etnies

Happy New Year!

Can ya believe it's 2008 already? Make it s a good one! Happy New Year from all of us at etnies!

Club Tattoo Interview Series, Part 2

SD: That was for the third.

RB: Oh, OK, cool. So, do you do tattooing?

SD: I do not…I do body piercing.

RB: Oh, OK…so, I guess…how long have you been doing that?

SD: 12 years.

RB: So do you actively do that? Or are you kind of…

SD: I only do it at conventions or to do like different photo shoots or poster shoots or stuff like that. I don’t really work at the shops anymore. I’ll do appointment basis if someone really wants me to do something special on ‘em. I’ll do that but I don’t pierce tongues and (unintelligible) and stuff anymore.

RB: Is it something you…I guess since you have been doing it 12 years that’s what you were doing back in the day…is it something you kind of miss at all?

SD: Yeah, I love it. To me, it totally grounded me to my client--not just my client, but Club Tattoo’s client.

TD: That’s how he ends up getting kicked out of the office ‘cause he’s not working shifts now. So he’s kind of still finding his way not actively piercing. It’s a passion just like tattooing or being a musician. Professional piercing is definitely technology, (unintelligible), math, a lot of math goes into doing some of those designs and year projects--things like that so it’s definitely not something people are great at right out the gates. It’s definitely a learned talent.

RB: Did you…let’s see…she cut you off here.

SD: No…

TD: Sorry, I always cut him off…

*Thora laughs

RB: So, I guess originally when things started…you said they took off unexpectedly…you were trying to find a…what do you attribute the success of Club Tattoo to?
SD: I think there’s a lot of facets to that. And to answer that, the first thing I would say would be the passion and motivation that myself and my team has. Were not a bunch of lazy people. I’ve never hired a bunch of lazy people so each individual that works here and has worked here, for the most part, has really contributed a lot to the whole ball rolling, so to speak. I wake up every day seven days a week and I work. I’m a workaholic. I always want to push this place to be better, cooler, innovative I always want to push the envelope whether it be piercing, tattooing, now clothing, shoes. I always want to make things better. I think drive would be…if I had to sew it up into one thing…it would be drive.

RB: So, nowadays with the increasing popularity of tattooing and piercing and the whole lifestyle and tv shows…I guess I’m sort of wondering in your eyes and this being a successful venture, what makes Club Tattoo different than, like, everything else out there?

SD: Well, we don’t take a traditional tattoo parlor approach; I think we take a very female-friendly art gallery approach to tattooing. So, we have more of the very upscale, hair salon/art gallery version of a tattoo studio. So right there we’re different. When you walk in the door, we’re different. We don’t have flash all over the walls. We don’t have dirty floors. We don’t have--everything is private. Everything is done to where you feel comfortable with the artist and it’s about your experience. You’re not put on display here when you come and get tattooed in front of fifty other people you don’t know and paying for the most part for your entire stay. We try to make it as comfortable as possible and I think that’s what’s defiantly different about us.

TD: The tattoo industry…we have pioneered a level of customer service, combined with professionalism, and a talent of the artist here that surpasses anybody in the industry and we have a team of people that do just the customer service; we have a team of people that do the tattooing and a team of people that do the piercing; and collectively they make the experience for the customer and the customer gets hand held from the moment they walk in, to the moment they leave. And we have a very loyal client base. And we’re good to them and they pay us respect and loyalty in return.

SD: That’s a good point too. The loyalty of our client base, I would have to say, is definitely different from what most tattoo studios would have.

TD: Most of our tattoo artists have been working here for many years; we do not really have a high turnover. People come here to build careers. That makes a very big difference to the clientele. Our artists are very serious about their work, they’re very serious about their positions at Club Tattoo and they are building their careers here as well. So that also helps build clientele trust and loyalty because they know that their artist is going to be there maybe in six months or a year when they want to bring a friend back or come back and get some more work, we’re here for them. Reliability is a big one in this business. To have reliability makes you stand apart.

RB: One thing you just touched on earlier is you said that this shop has sort of a more feminine…

*Thora laughs

SD: female friendly!
TD: female friendly!

RB: But, I was kind of walking around and I was going to ask you earlier before we were rolling but I wanted to say that like it seems almost like it’s, I thought it might have almost been sort of designed and laid out by a woman…I don’t know if that’s...

*Thora laughs over talking

SD: NO, not at all!

RB: But it has a touch to it that’s sort of soft.

