Soap was the brand name of
shoes
A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. They are often worn with a sock. Shoes are also used as an item of decoration and fashion. The design of shoes has varied enormously through time and from culture t ...
made for
grinding
Grind is the cross-sectional shape of a blade.
Grind, grinds, or grinding may also refer to:
Grinding action
* Grinding (abrasive cutting), a method of crafting
* Grinding (dance), suggestive club dancing
* Grinding (video gaming), repetitive and ...
, similar to
aggressive inline skating
Aggressive inline skating (referred to by participants as rollerblading, blading, skating, street skating, rolling, roller freestyle or freestyle rolling) is a sub-discipline of inline skating in the action sports canon. Aggressive inline skates ...
. They were introduced by Chris Morris of
Artemis
In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...
Innovations Inc. with the brand name "Soap" in 1997. They have a
plastic
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
concavity
In calculus, the second derivative, or the second order derivative, of a function is the derivative of the derivative of . Roughly speaking, the second derivative measures how the rate of change of a quantity is itself changing; for example, ...
in the sole, which allows the wearer to grind on objects such as
pipes
Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to:
Objects
* Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules
** Piping, the use of pipes in industry
* Smoking pipe
** Tobacco pipe
* Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circula ...
,
handrail
A handrail is a rail that is designed to be grasped by the hand so as to provide safety or support. In Britain, handrails are referred to as banisters. Handrails are usually used to provide support for body or to hold clothings in a bathroom or ...
s, and
stone
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
ledges. The company and its product rapidly gained popularity through
fansite
A fansite, fan site, fan blog or fan page is a website created and maintained by a fan or devotee about a celebrity, thing, or particular cultural phenomenon.
Fansites may offer specialized information on the subject (e.g., episode listings, bi ...
s, a
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
and live demonstrations. Soap fell to legal vulnerabilities, and was sold twice, eventually bringing the brand to
Heeling Sports Limited
Heelys, Inc., formerly known as Heeling Sports Limited, is the company which currently owns the Heelys, Soap, and Axis (unofficially defunct) brands. Heelys' headquarters is, and for and its entire history has been, located in Carrollton, Texas. ...
.
History
Soap shoes were essentially derived from rollerblades and aggressive skating. Chris Morris, a resident of California who worked at
RollerBlade
Rollerblade is a brand of inline skates owned by Nordica, part of the Tecnica Group of Giavera del Montello, Treviso, Italy.
The company was started by Scott Olson (b. 1960), Brennan Olson (b. 1964) and Christopher Middlebrook in Minneapolis a ...
in Torrance for over sixteen years, worked to customize a simple shoe that had a ground plate embedded in the sole. The shoe was an average
Nike
Nike often refers to:
* Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory
* Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment
Nike may also refer to:
People
* Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...
, fitted for sliding.
Concept 21 (a recently founded design firm) was called upon to design a sample so that the product could be finalized. They then formed Artemis Innovations, which would be the company the brand would be sold under for four years. In 2001, Mr. Morris lost control of the Soap license through legal problems. Activity within the company slowed down, and eventually, the remaining executives sold Soap.
In-Stride, a company whose target market was primarily
wrestling
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
gear, purchased Soap. In-Stride went bankrupt in late 2002, and Soap was once again available for purchase.
Heeling Sports Limited, the company behind the shoes with a wheel in the sole known as
Heelys
Heelys (formerly known as Heeling Sports Limited) is an American brand of roller shoe (marketed by Heelys, Inc.) that have usually one or more removable wheels embedded in each sole, similar to inline skates, allowing the wearer to walk, run, or, ...
, realized that the ground plate could be very profitable when paired with their wheel, and acquired Soap later that year. In early 2003, six new Soap shoes were released, each in multiple color schemes; simultaneously,
HSL was designing hybrid shoes to sell under the Heelys brand. HSL has been criticized for releasing too many new models at a single time, and not supplying requested stock to retailers frequently enough. There are currently no models of Soap shoes being produced by HSL.
The sport never caught on to the mass market in comparison to, for instance, skateboarding, but the brand "Soap" did have a professional team mostly consisting of former professional inline skaters such as
Ryan Jaunzemis
Ryan Jaunzemis (born February 5, 1981, Inglewood, California), is an American YouTuber
A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouT ...
