Sal Barbier

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Sal Barbier
Personal information
Birth nameSalvador Lucas Barbier
Nickname(s)SLB
Born (1969-07-12) 12 July 1969 (age 52)[1]
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.
Sport
CountryUSA
SportSkateboarding

Sal Barbier or SLB (born Salvador Lucas Barbier; July 12, 1969) is an American skateboarder, footwear designer, and skate company owner.[2][3]

Early life[]

Barbier was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.[4] Barbier grew up skateboarding in the 80s', traveling around the south to skate vert ramps, participate in street skate contests, and find skate spots.[5]

Skateboarding career[]

As a teenager, Barbier often travelled to skate, traveling as far as Houston to skate a metal vert ramp located there.[5] After attending and competing in many contests in different states, Barbier decided to throw his own contest in Louisiana.[5] This contest was the first street skate contest held in the state of Louisiana.[5] At the beginning of his career, Barbier rode for alongside Alan Petersen and Kris Markovich.[4]

Move to California[]

Barbier was influenced by the trick selection and the California locations in the H-Street - Shackle Me Not video released in 1988.[5] In 1988, Barbier flew out to California for the Amateur Finals. During the contest Jason Lee contacted Sal and floated the idea of Barbier riding for World Industries. The deal never came to be. At the 1988 Amateur Finals, Barbier also met Mike Ternasky for the first time.[5]

Barbier returned to California later that year, driving across the country to Huntington Beach, CA. While living Huntington Beach, Barbier drove around skating the Sadlands, H-Ramp, Pavilions, and other ramps.[5] As a fresh transplant to California, Barbier found himself skating with a small crew of Terrence Yoshizawa (Lester Kasai's cousin), Saecha Clarke, and another woman.[5] While staying at his friend Scooter's house, Barbier ran into Mike Ternasky, who was in the midst of filming Hokus Pokus for H-Street. Ternasky invited Barbier to come on the trip with him. While filming the Hokus Pokus video, Barbier was introduced to and got to skate with many of his skate heroes including Willy Santos, John Reeves, Steve Ortega, Matt Hensley, Mario Rubalcaba, Noah Salasnek, Aaron Vincent, Jeff Pettit, Ray Simmons, Ron Allen, and Natas Kaupas.[5][6] After the release of Hokus Pokus, Barbier travelled across the U.S., going to the premieres of the video and doing skate demos.[5]

Going Pro[]

Barbier went pro for H-Street Skateboards, his first signature deck released in 1990.[7] After a couple years, Barbier became disillusioned with the turn over and roster at H-Street.[4] In 1992, Barbier followed Ternasky over to Plan B Skateboards, riding for them from 1992-1996.[4][7]

Sponsors[]

Barbier was an original team rider for both Spitfire Wheels and Plan B. SLB held many sponsors throughout his career including Tracker Trucks, A1-Meats, H-Street Skateboards, and Etnies.[4][7]

Signature skate shoes[]

Barbier's first shoe sponsor was Airwalk. Eventually Barbier became disillusioned with the colorful designs and clunky options in skate shoes. After seeing Julien Stranger skate in a pair of plain brown Etnies, Sal was intent on getting and skating a pair himself. At a skateboard trade show, Barbier tracked down Pierre André Senizergues of Etnies, who hooked him up with some pairs.[4]

Barbier was particularly interested in the Natas signature Etnies model, which featured a lower profile last that Barbier found ideal for skating. Once Barbier got sponsored by Etnies, he started receiving pairs of the Natas shoe. Barbier would modify the shoes he received, cutting them down, spraying the soles white, and putting on white laces.[5] Pro skaters including Guy Mariano and Jeron Wilson were inspired to try the Etnies shoe due to Barbier's customization.[5]

Due to the popularity of the customizations, Etnies tapped Barbier to design a signature model.[8]

