uh, yeah. should I start a go fund me to buy LaCroix? seriously though, we take no joy in the demise of another premier esk8 brand. competition elevates. and the peeps and product at LaCroix were both solid.
while the community can, with limited insight and knowledge, point to various “causes” or “mistakes” they made, one of the key challenges for a North American eskate brand is competing with the Chinese. Why is that? My evaluation is that NA companies have no choice but to deliver premium quality to avoid lawsuits. Cast trucks? Cant risk it. Questionable battery builds? One fire can sink a brand. ESC issues throw the rider? Potential lawsuit. Customer Service? expected from a NA brand but less so from the bargain brands (though that is changing as they up their game).
Another reason is that you pay customs duty on an import while the NA company has to pay those duties up front.
Aaaanyway, it’s a challenging situation that doesnt really result in 1:1 comparisons. A house fire is a house fire whether it happens the first time the product is plugged in or after 10,000 miles of wear and tear on the internals. At the end of the day, if the community wants innovation, is it going to come from a Chinese factory or a NA company that jumped into the biz out of love for the sport? Have the Chinese companies, in general, drafted off existing designs and innovations or brought their own to the table? I’m confident they can get there with time but without some innovative companies really embedded in the community, they wont have anything to copy and sell cheap.
Soap box out.
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