NAME? Jonathan Patrick Povah.

OCCUPATION IN BMX? Etnies Team Manager

SO WHATS YOUR AFFILIATION WITH THE SHOE INDUSTRY? I work as the etnies BMX team manager, which also kinda crosses over to BMX brand manager, art director, marketing director etc etc as I am the sole BMX employee at Etnies

WHY DO YOU CHOSE TO WORK FOR ETNIES? To me etnies was a company that always did their own thing, produced the best products, had the best team & did whatever they did for the right reasons, not just because it was the next trend

WHAT SHOES ARE YOU GOING TO WEAR TODAY Some sample running style shoes, ironically called “Runners”. They come out next season

WHY THOSE SHOES? I’m size 9, which coincidently just so happens to be the sample size of all the shoes we produce. The “Runners” are better to chill in, not so hot for riding, other than these I wear a lot of Vulcanized style shoes. I wear different models if I’m riding, something a bit stiffer with some heal protection & arch support

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT NIKE IN BMX? I’m not as freaked out about Nike being in BMX as other people, I’m kinda stoked on it actually, wish they did it years ago, it would have made more sense in the early years of the sport. I’m more down for Nike doing BMX than some of these skate brands to be honest, if we’re supposed to be pissed at anyone, it’s them. Nike didn’t start in any kind of action sport, they have a heritage & history in very mainstream sports, that’s what makes them better to be doing this than some skate brands in my opinion, they haven’t labeled themselves in any one specific sport, which in turn enables them to broaden what they do & branch out like they have more freely, instead of pigeon-holing themselves (Like BMX itself has so badly done). If there’s someone behind the scenes at a specific company who actually understands that what we do is cool & wants to support it with no agenda other than doing cool stuff, for a cool sport & getting riders paid in hopes of having an association with that image to sell product, then I’m all for it…..& John Martin is that man. Nike’s Global Director of Action Sports, old school BMXer & long time/bigtime fan, he’s behind BMX 100% & I wish there were more people in these positions elsewhere to run similarly amazing programs. I also feel if some other larger brands see what brands like Nike are doing, because Nike have heritage & are viewed as making solid choices & decisions historically, that they themselves may want to invest in BMX because they see that its cool, is cutting edge, marketable or whatever other cliché you want to use….& this is how, I believe, we have to look at it too. Any brand like Nike, LEVIS, Red Bull etc, that are willing to make an investment in what we do, it brings notoriety, excitement & popularity to what we do, in turn, making a future for what we do, a future for many of us & creating stability within the BMX market & something worthwhile investing in. BMX isn’t as big as many people think. It’s a cool activity, you & I know that, but not many, other than a couple of riders are making amazing money…Its still a struggle for the majority of us. So thinking that a brand like Nike are “cashing in” is a myth. I guarantee they are coughing up waaaaay more than they are making off of core BMX Ask me this same question 10 years down the road & I may feel very differently if they bail on us, but for now, it’s expanding our horizons. If they had been here as long as VANS, etnies etc a lot of people would probably feel a lot different about their involvement right now

HOW DO YOU FEEL ETHICALLY ABOUT NIKE? Ethics! What, like their work practices? Human rights issues? Whether they used water-based glues, recycle, burning fossil fuels cut down trees & flatten forests ethics? Ethically that’s the shit I worry about. To be honest, we should look inward at our own ethics before considering what Nike is doing. BMX has for a long time depended on skate brands in BMX for its livelihood & image, we should be keeping a gauge on that before worrying what Nike are doing, skating is holding our destiny in their hands, they can make or break BMX (at least from a footwear standpoint right now). Believe me! I wish there were enough BMX footwear brands to sustain a BMX footwear industry, & there were enough BMX/Bike retailers that actually understood that there is a soft goods market to be had that could match or exceed their hard goods business, but there’s just not. The potential is there though, we just have to educate for the greater good: There’s at least 10/1 ratio bike stores over skate stores in my guestimation & they need to get on board for their own well being, as well as the well being of any BMX shoe or apparel brands coz no skate stores are taking our products, but BMX stores are supporting the skate brands….this probably sounds nuts coming from someone who works for a skate brand, but I’m just laying it on the line & want “our” sport to thrive. The bottom line is: No body is forcing anyone to buy Nike’s stuff, the destiny of their BMX program is in BMXer’s hands, if your into what they are doing then cool, buy their shit, if your not, then buy Loteks or Orchids, I’m all for that, I’d actually prefer that. The problem is, is that we are sooooo on skaters dicks & the image that skaters portray that we take anything they do or say as what BMX should be doing without a second thought. If another skate shoe brand gets into BMX tomorrow, we consider it “cool”, run with it & except it. If Nike gets into BMX & is dumping 10, 20 or even 30 times what any of these skate brands is, we (not all) consider it blasphemous & think are trying to milk our sport dry….milk what dry??? There’s nothing to milk !! Its about as dry as it’s going to get. Ha ha ha. They’re not taking anything away from us, just adding to it. I don’t think ethics really need to come into it, its common sense.

