There will always be a purist part of me inclined to support smaller companies as close to the core of skateboarding as possible, and so I've been conflicted about the fact that biggies like Nike and Adidas are now making very good shoes, doing very good things for skateboarding, and don't seem to be making too big of a nuisance of themselves. All the
damn shoe companies are making their kicks in the same third world factories anyway, no matter how core they are, and most of them are now owned by bigger badder companies, so at some level those old purists' distinctions are gone anyway. Still, what to think of it all?

Here's where the complexity of my personal hypocrisy comes to a point: I've never been a Nike man. I've always loved Adidas. Blame Run DMC, maybe? Nowadays I'd have to revise that: Blame Run DMC and Mark Gonzales, because Adidas and the Gonz are doing right by each other in a big way. For that matter, Adidas seems to be doing right by Tim O'Connor, Lem Villemin, Dennis Busenitz, Dave Bachinsky, Vince del Valle...
Plus, those are some damn good looking shoes they're making these days.
I love Vans. I love DC. I love DVS, and Globe, and a lot of other great shoes out there. I've been wearing some pretty good Adio shoes for a while. But I'm going to NYC next week, and I'm coming home with some Adidas (you can't go to NYC and not get fresh kicks, right?).

Anyway, now that that little riff is out of the way... Go check out the tricked out new Adidas Skateboarding site. The blog points to recent Adidas team highlights like the Tim O'Connor roast and Villemin's stunner at The Berrics, there are pics of the new shoes and some slick apparel, and there's an archive of recent ads and other clips. Check it out.

What happened to my youthful idealism? When did evil corporations start doing stuff i could get behind like sponsoring Tampa Am (Nike) and the Underskatement Film Festival (Adidas) and bankrolling killer indie skate films from the likes of Nichols & Charnowski (Nike and Adidas have each pitched in on these projects)? It's a complicated world we live in.