Westgate and wanting to bring him on board more. As team manager that was like the first addition I made, but it was through Justin Regan and his relationship. He basically handed that to me. We have the pros, but we were also building up the younger team. So that’s kind of where I was coming in. Bringing in Figgy [Justin Figueroa], Collin Provost, Jamie Tancowny, and Marquis Preston. They are the guys that I brought in. We were also starting to work on Stay Gold.
Lots of tours and time in the van together. What was the most challenging aspect of looking after that team at that point in time?
I guess the craziest thing I had to deal with then happened on a Wild Ride trip where we partnered with Harley Davidson. We were starting in Portland, Oregon, and we were gonna make our way to San Francisco. We had a bunch of friends who rode motorcycles that didn’t ride for Emerica who were coming on the trip as well. So, there was a lot of people… So we all got into our hotels in Portland, then went out partying.
Later, we get back to the hotel. [Jon] Miner and I went across the street to get some drinks from 711. When we were coming back, we could hear people partying and then we hear glass breaking. So me and Jon walk up to this room and it’s Heath [Kirchart], and [Brandon] Westgate, Leo, Heath’s buddy Bob. As we’re walking up I hear “just do it, no-one’s gonna know!”. When I walk in [Brandon] Westgate is throwing something at a picture frame, and breaking the glass. It’s pretty late already – after midnight – so we calmed the situation down, and then I went to my room to go to sleep.
Another rude (less expensive) awakening in Tampa, one of Michael Burnett’s favourites
Then I get woken up to pounding on my door at about 3 in the morning. It’s the police. They tell me that our buddies broke a whole room, and that we’re all getting kicked out. There had been people in that room smoking weed too, and this was before it was legal there so the cops are asking about that. Luckily, they didn’t bust us for that too. I go to the front desk with a cop on each shoulder, and the front desk says I have to cover damages of $8000! I just had to do it. Then we all walked out all still kind of drunk, but with our motorcycles parked there. We can’t just get on our bikes and take off but the Police are telling us we have to take them off of the property. We had to walk our Harley’s but were all just kind of stuck there – about fifteen of us – all spread out outside of the motel at 4:30 in the morning.
I have Wild Ride video = TM nightmare written in my notes.
Haha! Yeah it was nuts. I had no idea the extent of the destruction. It turned out that people were filming it happen, too. They broke every single thing in the room, they were throwing furniture out of the window into the parking lot, kicking holes in the wall, smashing the mirrors, everything was fucking destroyed. I had to figure out where we would be going to stay next. It was such a headache! Haha! An isolated incident.
Can you think of a specific instance where your TM skills saved the day?
So much happened on those trips, it just became known that I had to step in sometimes. Spanky [Kevin Long] will still say this to me today. If we were away, and something lame was going on, or there was a situation he wanted to change Spanky [Kevin Long] would just say “Jeff Fix”, he will still say this to me today. Anytime something needed to happen, or a team manager needed to step in and handle something, that was what was said. Everyone started saying it, they knew I could handle things and saw I would fix them. You’re constantly doing that stuff, reacting to situations, so it’s hard to narrow it down to a specific but “Jeff Fix” would be said a lot, I’m a fixer, it’s in my nature.
“We were going to amazing skate spots, and I was getting to witness the most incredible skateboarding, from the most incredible skateboarders. It was a dream come true to have that job”
Alternative Stay Gold crew shot with Jeff and Jon Miner in the mix. PH: Atiba Jefferson
Your time as team manager included the lead up and delivery of Stay Gold, how was it working on that video?
Yeah, it was always a good time. If it was a filming trip everyone was pretty focused. Everyone knew what we’re doing with this video. It was never crazy trying to manage that side of things. That was always just awesome. That video project took a long time. What was meant to be a two-to-three year project became almost five. That time period…some of the best times of my life. Being a part of it from the beginning and working with [Jon] Miner was just incredible. I definitely honed my skills as a filmer throughout that process, too. We worked really well together as a team, he helped me to grow as a filmer, thinking ahead of time about how things would be edited later. I was with a group of guys who truly felt like family. We were friends and we were travelling the world. We were going to amazing skate spots, and I was getting to witness the most incredible skateboarding, from the most incredible skateboarders. It was a dream come true to have that job.
