Soap (shoes)

Last updated
Soap
Company type Subsidiary of Heelys
IndustryExtreme Sports Equipment
Founded Torrance, California (1997)
Headquarters Carrollton, Texas, U.S.
ProductsGrinding shoes, Grindplates, apparel
Revenueundisclosed
Number of employees
undisclosed

Soap was the brand name of shoes made for grinding, similar to aggressive inline skating. They were introduced by Chris Morris of Artemis Innovations Inc. with the brand name "Soap" in 1996. They have a plastic concavity in the sole, which allows the wearer to grind on objects such as pipes, handrails and stone ledges. The company and its product rapidly gained popularity through fan sites, a video game and live demonstrations. Soap fell to legal vulnerabilities and was sold twice, eventually bringing the brand to Heeling Sports Limited. [1]

Contents

History

Soap shoes were essentially derived from rollerblades and aggressive skating. Chris Morris, a resident of California who worked at RollerBlade in Torrance for over sixteen years, worked to customize a simple shoe that had a ground plate embedded in the sole. The shoe was an average Nike, fitted for sliding.

Concept 21 (a recently founded design firm) was called upon to design a sample so that the product could be finalized. They then formed Artemis Innovations, which would be the company the brand would be sold under for four years. In 2001, Mr. Morris lost control of the Soap license through legal problems. Activity within the company slowed down, and eventually, the remaining executives sold Soap.

In-Stride, a company whose target market was primarily wrestling gear, purchased Soap. In-Stride went bankrupt in late 2002, and Soap was once again available for purchase.

Heeling Sports Limited, the company behind the shoes with a wheel in the sole known as Heelys, realized that the ground plate could be very profitable when paired with their wheel, and acquired Soap later that year. In early 2003, six new Soap shoes were released, each in multiple color schemes; simultaneously, HSL was designing hybrid shoes to sell under the Heelys brand. HSL has been criticized for releasing too many new models at a single time, and not supplying requested stock to retailers frequently enough. There are currently no models of Soap shoes being produced by HSL.

The sport never caught on to the mass market in comparison to, for instance, skateboarding, but the brand "Soap" did have a professional team mostly consisting of former professional inline skaters such as Ryan Jaunzemis, Brandon L. Blackburn, Danny Lynch, Paul Cifuentes, Eddie Ramirez, and Ben Kelly (Head of Research & Development, and Soap Shoes' wear-testing team). Soap's heyday was in the late 1990s and early 2000s. when competing crews from across the Americas and Europe were releasing internet videos, spurring an online community of "Soapers." These crews have since disbanded along with the website forums, and now there are few proponents left such as solidgrind.com run by Former Soap team captain Derek Brooks and the Melbourne soapers Facebook Page run by Soap Collector Greg Crellin.

A revival of sorts was noticed in early 2006 as more people were attracted to Soaping, and HSL responded by re-releasing their Express model in limited quantities. Soap Shoes continue to sluggishly regain popularity despite some difficulty due to Heelys using grind plates in addition to their wheels. That was until the recession had hit, which affected HSL significantly. Heelys stock was once 38 dollars per share, [2] and on August 8, 2007, Heelys lost half of its stock value in a single day, falling from $21.99 to $11.42. Now former CEO Michael Staffaroni at the time was expecting significant growth despite the stock plummet. [3]

Soap Shoes at the time managed to have a very successful demo at Xtreme Wheels Skate Park despite HSL's financial problems. [4] A year later, the Soap Shoes Express was discontinued by HSL and liquidation for Soap Shoes began, with representatives from Heelys claiming to "just throw out" anything that was left over. Within a matter of five years, Heelys stock had sunk down to $2.25 per share and was sold to Sequential Brand Group for $63.2 million, taking the soap and other grind shoe patents with it. [5]

Soap shoes in Sonic the Hedgehog

Soap shoes were featured in the video game Sonic Adventure 2 , developed by Sonic Team USA in San Francisco. This game presented many billboards, blimps, and benches advertising the shoes; also, Sonic wore a custom version of the Scorcher/Nitro shoes exclusive to the title, while the darker character Shadow wears hybrid jet hoverskate/grind shoes, as grinding (or "soaping") debuted as an important new gameplay element. Grinding remains a core element in recent Sonic games, though officially licensed Soap shoes have given way to the titular character's normal shoes. Soap shoes made their reappearance in Sonic Forces as an unlockable accessory for the Avatar and come in three different colors, one of the colors matching the ones used in Sonic Adventure 2. Soap shoes also appear in Sonic Frontiers as a Bonus DLC for signing up for the Sonic Frontiers newsletter [6] .