Barbier’s first skate shoe pro model debuted in 1993, featuring a slim profile with minimal, but purposeful features, as well as an embroidered “23” on the heel, an homage to Michael Jordan.[9][10] Barbier's first pro model remains one of the most recognizable and influential skate shoes of all time.[9] In 1995, Sole Technologies, the parent brand of Etnies, formed a new brand, eS, and launched it with SLB as the original single rider.[11] His signature shoe from Etnies was carried over; as well as, eS released his second pro model, the SLB Mid.[9] Barbier had three successful signature shoe models produced by eS.[9]

Skate companies[]

From 1996 to 1998, Barbier founded, creative directed, and rode for his own deck company: 23 Skateboards, which had a team of Jason Dill, Anthony Van Engelen, Clyde Singleton and .[12] In 1999, Barbier founded a new company Aesthetics, which he rode and creative directed for till 2003.[11] Aesthetics had a team of Rob Welsh, Kevin Taylor, Joey Pepper, and Clyde Singleton. In 1995, Barbier founded Elwood Clothing with Palmer Brown.[12] The brand released collections of jeans, woven shirts, knits and tees and an original team that consisted of Daewon Song, Keith Hufnagel, Scott Johnson, AVE, Dill, Shiloh Greathouse, Sean Sheffey, Rob Welsh, Kenny Anderson, and Clyde Singleton. Eventually, due to creative distances, Barbier left Elwood.[13]

Skate video parts[]

  • 1989: Hokus Pokus - H-Street Skateboards[14]
  • 1991: This Is Not The New H-Street Video - H-Street Skateboards[15]
  • 1991: Schlossbach - Turn The Other Cheek[16]
  • 1991: Frontline Video - Quiet Storm[17]
  • 1992: Questionable - Plan B Skateboards[18]
  • 1993: Virtual Reality - Plan B Skateboards - video dedicated to Salvador Lucas Barbier[19]
  • 1994: Second Hand Smoke - Plan B Skateboards[14]
  • 1996: Eastern Exposure Zero - [20]
  • 2019: Boys Of Summer 2 - Logan Lara[21]

Sal Flip[]

Barbier innovated the Sal Flip, an evolution of the nose grab finger flip.[12][22]

References[]

  1. ^ "Sal Barbier Profile < Skately Library". skately.com.
  2. ^ "Notas: éS x Sal Barbier - Reediciones". sk8shoesba (in European Spanish). 2017-11-30. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  3. ^ "Lost & Found: Sal Barbier Full Interview". Men's Journal. 2011-11-09. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Lost & Found: Sal Barbier Full Interview". Adventure Sports Network. 2011-11-09. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "SAL BARBIER -- The Nine Club". The Berrics. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  6. ^ "John Reeves: Not the New H-Street Interview". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  7. ^ a b c "Art of Skateboarding - Price Guide". www.artofskateboarding.com. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  8. ^ "Paycheck - Sal Barbier and his Sal 23s". Transworld SKATEboarding. 2004-12-17. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  9. ^ a b c d "QUESTIONABLE :: Retracing the Strange History of Skate Shoe Design". The Hundreds.
  10. ^ Kan, Eugene. "etnies SAL Slim". HYPEBEAST.
  11. ^ a b "How a Skate Shoe Brand Turned a Secret Weed Pocket Into a Footwear Phenomenon". Complex. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  12. ^ a b c "Sal Flip Trick Description". skateboardhere.
  13. ^ "Elwood Clothing < Skately Library". skately.com.
  14. ^ a b "Sal Barbier skater profile. Online skate videos and video parts by Sal Barbier. | Skatevideosite". www.skatevideosite.com. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  15. ^ "H-Street – This Is Not The New H-Street Video – Skatevideosite". Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  16. ^ Schlossbach - Turn The Other Cheek (1991) Skateboarding Video, retrieved 2021-03-01
  17. ^ Frontline Video - Quiet Storm (1991) Skateboarding Video, retrieved 2021-03-01
  18. ^ "Plan B – Questionable – Skatevideosite".
  19. ^ "Plan B – Virtual Reality – Skatevideosite". Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  20. ^ "Eastern Exposure Zero – Skatevideosite". Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  21. ^ "Boys Of Summer 2 – Skatevideosite". Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  22. ^ "Sal Flip Trick Description". skateboardhere. Retrieved 2021-02-23.

External links[]

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