,
Bryndon Smith, Danny Lynch, Paul Cifuentes, Eddie Ramirez, and Ben Kelly (Head of Research & Development, and Soap Shoes' wear-testing team). Soap's heyday was in the late 1990s and early 2000s. when competing crews from across the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
and
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
were releasing internet videos, spurring an online community of "Soapers." These crews have since disbanded along with the website forums, and now there are few proponents left such as solidgrind.com run by Former Soap team captain Derek Brooks and the Melbourne soapers Facebook Page run by Soap Collector Greg Crellin.
A revival of sorts was noticed in early 2006 as more people were attracted to Soaping, and HSL responded by re-releasing their Express model in limited quantities. Soap Shoes continue to sluggishly regain popularity despite some difficulty due to Heelys using grind plates in addition to their wheels. That was until the recession had hit, which affected HSL significantly. Heelys stock was once 38 dollars per share, and on August 8, 2007, Heelys lost half of its stock value in a single day, falling from $21.99 to $11.42. Now former CEO Michael Staffaroni at the time was expecting significant growth despite the stock plummet.
Soap Shoes at the time managed to have a very successful demo at Xtreme Wheels Skate Park despite HSL's financial problems. A year later, the Soap Shoes Express was discontinued by HSL and liquidation for Soap Shoes began, with representatives from Heelys claiming to "just throw out" anything that was left over. Within a matter of five years, Heelys stock had sunk down to $2.25 per share and was sold to Sequential Brand Group for $63.2 million, taking the soap and other grind shoe patents with it.
Soap shoes in ''Sonic the Hedgehog''
Soap shoes were featured in the video game ''
Sonic Adventure 2
is a platform video game developed by Sonic Team USA and published by Sega. It was the final ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' game for the Dreamcast after Sega left the home console market. It features two Conflict between good and evil, good-vs-evil stor ...
'', developed by
Sonic Team USA
is a video game developer owned by the Japanese video game company Sega as part of its Sega CS Research and Development No. 2 division. Sonic Team is best known for the long-running ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series and games such as '' Nights int ...
in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
. This game presented many
billboards
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
,
blimps
A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is an airship (dirigible) without an internal structural framework or a keel. Unlike semi-rigid and rigid airships (e.g. Zeppelins), blimps rely on the pressure of the lifting gas (usually helium, rather than hyd ...
, and
benches advertising the shoes; also,
Sonic
Sonic or Sonics may refer to:
Companies
*Sonic Drive-In, an American drive-in fast-food restaurant chain
*Sonic (ISP), an Internet provider and CLEC, serving more than 100 California communities
*Sonic Foundry, a computer software company whic ...
wore a custom version of the Scorcher/Nitro shoes exclusive to the title, while the darker character
Shadow
A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, o ...
wears hybrid jet hoverskate/grind shoes, as grinding (or "soaping") debuted as an important new
gameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pla ...
element. Grinding remains a core element in recent ''Sonic'' games, though officially licensed Soap shoes have given way to the titular character's normal shoes. Soap shoes made their reappearance in ''
Sonic Forces
is a platform game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega. It was produced in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. The story sees Sonic the Hedgehog joining a resistance force to stop Docto ...
'' as an unlockable accessory for the Avatar and come in three different colors, one of the colors matching the ones used in ''Sonic Adventure 2''. Soap shoes also appear in
''Sonic Frontiers'' as a Bonus DLC for signing up for the ''Sonic Frontiers'' newsletter.
Pending the sale of Soap to In-Stride and later HSL, no actions were taken for the continuation of the partnership. However, in two episodes of the anime ''
Sonic X
is a Japanese anime television series based on Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' video game series. Produced by TMS Entertainment under partnership with Sega and Sonic Team, and directed by Hajime Kamegaki, ''Sonic X'' initially ran for 52 epis ...
'', Sonic's Soap shoes are brought in to give him an advantage over his enemies. The HD re-release of ''Sonic Adventure 2'' retained all of the in-game advertisements, but the Soap shoes advertisements were removed.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Archived Official Website Shoe companies of the United States
Sporting goods manufacturers of the United States
Clothing companies established in 1997
Athletic shoe brands
Companies based in Carrollton, Texas