What trips standout to you from filming for Stay Gold?
Being in China; somewhere with such a different culture was eye opening. You’re adapting to everything that’s going on, there are amazing spots everywhere, and it seems like no-one cares if you skate them. We had Atiba [Jefferson] on that trip and it was towards the end of the video so I feel like there was some pressure. I was working with the guys to make sure we got to the right spots. We got so much footage from that trip.
Atiba Jefferson on the other side of the lens. Crooked grind in China shot by Jeff
What clip from that video are you most stoked on filming?
There’s a pretty quick, tight shot of Figgy [Justin Figueroa] where he’s doing a kickflip smith grind on a handrail in San Francisco. I was above… second storey. I had to lean over a railing to shoot it. I was using a VX-2000 so I had that screen you could flip out and see what you were doing. My hands were outstretched over this railing, I’m looking at this screen trying to line everything up for this tight shot. It just goes by, but the way I had to film that one makes it one I was happiest about. Haha.There were so many good things. Oh, Andrew Reynolds’ kickflip down the Davis gap! I shot one of the angles of that one, but it was just insane to watch that go down. We knew we were going to Davis. It was rad, the anticipation, and the whole team pretty much being there for it. Everyone was so stoked for Andrew. It was such a cool feeling.
Knowing you’re watching the ender as it happens.
Haha yeah! I’m so proud of how that video turned out.
Andrew Reynolds closed out Stay Gold by kickflipping the Davis gap. This is Jeff’s angle
What things changed notably for the brand after that video?
The industry had kind of hit a peak and was coming down. Skateboarding was on a downward one at that point. People left and people were let go. Certain tough calls had to be made. One big change was that éS was on hiatus. However, we saw that as an opportunity to start designing some shoes that would have an appeal to different consumers. August Benzien – who is an amazing designer – was with us. He has been working at Nike since 2015. After Stay Gold we really made a point of taking some design risks. Westgate had his shoe with a runners toe. The G6 foam was designed for impact, and we built a whole line around that. The campaign budgets were smaller but still pretty damn good back then.
We also brought Yogi Proctor back in as an art director. He’s been part of Emerica from the beginning. He designed the logo and influenced art direction from the start. He came up with the Made in Emerica campaign; the slogan, the visuals. We worked toward a new style of video with Made: Chapter One and Made: Chapter Two. where it’s a video showcasing a select few riders. It wasn’t a new concept to the industry but it was new for us as a brand. Embracing social media was a change at that time.How we did our marketing was changing.
From being Team Manager for five years you went from regularly being in the van to the office and became global brand marketing manager. How was that transition?
Right after Stay Gold was an interesting time. Justin Regan came to me and asked if I had ever thought of wanting to step up and be a marketing manager. What I didn’t know was that he was prepping me. It was going to become a thing where the global brand marketing manager for Emerica – Timothy Nickloff – would be running both Altamont and Emerica as a brand director, and he needed a marketing manager. Literally a week later, Justin announced he was leaving and they told me they wanted to promote me into this role. I didn’t go to college, I started off filming skateboarding, you know? So, it was kind of a scary thing for me. I’ve been there for seven years, and learned a lot over that time, but to go into something so new with so much more responsibility felt ominous. It was a scary thing to take on for me, and I expressed that. But Timothy told me he was here for me to help me, support me, and be a mentor. So I had that. So I had great mentors bring me up from Justin Regan to Timothy Nickloff. It was a huge learning experience. I gained a lot of skills during that time from working with those guys.
