DC Shoes & Snowboard Boots

DC Shoes is an American based footwear company in Vista, CA founded in 1993 who specialize in producing shoes for skateboarding as well as snowboarding boots and outerwear. They are often referred to as DCSHOECOUSA. On March 10, 2004, DC Shoes was purchased by Quiksilver.

History

DC Shoes was created by two main owners, Ken Block and Damon Way, older brother of professional skateboarder Danny Way. A few years later, the two hired an accountant by the name of Clayton Blehm, who had just lost his job a few months earlier and was living in his daughter's garage. He was later given the chance to own one third of the company, yet he refused the offer, only to reconsider two years later. He has since been dismissed from the company which resulted in a lawsuit for wrongful dismissal and a counter-suit by DC[1], which has since been settled.[2]

The company was originally called "Eightball" and only made T-shirts for skate shops. The owners were sent a cease and desist letter by a man in Seattle who had alledgedly already copyrighted the name "Eightball." The man had made an offer to allow them to use the name "Eightball" if they had given him a large sum of money and a cut of the action. The newly hired Clay Blehm refused the offer, and they began to look for another name. The owners then created a new line of clothing called Droors Clothing, in which they create ads spoofing famous ads ranging from Calvin Klein to famous rapper's CD covers. Famous rap and hip-hop groups "Cypress Hill" and "The Beastie Boys" sported their clothing. DC originally stood for Droors Clothing Footwear, but since the sale of Droors (which is now defunct), DC no longer has any ties to Droors and is simply DC Shoes.

The three owners then created new sub companies like Dub Snowboard Clothing, which sported an urban feel that lead to them being extremely popular with the hip-hop subculture. Also they published their own snowboard magazine intitled Blunt, which mainly featured ads of new or undiscovered companies. Blunt was eventually sold to Big Brother Magazine, and later ceased publication.

DC Shoes manufactures footwear for all types of extreme sports, including skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX, motocross, and surfing, for men, women, kids, and toddlers.

They have released a video, entitled "The DC Video" which featured a part by Danny Way in which he skates the DC "Mega Ramp," a series of enormous skateboarding ramps. It has been released on VHS, DVD, and UMD for PSP.

DC recently sponsored the world's first skate plaza, which was built in Kettering, Ohio. The skate plaza, a dream of Rob Dyrdek, is billed as the first skate park for street skateboarders.