DC Shoes, Inc. has as its primary focus, designing and manufacturing high quality footwear, specializing in skateboarding shoes and snowboarding boots, as well as women’s and children’s casual footwear. The company has its headquarters in Vista California, and got it’s start under the entrepreneurship of then 22-year old Ken Block, a snowboarder who developed a line of screen-printed T-shirts, the Eightball brand. A skateboarding friend, Damon Way and his brother Danny Way helped Block find stores to sell the Eightball brand shirts, where they immediately became popular in skate shops. Eightball continued to grow, with Block eventually becoming President and CEO.
First Eightball, Then Droors – Not yet into shoes as a product line, Eightball created and marketed the Droors brand of jeans in 1992, and the company expanded into a new Carlsbad, California facility in 1993. On 1993 the company was incorporated as Circus Distribution, and at the same time the Eightball brand was retired.
Enter the DC Shoes Line – In 1994 Circus Distribution launched a footwear line, DC Shoes, eventually settling on a Korean manufacturer Samil Tong Sang, to produce and ship the DC Shoes line. Skateboarding still was an ever present thread running in the company’s thinking and strategies, and recognizing that half the skateboarders in the country were also snowboarders, a line of weatherproof outerwear products for snowboarders was launched in 1994 under the Dub brand name. It did not go unnoticed that 40% of skateboarders surveyed also rode BMX bikes.
DC Shoes, the Company – The DC Shoes product line was taking off in the meantime, and a professional team of skateboarders, sponsored by DC Shoes, went on a world tour in 1997. Motocross and surf teams were also established at the time. By 1997, the DC Shoes product line had eclipsed the Droors and Dub apparel lines, which were then sold off, and in 1998 Circus Distribution was renamed DC Shoes, Inc.
By 2000, the skate shoe business was booming, with the number of brands proliferating from 6 to 30 during DC Shoes first 6 years as a company, and DC Shoes was by that time shipping shoes across the globe. DC Shoes overcame competition from companies such as Nike and Reebok, while at the same time expanding its distribution to giant chains such as Nordstrom’s, Pacific Sun and Copeland’s Sports.
Although acquired in 2004 by Quicksilver, DC Shoes is still very much in business, and the brand is more popular than ever. DC Shoes has now expanded their line of skateboarding shoes to include snowboarding boots as well as snowboarding hats, jeans, shirts, and jackets. DC Shoes has established itself as a leader in footwear for extreme sports, including BMX, motocross, rally car racing, and surfing.
DC Sports opened on of the world’s first skate plazas in Kettering, Ohio, built for use by that city’s street skateboarders. One of the first people to skate it was Olympics half-pipe champion Shaun White, the “Flying Tomato”. The company’s founder, Ken Block has taken the journey from being the creator of Eightball T-shirts, through management of DC Shoes, to currently enjoying his role in competing in major rally car events worldwide. His involvement in major rally events has naturally lead to the development and distribution of a special driving shoe.
DC Shoes has recently announced plans to expand into the hard goods market with the launch of DC snowboards. One can only imagine what will come next.
