Paul Rodriguez, 2005: he leaves éS for his first Nike SB — who lost the most?

In 2005, Paul Rodriguez is 20, with gold from the X Games in Los Angeles and éS on his feet. That year, he drops his first signature shoe. It carries a swoosh. To get there, he had to pick up the phone and call Eric Koston, his idol, the man who had brought him into Girl three years earlier. Twenty years later, the question still comes up at the park: in that move, who lost the most?

We put the facts back in order. The kid, the brand he leaves, the one he joins. And what each of them left on the table.

Before 2005: a rookie at Girl, éS at the top

In 2002, P-Rod drops his part in In Bloom, Transworld's video for up-and-coming skaters. Girl turns him pro in September, at 17. Transworld names him Rookie of the Year the same year. On his feet, he rides éS, like his idol.

Back then, éS is heavy. The brand is born in 1995 and joins Sole Technology in 1996, the parent company of etnies and Emerica, built by Pierre-André Senizergues, a former freestyle pro. The roster is stacked: Koston, Chad Muska, Tom Penny, Arto Saari, PJ Ladd, Bob Burnquist, Rick McCrank.

In 2000 comes Menikmati – 2000, the éS video where Koston goes back to Bangkok, his hometown. And in January 2003, the brand runs the "Eric Koston éS Game of S.K.A.T.E.". It's the first head-to-head S.K.A.T.E. contest in history. The game you play at the park came out of their house.

Close your eyes for two seconds. An éS shoebox, the é logo on a padded tongue, a sole as thick as a stair. In 2003, that's the street uniform.

2004-2005: the Nike SB deal, what we actually know

For Nike, the story starts badly. In 1997, the brand launches its first skate shoes. Shops don't want them. The market belongs to DC, Globe, Emerica, Vans… and éS. Nike gets turned away by, among others, the brand P-Rod wears.

In 2002, Nike creates the SB label and releases the Dunk Low SB. Sales are average. It's missing a face. In 2004, Nike SB signs Paul Rodriguez as a figurehead, alongside Australian Lewis Marnell. In 2005 comes the Nike SB Paul Rodriguez Zoom Air Low.

The money? Never made public. We won't make up a number. The known terms fit on one line: a model with his name on it, a figurehead role. No figure, no announced length.

Why 2005: what P-Rod and Nike were after

Nike needs a skater shops respect and kids copy. P-Rod checks both boxes. He takes street gold at the X Games in Los Angeles in 2004, then again in 2005. And he doesn't have fifteen years at a competitor to walk away from.

He's after something other than a check. On the Berrics in 2012, he says his first pair was baby Jordans. Even at éS, whenever he wasn't skating, he wore white Air Force 1s or Cortez. "I was a Nike supporter since birth."

And éS? The brand has a roster full of older stars. A 20-year-old rookie weighs less than Koston. On paper, letting the youngest one go costs nothing. That's where the math gets tricky.

Behind the scenes: the call to Koston and the "sellout" cries

For P-Rod, leaving éS isn't just signing a paper. He tells it in the Berrics Footnotes: first he had to call Koston, call Tony at éS, call several people. "We were close, it was a family there." Once that weight was off, "the world opened up".

Outside, people grumble. The Girl kid at the brand shops turned away eight years earlier? He admits it himself: he took criticism, "sellout, this, that". He says he never really cared. We told in detail how the student signed with Nike before the master.

The real earthquake comes a year later. In 2006, Koston leaves éS too. Not for Nike: for Lakai, the shoe brand of the Girl family, with an announcement video on YouTube. In two seasons, éS loses its rookie and its headliner.

2005-2014: what the swoosh did to P-Rod's career

In 2007, Nike SB releases its first video, Nothing But The Truth. Marnell opens, P-Rod closes. The last part is the spot for the skater the brand bets everything on. At 22, he already has it.

Then he stacks. X Games gold in 2009 and 2012. A store, Primitive, opened in 2008 in Los Angeles. 30th place in Transworld's ranking of the most influential skaters of all time, in 2011. And in May 2014, the P-Rod 8.

A Nike executive then drops a number on him. Only four of the company's athletes have released eight signature shoes: Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James. And him. The kid in baby Jordans has joined Jordan.

Nike SB and éS after 2005: the market changes hands

For Nike, P-Rod is proof it can work. In 2009, Koston leaves Lakai and joins Nike SB in turn, with the Koston 1. He later explains he had spent years copying Nikes at éS and at Lakai, without ever really pulling them off. At Nike, he finally has the tools.

Read that sentence again. The skater who wore éS admits éS was designing after Nike. The brand that turned Nike away in 1997 was chasing it ten years later.

For éS, what follows is harsher. In mid-2012, the brand announces a pause. It comes back in 2014 with special runs, sold in a handful of selected shops. In May 2024, etnies, éS and Emerica are bought by Swiss group Nidecker. Meanwhile, Emerica refused to become Nike.

Careful: no source says P-Rod leaving put éS on pause. That would be too easy, and wrong to write. What the dates show is a bleed: the rookie in 2005, the star in 2006, then nothing in 2012.

Verdict: who lost the most in 2005?

P-Rod did lose something, true. A family, in his own words. "Sellout" cries. He gained eight shoes, a closing part, a spot next to Jordan and a brand of his own.

Nike lost nothing. It found the face it had been missing since 1997, then landed Koston four years later.

éS lost the most. Not a rider: the next decade. In 2005, the brand lets a 20-year-old rookie walk because it has Koston. In 2006, it no longer has Koston. The kid it used to shoe became one of four Nike athletes with eight signature models. éS was on pause.

Today, P-Rod still posts test sessions of the P-Rod 1, twenty years later. When a 2005 shoe comes back to test concrete in 2025, you know which way the future went.