Pending the sale of Soap to In-Stride and later HSL, no actions were taken for the continuation of the partnership. However, in two episodes of the anime Sonic X , Sonic's Soap shoes are brought in to give him an advantage over his enemies. The HD re-release of Sonic Adventure 2 retained all of the fictional in-game advertisements, but the Soap shoes advertisements were removed.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoe</span> Footwear

A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. Though the human foot can adapt to varied terrains and climate conditions, it is vulnerable, and shoes provide protection. Form was originally tied to function, but over time, shoes also became fashion items. Some shoes are worn as safety equipment, such as steel-toe boots, which are required footwear at industrial worksites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ice skate</span> Boots with blades attached to the bottom for propelling the bearer across a sheet of ice

Ice skates are metal blades attached underfoot and used to propel the bearer across a sheet of ice while ice skating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inline skates</span> Type of roller skate

Inline skates are a type of roller skate used for inline skating. Unlike typical roller skates, which have two front and two rear wheels, inline skates typically have two to five wheels arranged in a single line. Some, especially those for recreation, have a rubber "stop" or "brake" block attached to the rear of one or occasionally both of the skates so that the skater can slow down or stop by leaning back on the foot with the brake skate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roller skating</span> Sport, activity, or form of transportation

Roller skating is the act of travelling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a recreational activity, a sport, and a form of transportation. Roller rinks and skate parks are built for roller skating, though it also takes place on streets, sidewalks, and bike paths.

<i>Sonic Adventure 2</i> 2001 video game

Sonic Adventure 2 is a 2001 platform game developed by Sonic Team USA and published by Sega for the Dreamcast. It features two good-vs-evil stories: Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, and Knuckles the Echidna attempt to save the world, while Shadow the Hedgehog, Doctor Eggman, and Rouge the Bat attempt to conquer it. The stories are divided into three gameplay styles: fast-paced platforming for Sonic and Shadow, multidirectional shooting for Tails and Eggman, and action-adventure exploration for Knuckles and Rouge. Like previous Sonic the Hedgehog games, the player completes levels while collecting rings and defeating enemies. Outside the main gameplay, they can interact with Chao, a virtual pet, and compete in multiplayer battles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inline skating</span> Sport discipline

Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a metal or plastic frame on the underside of a boot. The in-line design allows for greater speed and maneuverability than traditional roller skates. Following this basic design principle, inline skates can be modified to varying degrees to accommodate niche disciplines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sneakers</span> Sport and casual shoes

Sneakers (US) or trainers (UK), also known by a wide variety of other names, are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise but which are also widely used for everyday casual wear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vans</span> American manufacturer of shoes

Vans is an American apparel, accessories, and skateboarding shoes brand, established in Anaheim, California, and owned by VF Corporation. The company also sponsors surf, snowboarding, BMX, and motocross teams. From 1996 to 2019, the brand was the primary sponsor of the annual Warped Tour music festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sole Technology</span> American footwear and apparel company

Sole Technology, Inc., known informally as Sole Tech, is an American footwear and apparel company, specializing in skate shoe design, production and distribution. The company is owned and operated by Pierre-André Senizergues, a former professional freestyle skateboarder. The company's headquarters are in Lake Forest, California, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skate shoe</span> Type of footwear designed for use in skateboarding

Skate shoes or skateboard shoes are a type of footwear specifically designed and manufactured for use in skateboarding. While numerous non-skaters choose to wear skate shoes as they are popular in fashion, the design of the skate shoe includes many features designed especially for use in skateboarding, including a vulcanized rubber or polyurethane sole with minimal tread pattern or no pattern, a composition leather or suede upper, and reinforced stitching to extend the life of the upper material. The most important aspect of skate shoes is that they have flat soles which allow the skater to have better board control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High-heeled shoe</span> Footwear that raises the heel of the wearers foot significantly higher than the toes

