{"id":2182108,"date":"2026-10-06T17:40:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T14:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2182108"},"modified":"2026-10-06T17:40:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T14:40:04","slug":"after-many-years-in-skate-shoe-purgatory-dvs-is-back-should-you-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2182108","title":{"rendered":"AFTER MANY YEARS IN SKATE SHOE PURGATORY, DVS IS BACK. SHOULD YOU CARE?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

<\/p>\n

Everyone in the industry keeps saying it: \u201cSkateboarding is in a funny place right now.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

DVS<\/a>, a skate shoe brand whose heyday was firmly in the 2000s, making a comeback in 2026 feels like a testament to that.<\/p>\n

While the brand wasn\u2019t that near and dear to me, their 2005 full-length Skate More<\/em> was one of the best videos of the era, and Jason Dill, Keith Hufnagel, Daewon Song and many other iconic names rode for them at one point or another.<\/p>\n

Usually, I wouldn\u2019t pay much attention to another old brand trying to relive its glory days, but as some of the big athletic shoe brands are spread thin, it made me wonder if there was actually an opportunity for the OG skate shoe companies to make a real comeback.<\/p>\n

With DVS\u2019s renewed push, they are bringing in Lee Berman<\/a>, a skater who spent more than a decade helping build the Converse CONS skate program, and I wanted to hear his take on this question: Can old skate shoe brands actually regain some of the market share they lost over the last decade?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It has been a while since DVS made any waves in skating. Is DVS really trying to become an active participant in skateboarding again? <\/strong>
\nYeah, 100%. I mean, I think it\u2019s at the point now where it\u2019s all systems go. We\u2019re working on new products, signing riders, and have collabs in the works. I think it will be pretty reflective of the original DVS. Skateboarding was always and will always be our north star.<\/p>\n

Why now? Isn\u2019t the skate shoe market cooked?<\/strong>
\nI think a big reason it\u2019s \u201ccooked\u201d is that everyone is fighting to be the biggest version of the same thing. When people start talking over each other to be the loudest voice in the room, it gives everyone a headache. I look at skateboarding and the culture around it the same way I look at music. There\u2019s endless music out there. One could argue every corner is \u201ccooked,\u201d whether you\u2019re streaming or digging through the crates, but there\u2019s always room for someone who looks cool and sounds good. If we can make quality skate shoes, get them to the right places, and have a solid crew, I think this can be impactful over time.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When you\u2019ve gone to shops, what have the reactions to DVS been like?<\/strong>
\nShops are struggling right now, so it\u2019s just about making DVS something they want to be a part of. The good thing about DVS is that it\u2019s not a huge buy-in or commitment. If a shop wants to bring in eight pairs of shoes, we can do that. That\u2019s a real appeal to shops. It\u2019s very grassroots and there aren\u2019t a lot of layers. If you need to talk to somebody, there are people for you to talk to. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe good thing about DVS is that it\u2019s not a huge buy-in or commitment. If a shop wants to bring in eight pairs of shoes, we can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

I saw you brought Kerry Getz back<\/a>, what was the thinking behind that?<\/strong>
\nWhen the company bought DVS from its previous owners, they went out to talk with our shops about DVS. The feedback was pretty much, \u201cHey, we don\u2019t need DVS, but our memories of it are quite positive. For a long time the Kerry Getz shoe was our best selling shoe, so when you guys decide to rerelease that shoe, come talk to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the sales guys at our company has a long-standing relationship with Kerry, and he saw on Instagram that Kerry was getting back into skateboarding. Not to dive too deep into Kerry\u2019s personal life, but he\u2019s been on quite the journey. So he hit him up like, \u201cIt looks like you\u2019re back skating. You want some shoes to try out?\u201d It went from there pretty organically to Kerry getting back in the mix.<\/p>\n

We were already working on the Comanche LT, so the easiest thing to do first was make a colorway of that existing shoe inspired by one of his OG colorways. Then we started working on bringing back his original shoe. This spring, Kerry\u2019s original shoe will be back, and it\u2019s a one-to-one copy of what\u2019s in everybody\u2019s memory.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Lee Berman from Orchard\u2019s \u201cWISHBONE\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A lot of people feel like the skate industry is relying too much on the old guard. Do you feel like bringing back these old names hurts skating in any way?<\/strong>
\nI can see why some people would think that. Without naming names, if you\u2019re looking at some of the larger rosters in skateboarding, it\u2019s obvious who you\u2019re talking about. I think if you spend a minute talking to Kerry it becomes clear pretty quickly this isn\u2019t about money for him, he is doing this because he wants to be a part of skateboarding and use his body while he still has it, and I can assure you that it\u2019s not taking away an opportunity from somebody else.<\/p>\n

