French Skater Putting Sole In Lake Forest Shoe Maker

By JENNIFER BELLANTONIO

Orange County Business Journal

Pierre Andr & #233; Senizergues is told to “relax” for a photo shoot.

No problem.

He does a handstand on his skateboard, then flips into the air, plants his feet on the deck and lands perfectly on the ground.

And that was just for practice.

Senizergues does the move again this time starting with a one-arm handstand.

The photographer frantically clicks away trying to keep up with him. The 10-second stunt is a dazzler, especially since Senizergues retired from professional skateboarding years ago and is maneuvering in a cramped space in a footwear showroom at his Lake Forest-based Sole Technology Inc.

Sole is one of the hottest names in the action sports industry. The 13-year-old company started with one skateboarding shoe, Etnies, and now counts three others as well as apparel.

The company’s brands are & #233;S (an athletic shoe for skateboard shops), Emerica (an anti-fashion skateboarding shoe also for skateboard stores) and 32 (a snowboarding boot sold in action sport stores alongside Etnies).

Sole now counts $100 million in yearly sales, up from a million a year in the early 1990s, said Senizergues, the company’s chief executive. It started with two employees and now has more than 200, with plans to grow.

The challenge for Sole is striking a balance staying cool with 12- to 24-year-old skate rats while meeting growth goals.

The French-born Senizergues grew up skateboarding, but had no background in business or shoe development. He graduated from the University of Paris with an engineering degree, and, at age 22, took a “real” job with IBM Corp.

Not for long.

Lured by glossy American skate magazines, Senizergues said he dreamed of coming to the U.S. to skate. So, after two months with Big Blue, he earned enough money for a plane ticket and flew to Los Angeles for a vacation. The first night he stayed with some friends. The next day he went to Venice Beach to skate.

Twenty-four hours later his life changed.

Professional skateboarder

Scouts from board maker Sims Skateboards and axle maker Tracker spotted him. They sponsored Senizergues and helped him turn pro.

“I assumed I’d be an engineer all my life,” he said. “It was like a dream to be a professional skateboarder and make a living traveling all around the world.”

Senizergues called his parents and IBM and told them of his plans.

“It was a bit nuts for sure,” he said. “Back in the day, it was hard to make a living skateboarding. Now it’s different because it has become so much more mainstream.”

Senizergues won several world titles. Each contest, he took home $1,000 to $2,000, which was enough to get by on for a month. But he began having back problems and realized he couldn’t skate forever. He eventually hooked up with some friends in France who were running a high-fashion shoe company called Rautureau Apple Shoes.

They were launching a skateboarding shoe line, Etnies, and Senizergues proposed distributing Etnies in the United States. Using his contest winnings and small loans from back home to fund the company, he licensed the brand and set up a small office in Anaheim.

Transition to businessman

Etnies had a hard start. No one ever had heard of the brand. And skateshops were gun-shy about giving them a go. “When I came into stores they knew me because I was in the magazines. But they looked at me as a skateboarder,” Senizergues said. “They were not looking at me as running a business.”

There were some glitches, too. The shoes were made in Asia (and still are), and Senizergues said he had some delivery issues that eventually were ironed out.

Shoe designs were another story.

Skaters were buying high tops but wanted low cuts, which led Senizergues to take on designing himself even though he had no experience.

One of his first: the Lo Cut, which still is sold by Etnies. The shoe, launched in 1994, helped grow sales from $1 million to $8 million in a year. Senizergues branched into Etnies T-shirts, sweatshirts and hats. He launched & #233;S to serve a more athletic skate market, as Etnies was going more mainstream.

Sole hit another glitch when Etnies’ French parent was bought by an American company that took back the Etnies U.S. license only to fall flat with the brand.

Six months later, Senizergues, who had replaced the Etnies name with Emerica, bought the Etnies brand, which was getting nibbles from the likes of Nike Inc. and Reebok International Ltd.

That same year Senizergues founded Sole and put all the labels under one umbrella. He also eventually bought the Etnies brand to Europe and Asia.

“I like their model,” said Eric “EJ” John, who owns Laguna Surf & Sport Stores and Quiksilver Boardriders Clubs. Emerica is hot right now, John said, “especially with the hard core skaters.”

Competition remains a big factor. Torrance-based DVS Shoe Co. is one of Sole’s main rivals. Oregon’s Savier, now part of Nike, may be a company to watch. And Santa Fe Springs-based Vans Inc. is an industry stalwart.

There’s always been a bigger “player than us,” Senizergues said. “You’ve got to play with your advantages.”

Sole can’t forget about its rivals, but “the biggest goal is to focus on their product and their brand,” said Tony Cherbak, a retail analyst in the consumer products group of Deloitte & Touche LLP’s Costa Mesa office.

“If they take care of their customers, that’s going to pay dividends,” he said.

Sole has gone from being in a handful of skate shops in California in the early 1990s to about 10,000 worldwide.