Lutzka's Multi-Million Dollar K-Swiss Deal & Shoe That Never Came Out

let's talk about this K Swiss deal correct because for for outside looking in we hear Greg lka got this K Swiss deal it's a million dollar deal man he's killing it over there like he's a million dollars it was bigger than a million that's what we it was a couple we heard it was a million so a couple million we weren't even it was it was going to be um yeah like how do I go into this okay so like well let's let's start with how you the real story yeah no I'm I'm going to I'm going to break it off for you all right I was working with Todd Han and and that's your manager guy that's who was kind of managing my stuff at the time I put together the deal with K Swiss right so already on Globe still or you were off glob okay I was I was hanging out with tall cooperman Benji mad and Joel M they did a collab called dcma with kwi so I met David Nichols and the guys from from casus at the same time Globe was like all right like we're going to cut your pay because I think just the industry and just like like you know things were changing they had dropped Mel they Fernandez I think got dropped to there's a lot of guys that got dropped from glob straight up like gone like nothing so like for me it was like you're getting half your pay cut but at least I was still there maybe the writing was on the wall like oh this might not be but uh at least I was still there cuz I seen Galia get booted I seen Mell Chad Fernandez um Mike like list was going on you know what I mean so um they kept me but they wanted to cut my pce I was like oh that's kind of weird whatever we got contract but who cares about a contract in skateboarding cuz that's just kind of like it doesn't even matter but but anyway so um at this time uh Todd had went back to um Gary Valentine where rck globin was like Hey if we got another deal for him would you let him out of agreement they said yeah we'll let him out at that time they were probably thinking like he doesn't have an our deal at the time I was like where would you g yeah exactly they were thinking that way like where's he going to go yeah where's he going to go back then but yeah that's how they were thinking and and me to a little bit but me and David from kwis really had a good conversation about they're like we really want to get into skating right and the Maloof Money Cup was just kind of hitting there the dour was coming out uh at that time Nike was definitely in the in the like the mix of everything I think puma and some of the other brands that they look as their competitors right like kwis is in the mainstream big box stores next to Nike Puma Adidas these other brands they're on the wall yeah they're on the wall so they're like man let's get in skateb I was like oh perfect time I got I can get lot out my contract I look at Todd I go what do we do cuz I put this deal together to make it happen but I wasn't going to negotiate it and and I was like I'll just let you kind of run with it he's like I'm going to go in and um 50x your last deal I go what he goes you're like wait a minute 8,000 yeah I got ior I go I go well we don't have another backup plan so don't mess don't don't mess this up Todd he's like no no they got the money they pay they pay you know at the time it was um they had some huge tennis players what's his name um he's sis maybe Pete S no no the guy from the movies too um he's he was like a spokesperson for Kenny Powers K Kenny Powers an anova was making like seriously like 1.5 probably more than that like 3 million a year okay so he's like dude you're going to get a five you're going to get a 5year deal with a 5year extension and we're going to go in hot and I was like that's what he was going to go in and ask for uh well we wanted to make sure because we were like well we can't just do a two deal with this brand like it number one casw wasn't established in skateboarding yet so like our my plan was like all right let's get in there and then let's build a team and we're going to bring in aonso Rolls by the way he he he was one that was going to start designing the shoes for us wow so like yeah yeah and then we we were going to bring in Chaz Ortiz there was we had a big plan to bring in a lot of different skateboards and there were skateboards coming out the woodwork hitting me up to to to ride for I heard that million dollar deal I would have called you too man here's the shoe so so this is the shoe that never came out that never came out right um so so wait you went in there with a plan you told them hey this is our plan well I just wanted to get K Swiss on the map well I wanted to make it cool right cuz kwis wasn't that cool back then right skating it wasn't cool skatebo no no K is a Cool brand but not in skating so then we kind of rebranded we did this like KS if you guys can see it's like a KS with the shield see that so yeah but it's KS not kswiss but um oh so they wanted to Rebrand it for the skate just like a division kind of like you SB there you go so um at the time we were building the shoe I brought in the old Globe designer that designed my Globe shoe right um to to to design this shoe and that's why it looks like a skate shoe and it's a really good shoe to be honest I mean it looks like I skated it like I want the Mal Money Cup in it like it's a great shoe so when you're designing this so you're already on you said you signed a $2 million it it was more than 2 million I said a couple million it was a couple means two oh few few million few million a few million there you go there you go but anyway so it was a over the over five years we had a a minimum you know like a like I talked about minimum $8,000 a month minimum so we had a minimum um and there was a 5year deal with a 5year extension meaning if guaranteed 5 years okay if the program is doing good we automatically fiveyear so I was looking long-term building a a program bringing a good shoe designer bringing a good team actually building like a legit program kind of like what SB did