Franco Shade: The End
So some of you might have wondered why the blog has been so dead and some of you might have already heard the news but today I am announcing the end of Franco Shade/FRSH. Although I wish this was some sort of sick joke it isn’t and I can assure you all that we tried our best to not have this happen.
I don’t want to only blame the economy as our downfall because there are other brands that are surviving in the same climate, along the way we made some poor choices which really hurt us. At this time I would rather not name those choices because I think it honestly doesn’t matter anymore. We hoped to come out with our Fall 09 line which finally had denim and what we thought was our best collection to date, unfortunately we couldn’t even afford to that and are going to be losing a lot of deposits we had placed on all those items. We have built quite a following on this site thanks to all of our loyal readers and daily visitors.
I say this now with no promise of financial reward from any of you, I really appreciate you all. You hear people say without our fans and customers we are nothing or whatever corny cliche there is, but that is the truth here. I started this company 7 years ago and to think it could have lasted even this long is laughable.
I really can’t say how much I appreciate everyone who was involved, I can’t even begin to name everyone but you see them on the blog on a daily basis you know who I am talking about. Our staff, like most staffs in the street wear industry worked for pennies. Thats one thing that most people don’t know is when you are seeing peoples blogs and they’re poppin’ bottles the truth is most of them all chipped in with 20 other people to buy that bottle and its a industry wide practice to just be broke and act rich.
I will be starting a new personal website where I will still post videos and information about my friends brands and anything related, also I will be documenting my travels and transitions into the next chapter in my life. I will also keep you updated with all of the FRSH crew and what they are up to. I will post that site on twitter so if you want to know it, just follow me @teamfrsh if you aren’t already and I’ll get you guys that link.
Again thanks so much for your support and I am sorry we couldn’t stretch it out a bit longer for you but sometimes you just gotta move on.
Joe – “FRSH”.
(via).
Thanks Zonz59.
Tags: franco shade
September 4th, 2009 at 7:49 am
quitters always lose
September 4th, 2009 at 7:57 am
shut up twat!
September 4th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Maybe letting Arlo draw all that wack cartoony bullshit? Maybe? Before that it was all bit off echo anyways.
September 4th, 2009 at 8:11 am
letting arlo draw all that “wack cartoony bullshit” for the past couple of years is what grew the brand.
September 4th, 2009 at 8:16 am
“Quitters never lose”…I guess
September 4th, 2009 at 8:34 am
great i just got some franco shit… thanks franco…now youre underground wear…. :)
September 4th, 2009 at 8:45 am
NOBODY CARES
Franco turned their back on rollerblading a long time ago.
September 4th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Finally, it was about time. Franko Shade funeral is on the 5th
September 4th, 2009 at 8:48 am
whats up with havoc? are they out too?
September 4th, 2009 at 9:00 am
That is another grave to add to our already dead life that is rollerblading! What a horrible shame to see the end of an iconic label – Joe Nav can be added to the list of heroes…
I don’t think it is realistic to say that the cartoons and such made any difference in the demise of the label. Look at fashion – people are wearing completely different things to skate than they used to (in general). With mass populous bearing their chest hairs in plain white V neck T’s costing £5 from topman nobody is likely to pay £20 for a skate brand T that they look like a child in on a day to day basis… All that being said it is still a horrible world that allows something like Franco, Mindgame etc loose… You may have had some bad experience at one time or another with one of the dead brands but that does not mean they should suffer any disrespect!
FUCK YOU ALL.
September 4th, 2009 at 9:00 am
one down, a few more to go!
u could have anticipated this after the divide into gost/frsh, it’s like havin’ two bitches, u can easily neglect the first one. rofl cakes & loler skates!
September 4th, 2009 at 9:02 am
oh yeah, i forgot to add: just like elvis, and michael jackson, one day, senate will return.
September 4th, 2009 at 9:04 am
wtf badazz are you an anti roller?? one down… r i p franco and no more to go. thats how it should be said……….
September 4th, 2009 at 9:50 am
can’t belive:(
September 4th, 2009 at 10:15 am
sk8rs_s0uL
shut up.
