Kickers looks like it was the 70’s equivalent of Sketchers, only slightly more hip. May not be anthropologically qualified to make that statement, so I depend on UK readers to chip in here. Although that is Rod Stewart in heyday, who was much cooler than Kim Kardashian, Tori Spelling, Britney Spears and even Wayne Gretzky. It’s unclear whether the Kickers shoe brand ever had an actual skateboard team considering the lack of functionality in those high heeled shoes that look more at home on Slade or Rod Stewart than they do on anyone riding a skateboard. They did have a sticker though.

As a rule, if I decide to post a product release video, you’ll find it off the main page in odds and ends section known as Broken Kingpins. It has to have pretty bombastic footage or be highly entertaining to make to the font page. This 3 minute clip featuring Silas Baxter-Neal from Adidas made me laugh, and so here it is.

Disposable, the definitive book on the skateboard graphics is about to be released 10 years after it’s original print date. There is no difference in this edition from the previous edition, but this also marks the first time the book has been in print for 4 years. How do you celebrate this? Well you could buy the book (everyone should have it), or you can buy the Disposable Nike Dunk Disposable shoe. If pre-Hosoimas commercialism has got you down, you can read this Chris Nieratko interview with Sean Cliver on Vice. I’d send you over to Cliver’s blog, but it looks like he hasn’t updated it in a couple of years. He’s active on Twitter though.

Now that Disney owns the franchise, Star Wars merchandise is in every… well I guess it’s always been heavily merchandised. Two major skateboard brands in one year though, that’s highly saturated. Now you can put on a pair of Star Wars themed Vans while riding your Star Wars themed skateboard. They made a video commercial to promote it, I don’t know if it’s airing anywhere besides the interwebs, but the best part is all the cameos. In fact, lets list them in the comments, shall we? Just leave the running time and the personality in the comments, one lucky skate-archaeologist will win a free Star Wars themed Skate and Annoy T-shirt, which is to say a regular Skate and Annoy t-shirt that my dog slept on, leaving the impression that a Wookie wore it. Ok, that last bit can be optional. I’ll send you a clean one if you want. You can enter as many times as you want, one cameo per time code, and no repeats please. If somebody is called out already then that person won’t be counted again. The commercial is well enough done, although they probably should have been set in in 1977 or 78 instead…

A sticker from Adidas that looks to be of 70’s vintage, based on the somewhat narrow skateboard, hockey style helmet and odd implementation of pads. As seen on Ebay.

The first time I mentioned Phineas & Ferb here on S&A, I wasn’t much of a fan, but since then, (possibly due to countless episodes watched with my kids) I came around to like it. Mrs. Kilwag came back from the Vans outlet with a pair of these for one of my offspring. Character shoes.. I’m not too crazy about them, although I dug the Yo Gabba Gabba ones, but the fact that they were actually riding skateboards on skateboard shoes made it a no-brainer.

I am predisposed to not like Jamie Thomas, I’ve heard rumors about some unethical practices, and I don’t appreciate the fact that had a big marketing campaign and skate video with the same name as my skateboard company. So, I am definitely biased. What about you? From ESPN: New Balance is the latest mainstream brand to throw its hat into the skateboard footwear market. Based out of Boston, Mass., New Balance is strongly positioned in running and other traditional categories, but has not succeeded in their previous attempts to enter the skate market with the hi-top V74 and the V45 low-top sneaker, released in 2010. Their new entry into skateboarding is called New Balance Numeric or NB#. New Balance, looking for a strong skate company to help ease their way into the market, will be manufactured and distributed by Black Box distribution of Carlsbad, Calif. Owned by professional skateboarder Jamie Thomas, Black Box currently distributes board brands Zero, Slave and Mystery, along with Insight Apparel and Fallen Footwear I swear I recently saw an episode of SNL or Portlandia where they equated New Balance shows with senior citizens. When I think of New Balance I think of nylon running shoes.…

I get emails all the time from companies trying to extol the virtues of featuring their ads as editorial content. Sometimes they’re just fishing, sometimes there are actual cash rewards implied, usually from car companies or the like. Sometimes I find myself on the recipient list for PR that I’m pretty sure I never signed up for, as was the case with an announcement for this new Osiris commercial. I’m not sure why I clicked through on this one, but I was pleasantly surprised. This is a good advert, just wait for the punchline. Osiris Shoes “This never gets old” after the jump. I wear a size 13 (in uh, Vans) by the way…

This is old news, but it’s still funny. It’s the Macho Taildrop crew with a video celebrating the Man Wolf éS shoe. The product may be dead but the dub step lives on. – I can’t remember how I found this.

The folks (volks) at Made for Skate recently had a display in The Skateboard Museum called Metal Battle in celebration of a Nike SB collab styled after the oldest school Roller Derby skateboards. Dig the inserts on these. The design for the show flyer was lifted from this poster, which was also on display. It’s a vintage 60’s silkscreened poster advertisement for a body shop. I’d place it at 1965-66 if I had to guess. So why was the the show called the Metal Battle? To celebrate they brought out some vintage steel wheeled death traps and had a session. Video after the jump.