PAST

It started for me with a simple push on a skateboard in Paris, France. As my pro skate life progressed, I was skating through shoes, and knew skaters needed something better. I wanted to find new ways to advance skateboarding. Only a skateboarder could know our footwear needs, and it was time for shoes designed by skaters for skaters. Since etnies begin in France in ’86, the company has continued to innovate as the first skateboarder-owned and operated global footwear company.

PRESENT

35 years since etnies started we continue to support the skateboard, snowboard, surf, BMX and MTB communities. Fueled by passion, we are still pushing the boundaries and giving back. This year marks etnies’ milestones of planting more than 2 million trees in the rainforest and providing 50,000 pairs of shoes to the homeless.

FUTURE

As the world around us rapidly changes, the one thing that won’t change is our push to continuously create the most innovative products that provide the most style, comfort and protection.

THANK YOU skateboarding and THANK YOU to everyone who has been part of the etnies journey of the past, present and future.

When etnies CEO Pierre-Andre Senizergues arrived in America to pursue his dream to skate, he found himself homeless on the streets of Venice, California. It wasn’t long before the skateboarder turned pro, but he never forgot his experience or lost his connection with people on the streets. That’s why etnies works each year with Los Angeles Mission to donate thousands of pairs of shoes to residents of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, the nation’s largest concentration of homeless people living and sleeping on public sidewalks.

“Even before arriving in LA, I shared the cobblestone streets of Paris with homeless people who had no other place to go,” Pierre-Andre recalls. “I gave them what I could – the sweatshirt I was wearing or other clothes – but I never could hand over my shoes. I realized then that we had so much in common, both dependent upon the streets and needing durable shoes to protect our feet. As soon as I could with etnies, I vowed to give back to the people who share the streets with skateboarders as a way of expressing our solidarity with them as neighbors and offering them some comfort and protection.”

Since starting the give-back program in 1998, etnies has donated 47,000 pairs of shoes worth $2.8 million in retail value. To fulfill this initiative, etnies partners with Los Angeles Mission, which has provided help, hope and opportunity to men, women and children in need for 80 years.