SD: We’ll she’s defiantly helped in the design of the whole atmosphere, without a doubt.

TD: You know, as far as being a woman in this business…it is a predominately male environment, however the predominate percentage of client is female. So if the women are happy, the men are happy. If the women come, the men will come. Women generally spend their own money and they spend their man’s money so just the shop-ability, where you place garments things like that--and that’s another thing that set us apart from most of the tattoo industry. We offer full body connection. You can do tattooing, piercing, you can come and pick up some great accessories, clothing. That brings a twist to the tattoo business that really isn’t out there, so…

RB: I could just tell right away when I walked in, I could just…it had a sort of female touch that’s not overdone…sort of nurturing or something.

SD: Homey…

TD: Well, thank you.

RB: Yeah

SD: It makes you feel comfortable.

RB: So, back to something else…you were talking about the loyalty of your customers…I just wanted to ask about…like, so…how much does sort of Chester’s affiliation with Linkin Park, and all that, come into play as far as the success of the shop?

SD: Not much.

*Thora laughs

RB: It seems like it’s not that big of an issue…

SD: It’s not, we don’t play into it a whole lot, to be honest. Chester got involved because we’re close friends. As soon as Chester got involved, we didn’t put a big sign out front that says Club Tattoo owned by Chester Bennignton of Linkin Park.

TD: Owned by a rock star (said over Sean)…yeah

SD: We don’t use that because we don’t have to use that…

RB: Yeah

SD: …and I think what’s funny now…

TD: (speaks over Sean-unintelligible)

SD:…Chester is like, “Hey, we can do this,” and I’m like, “No we don’t need to do that.” You know when we’re promoting an event or a concert or something like that, then we’ll pull that tie in. Ya know? When we really need to tap into people outside of our immediate area, I guess…for people, like in California or Utah, then Chester comes in very handy because of his media savvy…his media plug-ins. But as far as everyday business, we don’t use that a lot.

RB: Well that’s what it seems like and I think probably people, as you guys grow, might…people who aren’t around here, or whatever, don’t know the whole story might get the wrong impression…

SD: Oh, we get that all the time

TD: And that’s OK…and that’s OK (A second time…over Sean)

SD: They think it’s a success because of that, but at the end of the day as long as the business is successful, who cares the reason why? So if that’s what somebody thinks, then so be it.

RB: Well, once people learn about the business, at some point they’re going to learn that that’s not the case anyway, like with this interview, for example.

TD: Right

SD: Like I said, either way, it don’t matter to us. As long as people see it as a success and see what we’re actually offering, what we’re bringing to the industry, that’s what’s important. It’s not about me getting credit for anything, or me getting patted on the back--oh, he didn’t do this or she didn’t do this--it’s about, well, we all did this collectively. So, you know, cool. As long as you think it’s cool, as long as you get what we are doing, then awesome. Then I don’t care who you think is responsible.

Stay tuned for Part 3!

Club Tattoo Giveaway
Club Tattoo Interview Series, Part 1

Very Happy Holidays From etnies!

Happy Holidays to you, your friends and family from etnies! Thanks for all your support!

Hurtin' for last minute gifts?

JP Walker's Transworld Exclusive

FREE 2-3 Day Shipping Limited Time Offer!

FREE 2-3 day shipping on any purchase amount! Our new apparel's in stock now so hurry up and order by the 19th... yeah, that's tomorrow so get on it already!

JP Signs With StepChild!

(Monday December 17th 2007) After much speculation and an industry-wide rumor mill, StepChild Snowboards is proud to announce the signing of JP Walker to the International Pro Team. "JP's riding and dedication to snowboarding speaks for itself- not many snowboarders have remained at the top of their class for over ten years. We are absolutely thrilled to have him on the team. It's cool that we share the same values and beliefs as to what a snowboard company and team should be." - StepChild founder Sean Johnson.

"Where else would I end up? Come on, you know I keep it one-honey! StepChild is one of the last true snowboard companies out there. I love that they value what a professional rider brings to the table. Rider owned and driven, others claim it but none live it, son!" - JP Walker. There's no denying JP has had a huge impact on the sport of snowboarding over the past decade. Anyone who knows anything about snowboarding is familiar with JP's video parts. Over the years he set a new standard filming with MDP and for some of the biggest selling team videos of all time; he invented tricks and numerous first-ever-bangers caught on film. JP's riding and style has stayed relevant even in an era marked by the X-Games, reality shows, corporate takeovers and riders with fistfuls of energy drinks. No one has been able to continually raise the bar, and maintain a high level of integrity, style, innovation and technical tricks like JP has. Even after a season unexpectedly cut short, JP managed to have a solid presence in videos and magazines, including his Future cover, surprisingly JP's first North American cover shot of his career.

