I'm going to keep my explanation very brief about this to avoid the thread being too long. Chris Morris made SOAP into a multi-million dollar company using grassroots marketing, and sold it because he got a large offer. The next company went bankrupt because it lost money investing into pro wrestling equipment, so it sold soap because it really needed the capital. HSL spent a ton of money to get it.

After that, Heelys would advertise SOAP Shoes demos and instead have heelys to shove down peoples throats (you can see this in the saint louis demo video with so many people wearing heelys shirts), and over time Heelys replaced soap shoes.

What heelys didn't count on, it was only marketed towards kids: not adults. I'm not sure if anyone here has kids, but kids get bored very quickly over something, which is why so many video games are consistently being released regardless of children's performance in games. So over time, heelys went from 40 dollars per stock, to 2, plain and simple.

Bellow are the links to the evidence where I got most of this information.




http://web.archive.org/web/20080227083154/http://www.solidgrind.com/forum/26699/

On Feb 23rd 2008 Renny " AnthoFlex" Costillo from Flushing Queens the former promoter of SOAP Shoes wrote this. He deleted it not too long afterwards when Heelys received many emails complaining about their behavior.

"HSL is falling apart...Although i'm not going into detail (for security reasons), HSL will not last too long in its current state. Their ignorance in putting 100% focus on Heelys, and NONE of it on Soapshoes, is finally getting to them.

Why is this? Think about it... Heelys (whether the heelers here want to admit it or not) is aimed for little kids. Which is fine... The kid's market is a big one.

But what about the Teens and Adults? Most of you by now know that almost 100% of soapers, people who wear soapshoes, and people who like soapshoes, are teens and adults. This was HSL's problem. They gave up way too easily when stuff didnt go their way.

Who remembers Axis? The Skate shoe company that was owned by HSL back in the day? Remember all those sick styles and colors? How comfy those shoes were? Pro sk8rs actually used to wear them! Don't believe me? Look up old sk8 videos, check google, check anything. What happened? HSL couldn't properly manage such a product that appealed to young teens, Teens, and adults because they were to dead set on Heelys, the rolling shoes for kids. Thus, Axis was discontinued, because HSL stopped advertising them in sk8 magazines, and never sponsored any sk8rs....Big mistake. Thats BIG money lost right there...The skateboarding industry is HUGE.

Now Soap...What happened with soap? In-Stride, (the company that previously owned soap) was going bankrupt because of its pro wrestling products and gear. Once the company went bankrupt, how fast did HSL jump at the chance to buy soap? SUPER FAST. In fact, they blew TONS of cash to get it. Stafforoni (previous CEO of HSL) pulled a Scarface to get SOAP. And that's when Heelys was STILL only starting out.

HSL knew the history, popularity, hype, and overall potential of soapshoes, so grabbed it as quickly as possible, and quickly released 6 models almost immediately upon getting SOAP. When have you EVER heard of this done? No planning, no testing, no fucking thought whatsoever. You've NEVER heard of that. Just 6 random models out of the blue. 2 of which were the same shoe, 4 of which had the same midsole, 5 of which had the same plate, and 1 of which made veteran soapers look at it with a loud "WTF, where's the other half of the sole plate?"

Now, I want to clear something up HERE AND NOW. HSL hurt soap's image, NOT In-stride. In-stride only lost soap because the company itself was already losing massive amounts of money, and couldn't hold onto SOAP.

HSL never offered to fix what they had fucked up. What did they fuck up? SOAP. By releasing WAY too many models at once, models that looked WAY too similar to each other, and not properly advertising soap. And also doing SOAPSHOES demo's that involved grinding alongside the still young Heelys rolling shoes brand. You go to a SOAPSHOES demo to SOAP, not to roll on the floor with KIDS shoes at which that point, noone knew wtf they were.

I remember they sponsored Pro Blader Ryan Dawes.... Which you would think is great. "Woah, soap sponsored a PRO Blader...AND he actually accepted! Thats sick!" Only problem is...Where the hell is that guy? You cant find him on google, theres no youtube videos of him at all!...did they just make this guy up?

HSL ultimately threw the SOAP brand aside and relied on their still infant Heely brand. Heelys worked really well. I mean come on, what little kid wouldn't want a wheel in their shoe to roll around on when they went with their parents shopping? Or visiting relatives? As a kid, i hated going places with my parents...it was always walk walk walk.

The downside there is that their market automatically focused on kids, and kids ONLY...That doesn't last long. 7 and 8 year olds ARE NOT gonna be wanting to roll around with their "Toys" (yes, thats what they were), when they're 10-12. The kids who wanted Heelys for Christmas or their Birthday, wont want it again next year. Its a fad...ITS A TOY. Most kids after age 11 and 12 get the urge to do extreme sports...Or just extreme things in general. It's just what happens when you become a teen. It's natural. Now think about this...If you were HSL, would you want those kids to stray away? No, you would want to offer them something else to have fun with as they get older...What am i talking about? SOAPSHOES. Oh wait, but HSL threw that aside because they were too childish themselves to fix what they had destroyed...A good name. Everyone knew about soapshoes back then.

HSL is starting to screw themselves with Heelys. Blowing $1000's on Disney demos, Daily demos all around the US That noone shows up to. All of these are great marketing ideas, but jesus...HSL, face the facts. Either noone wants Heelys anymore, or every little kid in the US already has them!

Obviously HSL realized this and tried to come up with a new idea...The Heelys GAMER. A wheel-less, plate-less shoe with an Xbox controller on the bottom.... They tried to advertise what they thought was hot amongst kids. (Kids again, see what i mean?) Hmm, extreme video gaming? What were they thinking? Do they love to lose money? It woulda actually been cooler if the controller worked with an Xbox! The shoes look stupid as hell, and Heelys sales suffered further after this.


Ok, now here's where us soapers comes in...

If we don't do something quick, HSL will die, taking soap with it. We've done a kickass job bringing the good name back alive. With no advertising, and no help from HSL whatsoever. Every demo we do is us, and HSL wants no part of it. Why are we gonna let their ignorance hurt our years of hard work?

We need to show HSL that soap can and WILL be the one to save it. Heelys is done. Sorry to say it to all those kids who love Heelys, but you all aren't gonna last...Not with the way HSL is doing things. Now maybe you'll shut up as you feel our pain. You heelers wanna help save your asses? Help us get HSL to produce, advertise, and RESPECT soap.

HSL obviously doesn't realize the potential of soapshoes. If they had even the slightest idea of how soaps can save their company, they'd help out in a heartbeat.


Whoever is up for the following task, sound off:

I need all the soapers here who are willing to call up their local sk8 shops, journeys, sporting good stores, WHATEVER. And ask if they sell soapshoes. Obviously they are going to say no, and they'll most likely say "They don't make those anymore". Thats when you need to tell them that they INDEED do still make them. Convince them that soaps are still alive, and have them contact HSL. If they are still skeptic, Offer to do a FREE soapshoes demo in their store, skatepark, or whatever. I'll come down there in a heartbeat. Bringing demo shoes, stickers, and all kinds of soap stuff.

This is the time NOW to do these things. Call up those sk8shops, parks, journeys, pacsuns, sporting good stores. Let them know soaps are still here, let them know they are still alive. Let them know there is a STRONG demand for them. But most importantly, tell them you'd be MORE than willing to do a FREE soapshoes demo there, and even represent their store. Like i said, i'll be there in a heartbeat to help out. Because thats what i do.

All of which who are willing to take this task....Sound off, NOW. "

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