As K2 Skates dips into the aggressive inline market once again, we ponder what it means for the sport, and speak with marketing coordinator Carmi Schulman to find out more about the newly established Ambassador initiative and their forthcoming new line of skates.

K2 Skates were once a prominent force within the aggressive inline skating industry. The Fatty was considered by many to be one of the best-looking skates of the ‘90s and their team during that era consisted of street skating icons Ryan Jacklone, Dave Ortega, Dayton Coopersmith and Matty Mantz. Their next wave of professionals included even more influential figures in the form of Eric Schrijn and Louie Zamora, with the latter of the two generally regarded as one of the most stylish skaters of all time. However, as blading rapidly hurtled towards the noughties, propelled by the global attention brought by the X Games, NISS and ASA, and funded largely by the corporate sponsorship of Gap, Levi’s, Paul Mitchell and anyone else looking to make a quick profit from the aggressive inline craze, it seemed like K2 were falling behind. Their once revolutionary Softboot technology was beginning to look outdated against models such as the incredibly popular Fifth Element from Roces and the subsequent emergence of USD, then known as UpSideDown, which offered the first customisation options in that you could replace the frames and interchange parts between various pro models. After years as underdogs of the industry, Razors were suddenly taking a stab at global domination by poaching Brian Shima from USD as his cult status was in full ascension. By the time Salomon came along with their hugely successful ST range, and the UFS frame system later revolutionised skate hardware, K2’s floppy cuffs, paper-thin backslide plates and non-UFS frames seemed prehistoric and their pro team was no longer considered relevant. Even the release of beefed up signature skates for old school heroes Eric Schrijn and Pat Lennon couldn’t change their fortunes and, without much fanfare at all, K2 fell out of our collective consciousness.

However, K2 Skates have continued to produce aggressive models, releasing variations of the Fatty Pro and Varsity in recent years, but their involvement in what we call blading ends there. There have been no notable marketing campaigns, no stands at trade shows, no event sponsorship and, as far as we are aware, their pro team consists solely of UK vert veteran Rich Parker. Then photos recently emerged online of two new models, Unnatural and Front Street, which suggests K2 Skates are once again taking an active interest in the aggressive inline market. They have also established an Ambassador team consisting of various skaters from aggressive, fitness and recreational backgrounds. Although their latest skates appear to be an improvement on previous lines, they are still hampered by the same issues that plagued K2 in the past in that there are several major components you cannot replace and the potential to customise the skates is much more limited than other brands. There has also been a considerable online backlash regarding their new frame design, which bears more than a passing resemblance to the design pioneered by independent Irish company Kaltik.

With K2’s latest aggressive line set to drop at the end of the year and their Ambassador team unleashed on the world to try and inject some life back into the brand’s reputation within the blading community, can the Seattle-based sporting goods company compete with the industry dominance of Razors and USD? Are there plans to establish new professional and amateur teams? Aside from the Ambassador project, what else do they have up their sleeve? More importantly, after years of neglect, what can K2 Skates actually bring to the sport? We ask all this and more of marketing coordinator Carmi Schulman.

Wheel Scene: What is your role at K2 Skates and what does that involve exactly?

Carmi: I’m the marketing coordinator for two brands. K2 Sports owns a cross-country ski line called Madshus and I work with that. I am also the marketing coordinator for K2 Skates as well. I work with the Ambassadors, selecting that, managing that team. I also look after all the K2 Skates social media, catalogue creation, and also any PR or communication stuff also comes out of this office. It’s a big hat that I wear, but it means that I get to see the ins and outs of everything, so it’s actually pretty exciting.

How long have you worked in marketing at K2?

It will be coming on two years now. I actually started in customer service and then moved into this role. It’s been a pretty fun ride at K2 so far.

You mentioned the Ambassador team. Where did that idea come from and what was the motivation behind it?

We actually launched a different Ambassador project two years ago and the focus of that was on demo events. It was a much smaller team; we only had three or four people. We kind of realised it’s really important to get skates on people’s feet, so we got people to try it out that way. We weren’t reaching as many people as we could and kind of…growing the skate community as large as we would want to. The change for this year was making the team bigger, but having it more focussed on the digital aspect of things and the social media, and all of that. The basis of the team this year was finding people who could help us create quality content, but were also speaking to the full breadth of skating, so not just aggressive. We wanted fitness and recreation, and there’s a few people that have a racing background there. We are trying to create a full team, not just a demo team basically.

How did you end up deciding who would be on the Ambassador team?

We had over 300 people apply. There was an application process that was open to the public and our team looked at it. We were looking at the kind of following people had on social media and the content that they were producing, and whether it meshed with what we were trying to do. That was the basis of it, just finding people with the right personalities.

