Life After Skating With Scott Johnston
November 6, 2009 – 6:35 pm PT by MikeTags: Girl, Lakai, Scott Johnston —
by Ben Colen
Most skaters have to realize that there is life after skateboarding. Just as MODELS who find success at a really early age must learn, their looks aren’t going to last forever. Unfortunately for them, the really successful ones had foregone school to become a fulltime model, which leads to a lack of education. They do learn street smarts but it’s always important to have a combination of both. And that’s where you have the TYRA BANK’S, and the HEIDI KLUMS, and on a much lesser level, the JANICE DICKONSONS. But it’s really sad to see the ones who don’t make it because of lack of education. All they know is modeling and when they are kicked to the curb because they are yesterday’s news, they sometimes have no survival skills whatsoever.
The same thing can happen to skaters. It’s great to see the guys who were the sickest skaters in my day make something out of themselves like Eric Koston (who’s still sick), Jason Lee, and Tony Hawk. But it’s sad to see the ones who haven’t really gotten past skating and when their skills diminish, they are left with absolutely nothing. I won’t name names but go watch a few episodes of Epicly Later’d.
This was something Scott Johnston of Girl Skateboards and Lakai discovered at an early age. He knew that once his body couldn’t take skateboarding full time anymore, he had to do something else with his life. He basically needs to eat. So that’s how he became a designer for LAKAI footwear.
Check out a really good interview Scott does with ESPN that talks about his relationship with skateboarding as his career is coming to a close. And he also talks about some of the bigger brand name shoes and their impact on skateboarding as a whole.