DO YOU BELIEVE THERE IS A PLACE FOR MULTI NATIONAL BILLION DOLLAR COMPANIES IN BMX? Sure. Just depends on what brand I guess. It’s not like Nike is are a tampon company or something.

WHY Because there’s no multi national billion-dollar BMX companies doing what brands like Nike are doing & BMX is probably just a blip on the radar of Nike overall business, but they consider it cool still to want to be involved & make that commitment. But, again, ask me in 10 years

HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO COMPETE WITH BRANDS THAT HAVE ALMOST UNLIMITED FUNDS AND RESOURCES? Compared to etnies, Nike has unlimited resources, but they function much like most companies; they have budgets they have to abide by. But! Hell yeah its hard to compete with Nike. They’re level of distribution is unparalleled; they are waaaay farther reaching than any other brand on the planet. They can pay for the best of everything, hands down!…Money talks, bullshit walks. To do something different you really have to think outside the box.

WHAT COULD NIKE AND COMPANIES DO TO MAKE YOU BUY THEM? (If you weren’t involved with etnies) Create a great, desirable product. Market uniquely. Support the things that matter most to me. & get my attention in an unorthodox way……….I’m not a huge fan of some of the 6.0 riders, but others are some of my favorites.

ANY LAST WORDS YOU WANT PEOPLE TO HEAR ON THE SUBJECT? The skateboard industry doesn’t need another shoe brand, they have enough to be able to sustain their own well being, it’s easier for them to not want or need Nike, they’ll survive with or without Nike, that’s why soooo many skaters & skate stores can boycott the brand. Unfortunately, skateboarding knows that we depend on them, they run the show for us in the footwear department. If BMX doesn’t have more of it’s own shoe brands, well be depending on those skate brands to make our choices for us for a long time to come, but we need to create a market at a retail level, make what we do cool, make bikes stores a point of fashion for kids, much like skate stores are today. Skate stores 12 years ago were primarily hard goods, decks, trucks, wheels etc & struggled. But 12 years later, these same stores are 85% soft goods & thriving. There’s just not enough BMX dedicated stores. There’s some real cool BMX stores out there, but I can count on 1 hand the good ones that “get it”, just too few to make a dent. I run into this time & time again at work! Etnies have done a good few BMX signature shoes that within BMX did decent (by BMX standards). We presented these shoes that we were very proud of to the skate accounts & right up to the point they find out that it’s a BMX shoe, they’re loving it. The moment you mention the 3 evil letters B.M.X, right there, they refuse to take it & wont even let it in the door, further controlling our destiny….Yet, BMX doesn’t think twice about taking whatever skate has to throw at us coz we know skate is a money maker. & most BMXers, when they can’t find what they are looking for, they’ll head over to the nearest skate store to grab the newest pair of Geoff Rowley’s. This isn’t even a Nike issue, this is our own problem, but if Nike can take what we do (or any brand for that matter) to the masses, they can create a market for some of our own BMX brands…. Competition is a good thing. Think for one second: Take EVERY SINGLE company that is NOT BMX out of BMX, would BMX have got the notoriety & appeal that it has today, with as many participants as it does today? Just look back to the early 90’s to see how it could & pretty much WOULD be! It’d be easy to go on about this subject forever: pleading cases “FOR” or “AGAINST” what Nike are doing, but lets worry more about what we’ve got going on & make a better future for ourselves instead of worrying or relying on what others are doing.