“I had great mentors bring me up from Justin Regan to Timothy Nickloff…I gained a lot of skills during that time from working with those guys”
What skills would you say you went from having zero knowledge of to mastering?
I’m not sure about mastering..but I have a good concept of putting together plans for the future. Footwear timelines are so far out. I had to learn keeping track of timelines. There are always three seasons – having to deal with the one that’s in the market now, the one that you’re building content for that’s going to launch next, and then you’re building alongside the product line for the next one which is 18 months out because you have to have marketing in place to sell it in to stores. There’s all this stuff that has to happen way before the shoes come out. Three seasons, keeping track, building out your plans, your go to market strategies and things like that. This was an area where I felt like I didn’t really know anything about it going in, and coming out I definitely had a vast knowledge of how to do all that stuff.
What are you proudest of achieving in that role?
I was helping Miner finish up the Stay Gold edit. He had me pulling VX clips for the credits but he ended up going with all 16mm or super 8 film clips in the end. I was watching through so much amazing VX footage and I remember saying to Jon that this stuff needs to get seen. I kept bringing it up that we should put out a raw edit. Almost a year after Stay Gold came out, Miner started editing and telling the story for each rider and what they went through to get their part done. Jon titled these B-sides. Like a record release would. Doing these raw edits really hit and we were getting tons of views. It essentially stretched out the Stay Gold Campaign another year and half from the release. We were really the first brand to go that deep into showing the raw footage from the video and it has become the industry standard now. It even got to the point where Nike released a raw edit and called it a ‘B-side’. We took a screengrab and posted on our Instagram saying that we were flattered. Haha. They changed the title of that video pretty quickly.
Under the bridge in Philadelphia, the Stay Flared crew at FDR. PH: Ben Colen
Another thing that I’m proud of was the Stay Flared Tour we did with Lakai. We were seeing a lot of the skater owned or smaller brands struggling. Timothy Nickloff and I both thought it’d be an amazing idea to team up with Lakai, similar to what Girl and Anti Hero were doing with Beauty and the Beast. It was our idea to do that with footwear. We met with Lakai a bunch and figured out how we can cross brand on footwear, work with Thrasher, and create this whole tour. I’m stoked that we teamed up with them. It was about these two independent footwear brands. We’re here for skateboarding. If there’s no skateboarding then we don’t exist. Other corporate brands, they can get out of it whenever they want because have their other sports. I was really proud of how that came out.
What about bringing other people in?
One of the funny things that I’m kind of proud of during this time was that me moving up into the marketing manager role meant that there was a team manager position open. It was a very transitional time, [Justin] Regan leaving the company was a big deal. He’s the one that created the look and feel of Emerica during its iteration when Andrew [Reynpolds], [Erik]Ellington, and all those dudes came on. There was a definite shift from what Emerica was from the Yellow video to what Emerica was after This Is Skateboarding. So Regan leaving was a big hit to the company. We needed to find a good team manager that the team could trust. Heath [Kirchart] had just retired as a professional skateboarder after we put out Stay Gold but was still affiliated with the brand. He was wanting to work. I think at that time he was delivering pizzas for Pizzanista. It wasn’t because he needed the job, it was because he wanted to have the experience of doing that. Heath doesn’t need to make money, he is such a smart investor with the money he’s made over skateboarding. He has been so smart with his money that I don’t think he has to work ever again, he’s good.
Jeff with Justin Regan, Heath Kirchart, Brandon Westgate & Andrew Reynolds
So Heath at this time is just a pizza delivery guy. I had the idea of getting Heath in there as team manager, and asked what everyone thought. At first it seemed kind of crazy but I ended up talking with him about it multiple times, and he was really into it. It came to a point where I had to have a serious conversation with Heath where I told him I knew he wanted to do the job but I needed his commitment for at least a year, I didn’t want him to come in and do it for a couple months, and be over it. I wanted him to give me a year and told him he’d be good at it. So Heath came in, and whatever he takes on he wants to be good at so he nailed it, he was such a good team manager. He actually did it for two years, almost to the day, and it was great. When he came in all of this change was happening, it just showed that something cool was still going on.