Somebody like Kerry has the ability to open up the brand to a new generation. He\u2019s the gateway. We\u2019re going to release Kerry\u2019s shoe, do something at his shop Nocturnal, invite the kids, and then those kids will hopefully be inspired to be a part of things and identify with DVS. Bringing him back is only going to create more opportunities for core skate shops and for the next generation of kids, specifically where he\u2019s from in the Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware region. I hope that future team riders will hold the same qualities, people immersed in their communities where DVS can be an ongoing part of what they\u2019re doing, instead of just doing an event, packing up, and leaving.<\/p>\n

So the idea is you get respected, proven skaters on the program first before putting on fresh faces? <\/strong>
\nThere are so many great kids ripping Muni in Philly right now. They\u2019re cool as fuck, and they deserve everything they get, but if nobody has heard of them outside their own scene, it\u2019s still in its own little bubble. It\u2019s not really going to drum up any feelings beyond that. Then you have Kerry, who has a deep legacy with the brand. That widens the aperture and hopefully brings more people in, and once the brand has that bigger reach, it becomes a platform to help elevate what those kids are doing.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But couldn\u2019t you take a ripping local skater and produce videos and editorial? You know, build him up into a future name?<\/strong>
\nDVS is just in a different place. When I worked at Converse, we had kids like Zion Effs, Romell Torres, Dylan Mills, and we were in a position where we could build somebody up. Hell, getting to work with Louie [Lopez] all those years was a dream come true. But with DVS we need the legacy to get in the door. Skateboarding is a network, and when all these people saw Kerry back skating, they repost and support based on his contributions to skateboarding and the community. DVS couldn\u2019t really do that with a local ripper yet, but it\u2019s certainly part of the plan and will come in time. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal is to create a space where each person has a true tie back into skateboarding and understands what is best for skateboarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you think you would do differently with DVS based on what you learned at Converse?<\/strong>
\nI can only speak from my experience at Cons, but when I got there, there were skateboarders all the way to the top, sitting next to the CMO. Year by year those people started to leave until it got whittled down to just me and a few others. Eventually there was nobody left with a skate background, so there was nobody to advocate for skateboarding and we weren\u2019t controlling our own destiny. <\/p>\n

With DVS, my goal is to create a space where each person has a true tie back into skateboarding and understands what is best for skateboarding. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Why do you think it\u2019s so hard for non-skaters to make good decisions on behalf of skaters?<\/strong>
\nSkaters are immersed in the space that we participate in. It\u2019s this intertwined ecosystem, when a retail partner is unhappy or a media partner is unhappy in skateboarding, they call me and we try to rectify the situation. You run Jenkem<\/em> and you want to talk to somebody at DVS you just text me and you get a response 30 seconds later. If you\u2019re anybody in the skate industry, you have a direct line to somebody deep inside the trenches of a skate company. That\u2019s not the way the rest of the world operates and that\u2019s not to be taken for granted. Poor decisions get made because there are people at these big companies who make decisions that they never have to be accountable for.<\/p>\n

That being said, I don\u2019t think you necessarily have to be a skater. I have worked with non-skaters in the past with their hearts in the right place and a desire to learn and they\u2019ve been great. Sometimes skateboarding involves not skateboarding. I think the bottom line is if you\u2019re not going to contribute to the overall health of skateboarding, it\u2019s going to catch up with you.<\/p>\n

How do we know what happened with Converse won\u2019t happen with DVS? <\/strong>
\nOf course the future of anything isn\u2019t guaranteed, but I can say that what\u2019s happening at CONS is a reflection of the overall health of Converse, and less about CONS itself. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Kerry Getz, DVS promo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It feels like big shoe brands are investing less heavily into skating recently. Do you think that creates an opportunity for smaller, skater-owned footwear brands to regain momentum?<\/strong>
\nFor sure, because there\u2019s so much low hanging fruit in the skateboard industry that larger brands aren\u2019t going after. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be easy, but there is totally room for smaller brands. <\/p>\n