September 4th, 2009 at 10:47 am
ok mindgame , then this , thats some bullshit right there , whats going on with this industry ?? FUCK ALL U HATERS
September 4th, 2009 at 11:23 am
come on, it is just a skatebrand.
its sad, but this will not make all the kids stop skating.
we are doing it for the love and for fun and not to be cool. i skate since 15 years now and will never stop to love this sport.
and still there is gost, with the same logos on shirts like franco.
i never had a franco shirt, because its too expensive at all.
so rest in peace franco.
freestyle rollerblading will never die!!!
September 4th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
thanks FRSH!!!!!!! :(
September 4th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
frsh died when arlo left. its a fact.
September 4th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
they never did anything for rollerblading, they turned their backs to it
September 4th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Man, this sucks. Sad news …
September 4th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
collin d. Says:
September 4th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
frsh died when arlo left. its a fact.
+ Fucking One.
i think it really went downhill when they put out that stupid bike fucking tee. thats just my personal opinion. plus the last line didnt look good, again my own opinion.
September 4th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
How could you compare Franco Shade to Mindgame? This whole “First Mindgame and now THIS!?” response isn’t really relevant. Mindgame actually made blading products (wheels, videos, skating-related tees, etc), as Franco started as a “blading” company and then moved on and didn’t really care too much for rollerblading after a couple years. I’d say that Mindgame had just a LITTLE bit more of an impact on blading than Franco.
September 4th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
now its time to support gost to the fullest…a real rolling streetwear brand.
September 4th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
skating doesnt die because a clothes brand goes away… stupid
September 4th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
keep up with the best, or die like the rest….plain and simple.
September 4th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
shouldnt have let arlo go.
September 4th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
I loved the franco shade designs…
look at this link, franco shade cap :P
80spurple.com/shop/product/95584/185/gost-brand-men-s-gnk-ju...
September 4th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
its life. i learned not to care in a way.. If a brand drops and i can still strap on my skates i am fine, i dont let it bother me. shit happens and no matter how fucked our industry gets it wont change how much i love it.
September 4th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
hmm.. nevermind just looked up gost brand..
September 4th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
I would be sad if they were a real rollerblading company.
September 4th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
lets see a gost edit
September 4th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
If I could be or do half as much as FRaNco Shade did I’d be pretty happy with my brand..RIP FRSH
September 4th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Well I liked some Franco things, but most were just too childish for me to wear that been said I am 28 so it may have appealed more to the new generations of rollerblader.
Its sad that something that has been around for a while has gone same goes with anything in life, but it just gives room for something fresh (excuse the pun) to step in.
GOST is pretty much a replica so I can’t see that doing much better, in fact I can’t see it going further than 7 years to be honest, people don’t buy a t-shirt simply because its a rollerblading company, they buy it because they like the artwork within, so I don’t believe that Franco going under had anything to do with their so called sell out on the rollerblading industry.
Like someone above said It must be hard in clothing for anyone these days because when you have the McDonalds of clothing company’s like H&M, Topman and Zara replicating and saturating every angle of every market it leaves little for the taking.
I say good luck to Joe with your next project whatever it maybe, im sure that the things Joe has learnt from his 7 years running Franco Shade will be more valuable 10 fold than the money he made and lost.
September 4th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
franco shade was tight
RIP
September 4th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
i didnt even like frsh at all lol rip anyways
September 4th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Thats ashame. It was fab quality stuff. Good luck in all you do Joe N!!!
September 4th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
I somtime wonder why ths happens. But who needs all this franco shade when u have a local zumies store
September 4th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Arlo’s gost logo was what made that company the hottest t-shirt to buy. Once they split we all said to our selves “ok i guess i’m going to buy gost stuff now” only good shirt frsh made since the split was the one made of ice cream pops.
September 4th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
Franco Shades major downfall was Arlo Eisenberg… He well and trully destroyed the company’s image and turned it on its head into childish mindless nonsense. A good idea to pull the plug.
