Good morning, dear Sneakerjagers! History lessons at school were not always the most exciting of all subjects for everyone and you had to learn a lot by heart, only to never talk about it again afterwards. Here with us, however, it's different! In today's little history lesson, it will be anything but lame. We'll give you the most important and interesting facts you need to know about the skateboarding brand DC Shoes.
You can also look forward to other cool insights from the brand! Of course you can also find out where DC Shoes stands today, what's new and, above all, which kicks from the brand are currently recommended!
Be curious and let yourself be inspired! We've talked and teased enough. Let's go straight into our short DC Shoes History Lesson with an exciting drop-in!
DC Shoes History
The DC Shoes brand was founded in 1994 in Vista, a small town near San Diego, California. At this point, two names are particularly important: Damon Way and Ken Block. These two friends are the heads who founded DC Shoes, a brand that is still well-known and hard to imagine without.
Here are two recent pictures of the skateboarding pioneers:
Damon Way… ring any bells? If you've had anything to do with skateboarding from time to time, or even if you just type "skateboarding legends" into the big search engine, iconic names such as Tony Hawk, Mark Gonzales, Ellisa Steamer, German legend Titus Dittmann and Danny Way will immediately be suggested to you.
No, we didn't make a mistake with the last name. It is not one of the founders of DC Shoes who was the first person to jump over the Great Wall of China on a skateboard, but his younger brother Danny Way! At the latest now, there should be no more confusion.
The background behind the name DC Shoes
The actual name of the brand was originally supposed to be Eightball, under which the two Friends had initially only sold T-shirts to skate shops. Unfortunately, they soon discovered that this brand name had already been given to a company from Seattle and renamed their own brand Droors Clothing for the time being.
In 2004, however, Droors Clothing had to be sold and was renamed DC Shoes by the new owner Quicksilver.
Today's official story says that the D and C in the brand name describe the first names of the very first skaters ever sponsored by the brand. They were Danny Way and Colin McKay.
But if you read between the lines with your current knowledge, it quickly becomes clear that the D and C could also stand for Droors Clothing. However, since Droors Clothing, which has since been dissolved, was spun off from DC Shoes and they had to cut all ties with the old company, they had to come up with a new story. The co-founder at the time, Ken Block, even told us this in a recent interview.
DC Shoes x Linkin Park
Of course, it has become increasingly important to enter into collaborations with other brands or artists with a wide reach. One collab that could offer the brand a lot of exposure at the time was the one with singer and producer Linkin Park, Mike Shinoda. He had already designed for DC Shoes a few times in the past. The first collaboration took place on the DC Shoes Axel in 2003:
Today, the brand is still trying to create something new, to convey new impressions and, like its competitors, to develop innovative, unusual sneakers. As we see everywhere these days, collaborations are the be-all and end-all of marketing a brand.
DC Shoes x AC/DC
Most recently in 2020, DC Shoes teamed up with the legendary and well-known hard rock band AC/DC. The result is a complete pack with nice graphics of the band and many of the different silhouettes the brand has to offer. Check it out for yourself:
DC Shoes today
The brand id still present in the skateboarding scene, but today it does not only produce skateboarding articles. Although the brand's focus has been on the development and production of skate shoes for decades, it now also produces a lot of clothing BMX, motorbikes and snowboarding.
DC RE/SOLVE for more sustainability
In April 2021, the brand launched its new project called DC RE/SOLVE. The aim of this major project is to produce many times more sustainably and cleanly.
With the "Made from the Everyday Grind" Collection the brand is offering new sneakers that are made from a 50/50 mix of cotton and sustainable material and are also 100% vegan.
In fact, the name of the collection says it all and could hardly describe the whole project better. The material that is recycled is the coffee grounds that we all throw into the organic waste almost every day after use.
Worldwide, this amounts to an astonishing 23 million tonnes! The innovative use of the brand is the reuse of coffee grounds as an environmentally friendly and sustainable resource for the development of brand new skate shoes.
Coffee grounds therefore have a better use than just ending up in the compost and are even surprisingly robust, which is almost the most important thing for skate shoes.
If you want to know more, then take a look below at how the brand describes the whole thing itself:
You want to try out the sustainable kicks yourself and do your bit for the environment?
You can shop some pieces from the "Made from the Everyday Grind" collection at our partner Blue Tomato. Click the button to go directly there.
You like the DC Shoes TONIK SE Sneaker mega and you want to have a closer look at it right away? No problem!
Just click on the picture and take a closer look at this beautiful pair. ⬇️
Alright, that's it for our blog post "DC Shoes: History Lesson and what's new". We hope that we were able to provide you with some interesting background information and surprise you with some cool insights.
For more cool content and the hottest news from the world of sneakers and streetwear, follow us on our official Instagram account. There we'll bring you all the news like leaks, new releases and/or the best sales first. See you there! ❤️