What is your favourite Emerica shoe of all time? Have you ever had a hand in product development?
I think I’m gonna go with the Westgate G6. That shoe was incredible. It was so comfortable. It skated so well. We used to have shoes that had air bubbles and all of this different tech. But for where footwear and Emerica was at that time, it was a pretty different style shoe.
“I went from an entry level position to running the entire brand. You learn a lot along the way”
The second Marc Johnson shoe represented a more technical direction in the earlier days.
Yeah, that was a great shoe, I think that was one of the most expensive shoes around at that time. It was such a different looking shoe. I wore that one a lot. As far as having my hand in product, I was always a part of discussions when any of the team were working on shoes. I’ve helped with colourways on shoes also. Now I’m back in those meetings. I’m trying to help out with new designs and collaboration stuff. Trying to bring different ideas to the table and building out who we can work with to tell a story.
At the tail end of your time at Sole Tech you were promoted to global brand manager for Emerica. Was that challenging? You were suddenly overseeing other people doing the roles you had previously.
There were definitely challenges with that. Timothy Nickloff left the company to work in footwear but outside of skateboarding. Having taken on bigger roles before, I knew I could approach this with the same mindset. I had to learn a whole new skillset; working more closely with the sales team, margins, overseeing all departments and not just marketing and learning how they all work together. I worked for the company for nearly thirteen years. I went from an entry level position to running the entire brand. You learn a lot along the way. There’s some hindsight, too. Certain things could have played out differently. There’s always bigger picture stuff happening.
One eye honed in on the bigger picture. Leo Romero nosegrinds while Jeff films.
After a short stint doing this you made a move outside of skateboarding and worked for Lagunitas Brewing Company.
I was the global brand manager for Emerica for pretty much a year, almost exact. My wife and I had two young sons at this time and we had discussed moving back up to Santa Rosa in Northern California to raise our kids. It was the toughest decision I’ve ever had to make but I did it for my family.Lagunitas Brewing Company is a beer brand that was really growing a lot. I had some friends that work there. So I reached out. It seemed like a cool company with a lot of similarities to the skate industry. There was a lot of terminology and things about the beer that I had to learn to understand to market on that level.
Marketing on a larger scale with bigger partners?
Yeah, definitely. I was the regional marketing manager. I oversaw partnership marketing and event marketing. There was some cool stuff…Working with the San Francisco Giants, the San Jose Sharks, and some other teams in the Bay Area. Towards the end of my stint there Lagunitas had partnered with a local cannabis company to develop a product called Hi-Fi Hops. Long story short; I got laid off at Lagunitas with 112 people after Heineken took over the company. I ended up going over to the cannabis company to be brand manager of the Lagunitas Hi-Fi Hops brand. I did that for a little over a year then when the pandemic hit, I was laid off.
So then you start a machine shop?
Yeah, marketing is usually one of the first places where cuts are made, so I knew it would be almost impossible to find a job doing that. My brother-in-law Danny has a CNC machine shop about two and a half hours from where I lived. I called him about an hour after I got laid off. He was so busy that he said he could actually pay me to run the machine making parts so he could be doing other stuff. I drove out the night of getting laid off and started working with him not knowing anything about it. Over about 6 months I had been learning a lot from Danny, and online. I was staying with him for a week at a time then going home on the weekends. It wasn’t a ton but I was making something, trying to do what I can for my family. About seven or eight months in, I ended up buying my own machine for home and Danny was giving me work whilst at the same time I was learning how to make my own stuff.