Going forward, what is going to be the aim of the Ambassador team? Do you have any upcoming events or projects?

Erm… I’m of the belief of taking things in small steps rather than trying to make it huge all at once, so it’s a little bit of an organic thing in some ways. We don’t really have a necessarily set project or timeline for things. We’re kind of just seeing… It’s kind of up to the Ambassadors almost, what they are interested in doing, so… I mean, I talked to one of our Ambassadors, Preston, the other day and he was like, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we could get everyone together and submit different edits and make one K2 Ambassador clip?” That’s kind of where it’s going, just making more video content. We’re trying to represent the full K2 line.

Back in the ‘90s, K2 Skates had a pretty influential amateur team and a professional team in their aggressive department. Are there any plans to bring that back or start sponsoring skaters?

Hmm… We definitely talk about it, and we do have one guy, Rich Parker, who is competitive on the vert scene. He is one of the UK Ambassadors.

Rich has actually written an article for Wheel Scene about his competition experiences.

Cool. We are definitely trying to have a little bit of that, the way it was, having that collection of professional riders, but I wouldn’t say that would be the focus of the team.

Photos of the two aggressive models you are planning to release have appeared online. Have you read the feedback they have received?

We’ve been hard at work these past 18 months, trying to go back to the drawing board. Obviously we’ve been on the aggressive scene for a long time, but we are always trying to improve, so… There are some things in the works and we will be making a more official announcement in the fall. We will have a lot more information about them then.

Did you read the feedback to Jake Eley’s article about his impressions of the new aggressive line of K2 Skates?

Yeah. I mean, you’re always going to hear positives and negatives. I have definitely been trying to keep track of the things people say and take that feedback to the engineers and say, “Here’s what people say they like. Here’s what people say they don’t like.” Until… It’s hard to say. Until people have them on their feet, you never really know. We try to stay as receptive as possible to what people are saying and take that feedback to heart.

Some of the criticism towards the new skates is that you cannot replace the soul plates or cuffs, so if either of these parts break you have no choice but to buy a completely new pair of skates.

On the plus side of it, it kinds of gives you a…. There’s just a little bit better performance that you get out of it is the feedback I’ve heard…and that’s probably the reason why it was done. There’s… Like I said, there’s always going to be pluses and minuses to people’s responses to things, so… I can’t give a specific reason why, or why not, it’s been done in the past, that’s just how they’ve been built.

Another thing that people mentioned was the similarities between the design of the new K2 frame and the Kaltik frame. What do you think about that?

I mean, it’s… Why or why not engineers decided to do that specific thing, I’m not totally sure. Like I said, you’re always going to hear criticism for whatever you do, and some of it is valid and some of it is a little bit…hard to judge, I guess. We take the feedback with a good reception and kind of go from there.

Okay. When will the skates be available in shops?

We will make an official release in the fall and they should be hitting stores in the holiday time.

Do you have any plans for once they are released?

Right now we are going to continue the growth of the Ambassador program. People have been pretty stoked on seeing this program come to growth and I think we’re just going to continue to try and improve on that. Surprises are always good too, so I don’t want to give away too much stuff.

It seemed like K2 stopped marketing towards the aggressive community for a while, so why is the brand actively trying to engage with it again?

It was kind of a perfect storm because we were working on this project that people are starting to see, and we are also launching the Ambassador project at the same time, and so it was this perfect mesh of two things happening at the same time. We’re trying to grow the skate community in every aspect, so it’s not just the aggressive side; it’s also the fitness and recreational side as well. We’re not just an aggressive company, but we have been doing aggressive stuff for a while, so we have to speak to all markets. Having the Ambassador project, having reputable aggressive skaters, is an awesome thing. It’s something that we’re going to continue to do for sure.

By taking a more active approach to the aggressive discipline, what do you think K2 will bring to it?

I mean… I think it’s just being able to speak to the aggressive market a little bit more, and it’s something that has been lacking in the last couple of years, but it’s definitely something that we recognise as being important. We want to have a voice and a higher visibility.

Last question: Do you skate?

My background is more on the road and mountain bike racing background. I won’t even try and claim to be an aggressive skater! That’s not my bag. I have done a few skate marathons, like Northshore, which we will be at again in September. My role is more… What I like to do is more on the fitness side of it. It’s more of a cross training thing for me. Our US marketing manager, Mike Powell, has been with K2 Skates for a long time and used to manage the X Games team. He still talks to the old pro riders from time to time.

Thanks for taking the time to talk with us today.

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