Walker's snowboarding career is the result of immense talent, hard work and dedication -attributes he will continue to bring to the game in the future. His priority is the progression of snowboarding, but it's also about the way he and his sport are portrayed to the public. Driven by the same ideals StepChild and JP are the perfect combination. "Obviously StepChild is focused on snowboard videos and progression, two things that I've always been an advocate of. They have an amazing team of handrail slayers, and I’m stoked to be a part of it, been riding their boards on the down low this past week and I’m stoked. It's simply the best fit. One." - JP Walker.

Simon Chamberlain adds, "Growing up watching snowboard videos, JP Walker has always been my favorite snowboarder of all time. It truly is amazing to see him riding for Stepchild. Its like a dream come true, not only for me but for the whole company." JP will have a Pro Model with StepChild in three sizes: 147, 151, and 154. The boards will be sold with a regular edge as well as a RETT (Round Edge Taper Tuning) option. The board has a dull round edge between the feet for jibbing, and tapers out to a regular edge by the time it reaches the contact points. "The boards are tuned at the factory exactly how I would tune them at home." adds JP. JP is currently filming with Mack Dawg Productions for Double Decade, which will be released in August 2008. His current sponsor list includes: StepChild Snowboards, ThirtyTwo, etnies, Oakley, Nixon, Bear Mountain, Milosport and Molcasalsa. StepChild's International Pro Team now consists of JP Walker, Simon Chamberlain, Markku Koski, Stian Solberg and Fredu Sirvio. The International Am Team consists of Joe Sexton, Risto Ruokola, and Scotty Vine. Other notable supporters include Chris Wimbles, Brian McClatchy and E-Man amongst others. About StepChild: StepChild is a snowboard company that specializes in camping stoves, fishing tackle, and tennis rackets. The StepChild team is currently training and testing sand boards in Egypt. Joe Sexton and Simon Chamberlain are currently pushing the envelope of progressive sandboarding in the Egyptian Parallel Slalom while Markku and Stian aren't having much luck in the Sandboard half pipe event. The stupid camel just won't pull us to the top! He's going to need an energy drink sponsor added Markku. - StepChild

Staale's Method Photo!

Just thought you all might like a sick shot of Staale Sandbech while he was destroying the slopes of Breckenridge a few days past. I wish he would do a Kill Dracula in the pipe!

Team Europe Update 12/14/07!

Team Europe update!

Young Swiss ripper, Mario Käppeli, is in Breckenridge warming up for the season. Don’t think he’s just hanging out and chilling. No, the young fellow is busy working on coverage while in the states. He recently had a photo on the Future Mag website and now has a little interview in there as well. Check out the interview HERE!
Mario is busy shooting with different photographers including; Jeff Potto from Transworld. He will be ready for the season when he’s back in Europe. Keep your eyes open for Mario!

Thomas Harstad is in Breckenridge with a whole crew of Norwegian ThirtyTwo riders. He’s hanging out with Erik Botner and Ståle Sandbech, shooting photos and riding park in Breckenridge. According to Thomas, Ståle is super stoked to be in the states for the first time and is having the time of his life. Thomas also just recently celebrated his birthday and had a crazy party in Denver. He also scored the cover and an interview in the most recent issue of Norwegian based Playboard Magazine and believe it or not, he’s hanging in Madrid, Spain. I guess you don’t quite understand what I mean. Well , check out the picture.

Thomas will stay in Breck ‘til December 19th, then fly back home to Norway for Christmas and the X-Mas Jam that he and his buddy, Andreas, will hold in Norway. The X-Mas Jam is all about the kids, who willThis will be able to ride and receive coaching from their favorite Norwegian pros. So kids, keep your ears and eyes open for the X-Mas Jam. While home Thomas is hoping for some fun sessions at his local resort before he heads down to Switzerland for the O’Neill Evolution contest in Davos.