September 5th, 2009 at 12:09 am
The really should have looked at this in a business standpoint. most of there customers were skaters and when arlo left i bet skaters would still buy from them cause they had more bladers that wotk there but if they come with not up to par shit and talk shit on rollerblading when they want us to be there main source of income =. i mean. i have total respect for joe but he should have got some better artists that were already bladers and come on there was some conflict or arlo(the legend) wouldn’t have left. but what it all comes down to is KArma. and franco shade has finall Just gave up, Quit!
September 5th, 2009 at 12:10 am
Why should i shut up CK>?
September 5th, 2009 at 1:18 am
Well WTF is ghost then? Why did we loose Franco Shade and now there’s ghost? It’s basically the same thing only franco shade is a way better name than ghost. I’m just glad I got thier T-shirts when I could
September 5th, 2009 at 2:28 am
well that sucks i love franco
September 5th, 2009 at 3:25 am
Like Mason H said, it doesn’t matter, boo-hoo, is FRSH, it did not affect rollerblading,
Keep lacing your hurricane top souls and you will be fine
September 5th, 2009 at 5:05 am
I fucking called this years ago. FRSH is gone, oh no. what will I wear now? oh wait, i never wore crap that didn’t support rollerblading. Cool, you have a team, cool, you are Rollerbladers, but honestly, I have never once seen direct support outside of the “FRSH CLIQUE”. BFD, your dead, guess i’ll just try to move on…
September 5th, 2009 at 5:32 am
Hanes and Fruit of the Loom. Nuff said.
September 5th, 2009 at 7:00 am
…business based on credit loans never survive.
September 5th, 2009 at 7:36 am
LOVE 4 YOUS GUYS.
BET.
DETROIT REPS HARD.
September 5th, 2009 at 8:17 am
I think that any company that sponsors any skaters are supporting the industry.
I don’t know the history of Franco and the reasons for the split between Arlo and Joe Navran and I’m sure there are probably only a few people that do. I don’t think that people should speculate about the creation of Gost and Franco.
Also I watched that Gost/England interview not long ago and it sounded like Arlo’s main aim was to establish Gost and the ghost character as an instantly recognizable brand, without being too hypocritical, I would like to speculate that this is the same intention that high street fashion brands have. I don’t see anything wrong with an inline company trying to branch out into the mainstream fashion industry, in fact I think it CAN be a step toward strengthening the industry. Just don’t go calling Arlo a sell-out if he gains commercial success, also if you are slagging off Joe Navran now for turning his back on inline AND champion Arlo for the same actions in the future… you’re a stupid twat.
September 5th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
‘all he ever gave was love, all he ever got was hurt.”
Thanks joe for the great threads over the last 7 years, peace
September 5th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
BY FIRE NATURE IS RESTORED IN PURITY
September 5th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
What a shame, I quite liked my old Franco tees back in the day.
Oh well, haven’t bought a rollerblading t-shirt in years.
September 6th, 2009 at 12:57 am
rollerblading is dieing. I look at skate sites to buy clothes and i cant find a single thing that appeals to me. The rollerblades themselves are great, and are progressing as they should. But to see all these clothing companys that i’ve grown up wearing and representing die. its sad. rollerblading needs a new face. We cant all sit around getting stoned and wasting money and expect our sport to grow. i love rollerblading and we need to save it before it dies like scootering. and if i have to do it then so be it. We need quality clothing, not those shitty shirts that stretch in the back after washing five times. We need to go out and preach the word of rollerblading. And share our love of the sport or else its gonna die and we are gonna become alcoholics and jack off to that rollerblader/pornstar. think about it
September 6th, 2009 at 1:27 am
they had some hot shit, but like your boy collin said they fell off when arlo dipped, but reguardless its one less company round here
September 6th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
whos cares. they had weak designs anyways
September 6th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Yeah thats true.
Okay, everyone buy Gost instead. Its better anyways
September 6th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
soooo i guess the franco shade movie aint coming out hahahaha fuck those putos! hahaha
September 6th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Disappointing. I always thought that Franco was the most successful and biggest blading clothing company…
September 8th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
wesh timon j ai un contrat pour toi apelle le 00447946722086 a bientot
October 29th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
franco shade sucks.