\u201cLarger shoe brands are fighting over the same hundred doors in America. As we all know, there are a lot more skate shops than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you mean by \u201clow hanging fruit\u201d?<\/strong>
\nThere are a lot of smaller skate shops that can\u2019t get [shoe] accounts and they\u2019re not really being serviced. They might not be super influential based on where they are, but they are great shops and would love the opportunity to work closely with a brand. You could go somewhere like South America where they don\u2019t even have Adidas, Nike, or Converse skate lines, but there are distributors and they\u2019re willing to bring in 300 pairs of DVS shoes. A lot of the big brands won\u2019t go after the 300 pairs. But you need to sell 300 to sell 3,000 to sell 30,000. And that\u2019s because larger shoe brands are fighting over the same hundred doors in America. As we all know, there are a lot more skate shops than that. <\/p>\n

Do you think DVS making distinctly skateboard-looking, old-school shoes is a lane that could get bigger again?<\/strong>
\nI read this interview recently with J Mascis where he said something like, \u201cI heard Black Sabbath and I dropped out of society,\u201d and that\u2019s how it used to be with skateboarding. Skateboarding used to offer kids an alternate route, and it drew in people that wanted something different. That can be said with skate shoes as well. Now, a lot of skate shoes look like any other shoe, and it feels like skateboarding is just trying to mimic other stuff. That\u2019s cool, and it\u2019s always been a lane, but skate shoes now look like basketball shoes, like soccer shoes, like tennis shoes. The designs should pull inspiration, but in the end you have to give the world something different. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What are some skate shoes that you think deserve a comeback?<\/strong>
\nThe DC archive is off the hook, man. If you could do the Mike Carroll\u2019s or the Rick Howard\u2019s or the Rudy Johnson\u2019s, those are all super dope shoes. I also love seeing Fred Gall and Kenny Reed back in I-Paths.<\/p>\n

What would you say to someone who thinks 90s shoes look like baked potatoes?<\/strong>
\nI love baked potatoes [laughs]. I think with DVS, much like DC, we will continue to have those heritage models because people are asking for them and they sell, but alongside of it will be slimmer, more contemporary versions of the skate shoe that you want to skate.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I heard a rumor a while ago that Steve Berra was behind some of the DVS program revamp, is that true? <\/strong>
\nBerra did the marketing of DVS through the Berrics, sort of like an agency. He had ties to the previous owners being based in St. Louis where he\u2019s from. That was before I joined. DVS was very heavily tied to the Berrics at that time. But Berra\u2019s agency contract ended June 1st and I started as an actual full-time employee on June 8. I\u2019ve never had a conversation or been in the same room as Steve Berra. I can tell you that Steve Berra and The Berrics have no affiliation to DVS currently. <\/p>\n

I think a lot of core skateboarding has a negative taste in their mouth for Steve Berra. I sort of have a policy of I don\u2019t want to sit here and talk shit about somebody that I\u2019ve never even spoken to before. I\u2019m a child of the 90s, so all I know of the guy is his skating and it was dope. <\/p>\n

\u201cComing to DVS was like putting my money where my mouth is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming from Converse and its insane team, did you have apprehension about putting your name on a legacy brand\u2019s restart? <\/strong>
\nFor me, coming to DVS was like putting my money where my mouth is. Boston is a great city when it comes to the footwear industry. I could be sitting around doing marketing plans for another footwear brand, but they don\u2019t have skate programs. So much of my life and identity is skateboarding, and getting to contribute to something I love, I couldn\u2019t see it any other way. DVS gave me an opportunity where I could continue to do that.<\/p>\n

Interview by: Ian Michna<\/a>
\nPhotos Courtesy of: DVS Shoes<\/a> and Mike Heikkila<\/a>
\nShare this with a puffy shoe lover on Facebook<\/a>
\nReport this as nostalgia bait on Instagram<\/a> and Twitter<\/a><\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everyone in the industry keeps saying it: \u201cSkateboarding is in a funny place right now.\u201d DVS, a skate shoe brand whose heyday was firmly in the 2000s, making a comeback in 2026 feels like a testament to that. While the brand wasn\u2019t that near and dear to me, their 2005 full-length Skate More was one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,282],"class_list":["post-2182108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-jenkemmag-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2182108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2182108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2182108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2182108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2182108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2182108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}