Truck Knucks are a Toyota Tie-Down anchor designed by Jeff Henderson
I’d learned how to design things in CAD. Having my knowledge of marketing product it got into my head that I need to come up with my own product. I have a Toyota Tacoma truck. In the bed of the truck there are these track systems that have these tie down rings. They’re made of plastic. I started looking at it, and I figured you could make one that looks like a brass knuckle. I ended up coming up with something that I liked. Then I went to market with it and it’s been selling! I also got picked up by a large online retailer for aftermarket truck parts, called Extremeterrain.com. They’ve been selling them and helping with the marketing. It’s been slowly growing. It’s not going crazy, but I’ve been doing that on the side.
It sounds like you have had an interesting and productive time outside of skateboarding, have you had a keen eye on it while working outside of it? Did it become an even more precious thing during that time outside of the industry to reflect?
Working in the beer industry was kind of cool, because I got to sponsor some video premieres, and stay connected in that way. Even though I left, I stayed connected to it. There are a lot of real friendships that I made with the team like Leo [Romero], Spanky [Kevin Long] and Figgy [Justin Figueora]. I love those guys. I was always still making it down for events to see those guys. For Made: Chapter Two, we sponsored with Lagunitas beer at the premiere, we sponsored the Lakai video too.
Jeff Henderson, Heath Kirchart & Jon Miner in Santa Rosa
Jon Miner ended up moving back to Santa Rosa during the pandemic. He had a contract with Emerica to do their videos. He always likes to get a second set of eyes on things. I sat with him on a lot of those edits, and there were some contributions that I made that worked out. So I definitely stayed involved on that level too. When you work these other jobs there are certain things about them that really feel like work. Whereas, even though things got stressful and tough in the skate industry, It was still working with something I love so much, and I missed it. I felt so much more connected in skateboarding.
“Having a look outside of the industry was an important thing for me to experience”
Having a look outside of the industry was an important thing for me to experience. Different perspectives. You look at what the goal of a company is. With Emerica, the goal is selling footwear. That’s the ultimate goal. I’m coming back into it with that mindset.
You must be excited to be once again working for a company you play a key part in for such a long time, what is your role, and how did your return transpire?
To be able to come back to Emerica is special. It’s a lot different now. The brand is much smaller, but there’s excitement around what we can do. It’s still an independent owned company and we can be nimble because of where we’re at size wise. I feel like the brand needs to evolve a bit, and it’s going to take some time with product with footwear being 18 months out. But even with that being the case, you can make direct change through marketing.
Jeff’s last day at Sole Tech. On the lanes with Don Brown & Pierre Senizergues in 2015
It’s been great having [Jon] Miner up here. He’s super connected with everyone even though he wasn’t working with Emerica anymore. I had been talking with Leo [Romero], and Spanky, and hearing how they didn’t feel like they had a voice at the brand at the time. There were some changes that had been made at Sole Tech, and that left a need for someone to come in and help. There are a lot of people that are still working there like Don Brown. They know me and my work ethic. So those guys were super on board. This is a brand that I love, and I would definitely want to try to help get it back on track. I’m coming in focused on the marketing and am consulting on the brand as a whole.
So there’s a kind of restructuring going on over there?
Yeah. it’s kind of in a state of rebuilding. We have got to look at the future, which is exciting. There’s a lot that can happen. We can make some changes for the good down the road. Like I said, the footwear timeline from when you first start designing a shoe to when it comes out, is like 18 months to two years. So there’s product that’s coming that I wasn’t involved with at all, but we are building out the marketing plans for these things.
The Dakota Servold Emerica ad for his new shoe featured in the latest Thrasher. PH: Brian Gaberman
Dakota Servold has a shoe coming out this week. He was filming this whole time, so he’s got this video that he’s been working on. Jon Miner is editing it for Thrasher. There’s just an excitement about how we can take the marketing, evolve it, and give it a rougher feel and look. If you see the newest Dakota ad that’s in Thrasher it has some of the evolution of visual elements that we’re talking about. It’ll continue with that video. Jon Miner has been a big part of helping us with that. It’s exciting to start working some of this stuff in; the new look and feel of the brand. It will be changing a lot.