High-heeled shoes, also known as high heels, are a type of shoe with an upward-angled sole. The heel in such shoes is raised above the ball of the foot. High heels cause the legs to appear longer, make the wearer appear taller, and accentuate the calf muscle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heelys</span> Brand of roller shoes

Heelys is an American brand of roller shoe that have one or more removable wheels embedded in each sole, similar to inline skates, allowing the wearer to walk, run, or, by shifting their weight to their heels, roll. Braking can be achieved by lowering the back of the foot so that sole contacts the ground. Roger Adams patented Heelys in 1999. The headquarters are located in Carrollton, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zytel</span> Trademark

Zytel is a trademark owned by Celanese and used to make different high-strength, abrasion, and impact-resistant thermoplastic polyamide formulations, in the family of material more commonly known as nylon. The Zytel product line is based mostly on nylon 66, but also includes grades based on nylon 6 as a matrix, long chain nylons such as nylon 610, and copolymers including a transparent resin called Zytel 330. Resins based on polyphthalamides are branded 'Zytel HTN'. The Zytel product range takes advantage of the fact that nylons are one of the most compatible polymers with modifiers and so offers grades with varying degrees of fiberglass, from 13% to 60%, rubber toughened resins and flame retarded grades. Nylon resins with mineral reinforcements are branded 'Minlon'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keds</span> American casual shoe brand

Keds is an American brand known for its canvas shoes with rubber soles. Founded in 1916 by U.S. Rubber, its original shoe design was the first mass-marketed canvas-top sneaker. The brand was sold to Stride Rite in 1979, which was acquired by Wolverine World Wide in 2012. Since February 2023, Keds has been owned and operated by Designer Brands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LA Gear</span> American shoe company based in California

LA Gear is an American shoe company based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1983, it is currently part of Frasers Group brands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avia (shoes)</span> American shoe company

Avia is an American footwear and clothing company that specializes in running, yoga and lifestyle activewear, shoes and accessories. Avia was founded in 1979 by Jerry Stubblefield, and is currently a subsidiary of Galaxy Universal.

Heelys, Inc., formerly known as Heeling Sports Limited, is the company which currently owns the Heelys, Soap, and Axis brands. Heelys' headquarters is, and for and its entire history has been, located in Carrollton, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aggressive inline skating</span> Sport discipline

Aggressive inline skating is a sub-discipline of inline skating in the action sports canon. Aggressive inline skates are specially modified to accommodate grinds and jumps. Aggressive skating can take place on found street obstacles or at skate parks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DVS Shoes</span> American footwear and clothing company

DVS Shoes is an American footwear and clothing company that specialises in products for skateboarding, moto, bmx, mtb and snowboarding. The company defines itself as "... driven from the pursuit of building product that embodies the sports the company athletes breathe every day. With roots deeply embedded in skate, the company has the platform to develop truly technological products that bring the riders personalities to life."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reebok Zig</span> Footwear technology

Reebok Zig is an athletic footwear technology and collection of shoes designed by Reebok. ZigTech debuted in January 2010 and was first introduced with the ZigPulse later that year. ZigTech includes a zigzag foam sole that is designed to push athletes forward. The design assists in energy return to the wearer by absorbing impact at the heel and dispersing the energy through the zigzag composition which propels the athlete forward and also reduces stress on the shins. Reebok has released various styles of ZigTech designs that are compatible across a variety of sports.

References

  1. ↑ "Heeling Sports buys Soap shoe brand" . Retrieved 2021-12-08.
  2. ↑ "Heelys, Inc.: NASDAQ:HLYS quotes & news - Google Finance" . Retrieved 2015-03-05.
  3. ↑ Archived October 4, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Trevor & Renny of SSsoapshop.com (2008-03-29). "SSSoapShop - Shoes with attitude, for the daily grind". Archived from the original on July 17, 2013. Retrieved 2015-03-05.
  5. ↑ Cheng, Andria (2012-12-10). "Heelys to be bought by Sequential for $63.2 mln". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2015-03-05.
  6. ↑ Boswell, Russ (2022-11-07). "Sonic Frontiers: How To Get SOAP Shoes". Game Rant. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.