Ginge's Column - We let ourselves do it
Scott 'Ginge' Partington has been part of the Discipline family for years. When he's not on his skateboard he's a widely published freelance writer and avid woodworker. This is his semi/regular column, enjoy.
This is some sad news, I hope that you all agree; 'Fallen Footwear will no longer be a company'.
I hope everyone on the team finds a new home and continues to kill it. The fall of Fallen has made the skate community have an interesting conversation over the last week. The conversation has been about all the big companies coming in and taking money from the little ones, an interesting topic to read opinions on. Here is my opinion, for what it is worth:
It is not the big companies fault that Fallen and others have fallen, it is, ours. When they pushed their way in, we could have ignored them, of course they have the money to advertise bigger than anyone but that doesn't mean we have to pay attention? The reason these companies have been able to get a foothold in the community that we love so much is because we have let them. This isn't normal society where all you need is money to make your mark, to be big in our community you have to make good shit and hold it down for the skaters that ride for yout! And thats the very reason we love companies like Fallen in the first place! The reason Fallen fell is because we let it.
The real truth is that we stopped buying Fallen Footwear. This may be that they weren't putting out the footwear that we wanted them to or (more likely) that they got overshadowed by the larger companies marketing budgets! Whichever way it happened, it was our fault and that is why it is such a sad day for skateboarding. We were brainwashed, we were told to 'Just Do It', and we let ourselves do it...
I hope everyone on the team finds a new home and continues to kill it. The fall of Fallen has made the skate community have an interesting conversation over the last week. The conversation has been about all the big companies coming in and taking money from the little ones, an interesting topic to read opinions on. Here is my opinion, for what it is worth:
It is not the big companies fault that Fallen and others have fallen, it is, ours. When they pushed their way in, we could have ignored them, of course they have the money to advertise bigger than anyone but that doesn't mean we have to pay attention? The reason these companies have been able to get a foothold in the community that we love so much is because we have let them. This isn't normal society where all you need is money to make your mark, to be big in our community you have to make good shit and hold it down for the skaters that ride for yout! And thats the very reason we love companies like Fallen in the first place! The reason Fallen fell is because we let it.
The real truth is that we stopped buying Fallen Footwear. This may be that they weren't putting out the footwear that we wanted them to or (more likely) that they got overshadowed by the larger companies marketing budgets! Whichever way it happened, it was our fault and that is why it is such a sad day for skateboarding. We were brainwashed, we were told to 'Just Do It', and we let ourselves do it...