Swiss boy, Nicholas Wolken, is Mr. Unlucky for the month. After some days of shooting in Hintertux and a new contract with Sessions he ended up in the hospital with bruised kidneys. Some lovely rocks were hiding under a nice stash of pow, which led to Nicholas heading straight to the hospital. Now he has to take a break for a couple of weeks. At least he has time to concentrate on his studies. Get well soon Nicholas and see you on the snow. (Photo by Creager)

German rider Simon Schweiger has a smile on his face. After his collarbone problems Simon is enjoying the powder around Innsbruck and the Arlberg region. He said he didn’t once ride on a normal slope for the last two weeks. Now he’s busy planning his season and organizing a filming crew to film with. So keep your eyes open for Simon this season. He’s on fire!

Slovenian, Matevz Pristavec, is stoked on the amount of early snow this season. He has been riding his home resorts in Slovenia and spending lots of time in the Dachstein area. He has also been slashin’ the surf in Croatia because of the snow barren mountains. His next trip will take him to Sofia, Bulgaria for his last big air contest of the season and then back to the Austrian powder.

Remi Lamazouere, from France, had a busy start to his season. First he prayed for snow, then he felt like becoming a snowboard sage, so he taught at a snowboard school in Grenoble While there the kids wanted to know all about his life, so he also did a little Q&A session. Remi also hit up Rip Curl TV and now he’s on his way to Breckenridge, then Calgary to shoot with Eric Bergeri. Busy, busy!

Miikka Hast was travling quite a bit over the last couple of weeks. He started filming with the Scrapebook Project in Rovaniemi, Finland, then headed to Austria to get some serious snow. Miikka, Markku Koski and some other guys went to Kaprun and Leogang for some amazing early season powder. Word is they got some sweet kicker shots on film. Next up, young Miikka journeyed to Bulgaria for a photo-shoot. He is now back in Lapland, waiting for the holidays, cursing the darkness, riding as much as possible and trying to film for his movie part.

Martin Sandberg is in Sweden, enjoying the snow and having a great start to his season.

Have fun in the snow and merry Christmas!

New Club Tattoo Shoes & Contest!

The masterminds behind the tat-inspired Bernie and Fakie are at it again. New, for Spring '08, etnies and Club Tattoo have four all new designs to feed your need for wearable art. Available in January to the rest of the world, the new Fleet, Fader, Chambosa and Lo-Pro-Baller are just waiting to be won now! Check out the details and enter to win here.

Stay tuned for exclusive interviews with Sean, Thora and Chester.

Joe Sexton Featured On "The Daily Habit"!

Airing Friday, December 14, at 9:00 pm Eastern Time (6:00 pm Pacific Time) and telecast three additional times, pro snowboarder Joe Sexton will appear on The Daily Habit.

Guest host Keir Dillon delivers a show that is filled with buttery goodness. Fresh off his “Best Trick” award at the 2007 Hot Dawgs and Handrails, pro snowboarder Joe Sexton gives us his thoughts on riding, filming and photography. Plus, actor John Hensley will stop by to give us an update on “nip/tuck” and his new film “Teeth.” And, Keir separates the cream from the crop with a Holiday Gift Guide that’ll keep you cool this season.

Joe’s sponsors include: NOMIS Design, etnies/ThirtyTwo, StepChild Snowboards, Union, Ashbury, Elm, Defcon and Cal-Surf.

How Green Is Your Resort?

We found some great stats on how green ski resorts in California are. Head on over to www.skiareacitizens.com to learn more about what ski resorts are the most earth friendly and how we can be more friendly too. Looks like Kirkwood could use some help.

All Ski Areas In California:

# Name Grade

1 (A) Alpine Meadows Ski Area 73.8%
2 (A) Squaw Valley USA 70.7%
3 (B) Mountain High Resort 69.8%
4 (B) Boreal Mountain Resort 69.3%
5 (B) Mt. Shasta Board & Ski Park 66.7%
6 (B) Bear Mountain Resort 66.2%
7 (B) Mammoth Mountain Ski Area 66.2%
8 (B) Sierra-at-Tahoe Ski Resort 65.8%
9 (B) Homewood Mountain Resort 65.3%
10 (C) Snow Valley Mountain Resort 64.9%
11 (C) Snow Summit Mountain Resort 64.6%
12 (C) Sierra Summit Mountain Resort 63.1%
13 (C) Sugar Bowl Ski Resort 60.5%
14 (C) Dodge Ridge 50.7%
15 (C) Heavenly Mountain Resort 50.2%
16 (D) Northstar-at-Tahoe 49.0%
17 (D) Bear Valley Mountain Resort 47.1%
18 (F) Kirkwood Mountain Resort 37.8%

TWS 9th Annual Riders' Poll Awards!