Different colour hues are synonymous with different eras of Emerica, What is your vision when it comes to the evolution of the brand image?
We obviously have our logos and our brand colours that we’re not getting away from. The green is always going to be a part of the brand. It’s part of our DNA. It’s more about being a little grittier. A little more DIY or analogue. With many of the brands out there right now, everyone has a really clean and kind of simple aesthetic. For us to stand out, I feel like taking a kind of rawer approach. It represents where we are as a brand. We’re gonna get our hands dirty rebuilding. It’s all hands on deck.
“It represents where we are as a brand. We’re gonna get our hands dirty rebuilding. It’s all hands on deck”
There have been rumours floating around on the message boards speculating on the future of the brand, we are happy that this quashes them.
The industry right now is hurting all across the board. It’s not just the skateboard industry, it’s the economy everywhere. Emerica is feeling that for sure. But we have this opportunity to change, to bring Emerica to where the market is right now. And that involves discussing how our footwear line is. We have been really good at making a black and white vulcanised shoes. But our goal is to make the line diverse enough that it’ll appeal to any type of skateboarder. We want to make Emerica a brand for all skateboarders. That’s the goal. The great thing about Emerica is that we have authentic history. Emerica has been around. What’s become kind of cool in skating right now harks back to a certain era and we were there. We have people that want to work with us again.
Timothy Nickloff, Mark Waters (RIP), Jeff & Brian Schaefer. Boards For Bros donation in Detroit
It was cool to see Marc Johnson’s shoe back on the shelf for Skate Shop Day
That shoe was such an iconic shoe for Emerica. That one came out and they hadn’t contacted Marc! But now, the projects happening with other signature shoes from the past have the person involved. That’s going to be pretty exciting. I’m really looking forward to everyone seeing the stuff that we’ve been working on behind the scenes.
That was the Jake Phelps shoe of choice.
Yeah, Phelps always wore the MJ. We had 12 pairs of them made for Jake specifically, with his logo. He ran those for a long time.
Do you already have any ideas for fresh blood as far as the team?
I feel like it’s been stuck for a long time from the branding to the product line and even the team. We’ve always had a team of Ams coming up and I feel like that’s something we need to build up on right now. We need some youth involved with the team. The globalisation of Emerica is what we need to be thinking about for the future as well. Not just solely focused on people from California. It’s nothing new, it’s just something that I feel Emerica needs to pay attention to.
“The globalisation of Emerica is what we need to be thinking about for the future”
It’s already been great connecting with Kevin Parrott. I’m going to be working with him pretty closely. He’s handling all of our marketing for Europe, and he’s been a huge part of skateboarding, the culture, and the industry there for a long time. So to be able to get his take on the brand has been super valuable. We can bounce ideas off each other and build it out. I feel like he hasn’t been able to have such a voice on the brand for a while but working together, it’s really going to help.
Could your relationship with Jon Miner lead to a full length video project in the not so distant future?
He’s not working for the brand right now on any kind of contract level, but he’s got a lot of love for the brand. He’ll be involved though. Definitely. As far as a full length? That’s not going to be happening this year. We’ll just be working on smaller projects. This Dakota [Servold] video for his shoe launch…It’s amazing. I think it’s something that’s so different. What Jon is doing with Dakota’s part really taps into Dakota’s personality. I’m excited for people to see that!
You mentioned that Spanky and Leo are going to play a big role in the future of the brand…
I’ve only been working on the brand for a couple of months but it’s one of the main reasons I’m so excited. I’ve been working really closely with Leo, Spanky, and Miner getting their input on what they would like to see happen. We’ve been talking on group chats often. Those guys have so much that they want to contribute after feeling like their voices didn’t matter. They’ve been off doing their own thing – their own projects – and not focused on the brand, specifically. I’m back, and we have a good open relationship. Spanky is so connected outside of just skateboarding. He has people that he knows from all walks of life who have a tie to skateboarding. He’s been bringing in these these friends to collaborate, which is super authentic. Spanky also just has a good eye for art direction.
