During one our visit at The Conference headquarters we came across this ultra vintage stuff. Have you ever seen a clear Senate Fishes frame? More Pictures.
My main goal with the “Senate” youth-teen skate, is to get a new stream of fresh, brand new bladers (with really no exposure yet) and give them an affordable 1st option. I’ve always thought it was hard for a kid/Parent to go and spend $150+ on their 1st pair of aggressive skates, when the kid can buy a skateboard for like $90 or less.
They’re not meant to compete with with our core industry skate brands….they’re only for getting brand new kids into/exposed to our sport…and giving them an affordable choice. So now a kid can walk into a BIG 5… and be able to pick between their 1st blades or skateboard for about the same cost.
If the kids ends up liking blading, google’s senate, then finds our core industry and becomes hooked… Then we have a new fellow blader!! Next they’ll go and buy some USDs / Valos / Xsjados / Razors… That’s the goal.
-Kevin Gillan
The Senate “Corruptor” youth-teen Skate (only for the Sporting goods market).
Youth-Teen sizes 6-12, 56mm wheels, abec 7 bearings, padded liner even w/ J-bar support, printed foot bed and printed inside liner. Also the original Senate frame (mold) w/ in-molded graphics!
One strange day, in 2002 or so, my friend Nick and I were sitting at a bus stop in Springfield, VA about to board a greyhound to Nashville, Tennessee en route to Plano, Texas for The Hoedown. We both sat smoking, silently contemplating the long trip ahead.
A random stranger approached asking for a cigarette. I handed him a Camel from my pack. As he lit the cigarette he casually asked if I was wearing a Senate sweatshirt. I replied that I was, and he responded “That’s crazy. I grew up next door to Arlo Eisenberg in Orange County.” His name was Shelby, named after the Ford Mustang, and he had just arrived here to wait for a bus transfer back to California from Virginia beach. He talked to us for a few minutes, claiming to have once dropped a young Roadhouse with one punch in the face, and seeing Arlo selling the first Senate wheels out of his backpack at the local skatepark.
Senate grew from the early days of making grindplates in their garage and selling wheels out of backpacks to at one point bringing in $10 million a year in sales. [...]
I saw some old senate wheels on one of your blogs, thought you might be interested to see some of the old stuff I have.
I have some more that isn’t in the pics, Senate TJ webber ashtray wheels, TJ webber 007 wheels, Hyper Jacks, Senate Matt Mantz poker wheels, CDS detroit grindstones…….
Dunno why I’ve bought all this stuff, guess it reminds me of good times!
Larger pictures: 01, 02.
Thanks Bruce Mfindlay for the mail!.
Senate (Arlo Eisenberg as Marketing Director and Mark Heineken as President) produced some t-shirt with a strange sentence in the back of their label : “destroy all girls”, it seems that their marketing strategy caught the attention of the television back in 1996.
xGreenxCloverx of Be-mag posted the video that were broadcasted 10 years ago!
quoting xGreenxCloverx :
In 1996, the legendary rollerblading clothing / wheel / frame / hardware / backpack / everything company -SENATE- devised a genius slogan to help market their products as well as rollerblading in general.
Not only did SENATE ruffle a few feathers with the slogan, but it also got a 2 minute spotlight on prime-time news programs! After the news segment, watch SENATE’s marketing director, Arlo Eisenberg, as he makes ammends…