The biggest night in snowboarding is coming back to Las Vegas! The 9th Annual Transworld SNOWboarding Riders’ Poll Awards. This invite only event brings out top snowboarding pros to cheer on their own picks for the top spots in the sport.

The nominees are:

Men's Rookie Of The Year
Torstein Horgmo
Kevin Pearce
Austin Smith

Women's Rookie Of The Year
Kimmy Fasani
Desiree Melancon
Spencer O'Brien

Men's Rider Of The Year
Nicolas Müller
Wolle Nyvelt
Andreas Wiig

Women's Rider Of The Year
Hana Beaman
Torah Bright
Marie-France Roy - Uh huh!

Women's Video Part Of The Year
Annie Boulanger - Standard/Catch The Vapors
Marie-France Roy - Rome/Any Means - Represent!
Cheryl Maas - Yeahh/Purple Yeahh

Men's Video Part Of The Year
John Jackson - Standard/Catch The Vapors
Wolle Nyvelt - Absinthe/Optimistic?
Austin Smith - MDP/We're People Too

Standout Of The Year
Terje Haakonsen's Record Breaking Air
Torstein Horgmo, Eddie Wall, Jonas Carlson, and Ken Block, DC Snow Park Session
Andreas Wiig X-Games Gold

Readers' Choice: Men's and Women's Winners TBA

Congratulations to all the nominees!

Pat Milbery Featured On "The Daily Habiy"!

Airing Monday, December 10, at 9:00 pm Eastern Time (6:00 pm Pacific Time) and telecast three additional times, pro snowboarder Pat Milbery will appear on The Daily Habit.

He’s gone from chattering down icy Midwestern hills to slashing Colorado pow, Pat Milbery is back to talk winter ripping. And, pro snowboarder Keir Dillon trades in powder for pavement at the Richard Petty Driving School. Plus, the girl with all the gaming goodness, Jessica Chobot, breaks down “Heavenly Sword.”

Pat’s sponsors include: ThirtyTwo, etnies, Von Zipper, Forecast Snowboards, LRG, Alycium Outerwear, Capix, Winter Park Resort, Windells, Flux, Pow Gloves, Skullcandy, Satellite Boardshop and Purl Wax.

Simon Says Contest!

Tell me this. How does a 4x4 truck get stuck in an inch of snow? Can you say, pathetic. Can you say, this is California.

The ThirtyTwo van isn't four wheel drive, but did that stop us at the chain checkpoint? No. Did a whole inch of salted snow on the roads stop us? No. I've come to the conclusion that natives of So.Cal have no business driving in snow, as was witnessed by us as we drove by accident, after accident.

When we reached Bear Mountain we were thankful for the winter conditions which, in no way, held back the bursting, amateur talent for the Simon Says Bear Mountain contest, held this past Saturday, Dec. 8th.

The contest format was composed of Simon standing at the top of the rail garden, shouting out Simon Says (name of trick) through a megaphone and kids busting themselves to impress, which made for some good times.

Other highlights of the event included; one whole run packed to bursting with kids jibbing everything they could, especially each other. The Nomis crew throwing out stickers and dvd's only to have the wind throw them right back in their faces boomerang style. Watching Simon and Joe Sexton tear up the rail course. Having Simon sign his last year's Simon Chamberlain pro-model Stepchild deck for me and watching him laugh about it.

Congratulations to the winners, who were stoked to get new ThirtyTwo boots and a bunch of other gear from Dragon and Nomis.

- Simon Say's. It's a hit!

Simon Chamberlain!

etnies Online Gift Cards Available Now!

The Sponsor Me Contest Winner Is?

Thanks go out to all of you who voted for your friends Joni, Sean and Dan. There might have been a few real votes in there, but this might just be a popularity contest. So I hope the contestants had a spot on the popular wall at their highschool, 'cause they might need it. Well, I gotta go tally up the votes now - oh yeah, lots of fun.

The winner will be announced soon.... hold your breath.

FREE Stuff From Our Online Store!

Tyler Flanagan Joins etnies!

Tyler Flanagan is a young man of many talents. We've recognized his abilities on the shred stick by signing him to both etnies and ThirtyTwo. Head on over to ThirtyTwo to find out more about our newest snow master.

etnies Goes Dutch With Racoon!

Vote For etnies!

We've been nominated! etnies is a contender for Footwear Plus Magazine's 2007 Plus Award for Design Excellence in the Action Sport/Lifestyle category. Voting is super easy with the Footwear Plus online ballot so hurry up and cast your vote for etnies.