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Pierre on the state of the skate shoe industry

Sole Technology CEO Pierre André Senizergues and Ryan Sheckler at ASR.

By TIFFANY MONTGOMERY
April 21, 2008 02:00 PM

After I talked to Pierre about Sole Technology's environmental audit and goal to be carbon neutral by 2020, I asked him for his thoughts about the skate shoe market.

Pierre said the recession word is definitely floating around out there, and the thinks the economy will be tough for a couple of years.

He thinks there will be more consolidation and the strong in the industry will survive. "We've been around 20 years, and we'll be here for 100 more," he said.

Pierre has been presented with lots of opportunities lately, but does not envision buying any brands or companies. He said he'd rather focus on Sole Technology brands, plus he prefers to start brands from scratch rather than acquire them.

Pierre said he also wants to focus on making the company more efficient, which is hard to do during times of rapid growth. In addition, he wants to help retailers all he can during this down cycle.