Jeff entertaining the troops on a Stay Gold mission with Jon Miner. Pictured with Marquis Preston, Leo Romero, Kevin “Spanky” Long, Braydon Szafranski & Collin Provost. PH: Michael Burnett
With Leo…he’s constantly being a leader within the team. The rest of the team kind of goes to Leo. He brings a lot of ideas in. I told Leo and Spanky that I’m here for them, and that I want to help bring this thing to where it needs to be. It’s not just my vision. This is definitely a team effort. That goes for all of the skate team but also internally. We’re all working together and we have this big opportunity. I have the experience of how to do these things and I’m keen to bring that back in. Give us some structure. It’s just been great to see the energy of everybody. Real excitement. It might take some time to get there but there’s a lot of new shoes coming up that I think fit really well into the market. Right now it’s about getting a jump on how we’re going to tell our stories, and put our brand out there with the marketing.
Do you plan on perhaps structuring your role so it finds you back in the van?
It’s funny, I’m wearing so many hats. So I am going to be finding myself back in the van here and there. We’re going to be heading out to Phoenix for a demo around the launch of Dakota shoe at Cowtown skate shop. I’m looking forward to being in the van for that one. Being around as much as I can, and being out with the guys is important.
Jeff performs a ride on 50-50 for his brother’s lens while Isaac “Chalker” Kenyon films
It’s always been refreshing that tours remain an integral part of the Emerica mission statement. Will we be welcoming the Emerica squad back to the UK one of these summers?
That’s the hope and the goal. It won’t be this year unfortunately but hopefully soon. We are starting to steer the ship in the right direction so that we’re able to get out there on the road again as soon as possible. We would love to get back to the UK.
Are you still finding time to skate yourself?
I do. I’ve had a lot of knee injuries over the years. My doctor’s telling me I’m gonna need a knee replacement down the road, but I definitely skate. [Jon] Miner has a really good mini ramp so we get on that and skate which has been fun. I’m kind of limited to what I can do now just based off where my knee is, but I still get on it for sure.
“if you want to work in skateboarding, you need to have the heart to do it. The love of being a skateboarder is what needs to drive you”
Getting some in the deep end. Jeff finding time to connect with the coping
Finally what advice would you give to a young skateboarder who wants to work in the industry at this point in time?
I think it just takes a lot of heart for skateboarding. That and you gotta want to do it for the right reasons, and not just for a paycheck. Skateboarding is such a special thing and being a part of it is something that’s so unique. I appreciate it so much after being gone for eight and a half years. I’m picking up conversations, and seeing people I haven’t seen for a long time, and it feels very natural. It’s this network and it’s such an important thing. Obviously there’s not a ton of money in skateboarding at the moment, and even the big guys are making huge cuts. So if you want to work in skateboarding, you need to have the heart to do it. The love of being a skateboarder is what needs to drive you. Then it’s about being accountable and reliable. You’re always going to be handling more than just the job description, it’s about helping out on so many levels. Everyone’s contributing, regardless. If you’re a footwear designer you’ll be contributing to marketing ideas, or whatever it might be. It’s about many people working as a team and you have to be open and willing to do that.
We would like to thank Jeff for his time and wish him all the best for his new role at Emerica, we look forward to seeing what the future holds. Shop with us for current Emerica products and keep an eye on new releases. We would also like to thank Michael Burnett for sending us images from his archives, and to Kevin Parrott who supported us in making this happen. Thanks also to Maksim Kalanep whose photo of Jake Phelps (RIP) we cropped to include.
Related Reading: Michael Burnett Interview, Offerings: Kevin “Spanky” Long, Jon Dickson Interview, Don Brown Interview, Brandon Westgate Interview
Previous Industry interviews: Kevin Parrott, Vans with David Atkinson, Seth Curtis