Lakai CEO Marc Roca Addresses the Brand's Current Status via Instagram

Lakai's identity is unarguably tied to its founders—any for many of us, some of our absolute favorite skaters—Rick Howard and Mike Carroll. The idea of them being unattached to the brand really doesn't make sense. Simple as that. And although plenty was explained in the post above, and folks are expressing their respect for transparency, plenty of others are having no problem reading between the lines. 

That said, I recognize that these situations are often way murkier than they appear on the surface. Business is business, after all. There's no easy solution, despite the countless hollow "ideas" and opinions being fired off in the comments. Point is, finding common ground in heavy situations like this—involving founders, investors, new leadership, etc.—can be super challenging to resolve.

I will say the timing is pretty unfortunate, though. All those layoffs right before the holidays is pretty harsh, but again—business. And like many, I hate to say that I’ve been there a few times in my life, too. Sucks, but what can ya do?

The comments on the post are really where all the action is, though. I’m talking “grab the popcorn, sit back and scroll” kind of action. It’s also a place where truth and rumors disguise themselves as the same, but at the same time, a lot of it makes you think, “Hmmm…good point.”

We've unfortunately seen this happen before (multiple times, actually) and we'll certainly see it again. At any rate, I’m hoping the best for Rick and Mike. They've put their heart and soul into the brand for decades and it must be a pretty frustrating, emotional time. 

The shoe game is tough in skateboarding unless you’re one of the giants, and nobody out there obviously needs to me echo that. All we can really do right now is sit back, wait and wonder. What does this mean for Mike and Rick? What does this mean for the remaining employees? What does this mean for the current riders? Who even are the current riders? 

Hopefully some of these questions will be answered sooner than later. 

I have seen a few Lakai riders not skating Lakai shoes in the last few days, however, so it’s no surprise this post came when it did. Fingers crossed for a positive outcome. Until then, I’ll insert the shoulder shrug emoji right here and go skate.