right I mean it's not a bad shoe man it looks like a good shoe so wait wait they gave you the range to do so they gave you like yeah I mean they wanted to get in skating at the time I'm like you know coming out with all these video Parts winning the DU tours Maloof X Games all the stuff um I got along with David really well went up to the headquarters and just like let's do it man like I at the time I was kind of burnt on Globe anyways you know what I mean like I wasn't like I had already filmed my video part with them and they wanted to cut my pay right after and um here here this is your welcome you join K Swiss video that was like the day that my first time actually going to the office we film that oh wow it's kind of Co look at there there's the uh necklace too oh you got the necklace but that's before I had the the um diamonds the Diamonds the rubies yeah okay so that must have been the craziest feeling ever because here you are a skateboarder you were just on Globe 8,000 months which is nothing to laugh at right but here you are man with this mhm okay couple few million dollar deal yeah were you tripping were you like whoa this is crazy bro I'm about to I'm about to I want I want to be honest I want to be honest like go ahead I don't really spend much money I really don't like I I mean I buy real estate and like I own a lot of property right 20 20 properties and then you know I I invest a lot of different things right but I don't spend money okay so for me like even like when I was making $10,000 a month it wasn't like a huge deal cuz I like I don't I don't spend like I don't really spend you're saving it you got your car you got your house well eventually like I I had a lot of money in the bank account and then Chad's like dude you got to open an es Corp and I learned more about business BR I'm telling you but for to get a multi-million dollar deal yeah dude I was hyped I was like well we we we probably set up for for yeah I mean bro if you play your cards right which which we did I mean yeah I mean as long as uh I'm just looking at this video yeah I mean we're going through all these designs and stuff it it it could have been a very successful program the thing is um David's dad was getting older Stephen Nichols right and they were looking at selling the company so three and a half right as this shoe uh got designed it was about to come out and we were about to sign some other top skaters right was like yep we're selling the company so the new owners came in and they weren't like well what's up with this deal we have with lka and then you know they they didn't have the same vision of going down skateboarding which is so weird because that same company that came in to to buy out kwis ended up buying like Angels company which is super in crew the same the same the same the same PL you know what I mean so it's kind of they are getting into skateboarding because they're buying these companies I know but now you don't see crew and super anywhere which is kind of weird it's almost like they shelf it or whatever but you never know what sometimes they do I sawday on Antoine Dixon's Instagram post he tagged crew official on it so I maybe there's a yeah I wonder if Dennis Martin's still working I know he was working on another shoe thing with Elling or he has in his profile he has in his profile so they sell so so they sell the company and now you're you're in limbo no I got a buyout cuz because I'm like three and a half years in so like they they had to buy me out in my plus the 5year extension the or what was no no that the fiveyear extension was only if the thing was going to you know what I me if it was on and cracken then they get that so you got paid your full amount which which was the contract that was a few plus million dollars it was great yeah I mean yeah but but at that point um the same time I think it was like 27 28 my Rockstar deal was coming up so I did like I said did six years at Monster Energy Drink left monster to work with Rockstar because Rockstar my good friend Steve MZ was there that used to be the team manager over at velle Wales and I and me and Steve has always been really good friends and he's like dude we're going to work together one day so I worked with them for three years and I had a three-year extension so we were coming on like that extension he's like dude like you know we need to bring in some younger Talent right I was like 28 so I was like all right he's like you can either take a big pay cut or like we're going to take some of your pay and you know obviously divide it through other skateboarders right I was like all right cool uh so he gave me a good heads up of almost a year before it was happening and then you know I I I uh I think at that time like I was drinking a lot of water which I love aquahydrate water and um I did notice that like being sponsored by a company was was always going to end at one point so that this company instead of negotiating um you know pay or sponsorship I I got ownership which is really which is really nice so yeah so if they Aqua hydrates no it's a big company yeah markberg Mark Walberg p didy a lot of celebrities yeah yeah so um and this was like I've been with them over six years now they're sponsor of the new TV show I created with fuel and um they've definitely built an amazing brand but like I signed with them years ago you know like to me like I I love water I drink water um the energy drinks I think it just you get older like I just I just wait real quick does aquahydrate do they sponsor podcast yeah I know we could we can get I don't know they sponsor my TV show we can get them on the podcast we talk a lot we need speak of water take SI so let me ask you a question you have you're you're you're we we we we spoke on this before you're outside the box when it comes to sponsorships and stuff like that when KC uh excuse me uh when kswiss came in that was a multi-million dollar deal

Channel: Nine Club Clips

Views: 35,450

Keywords: chris roberts, roger bagley, kelly hart, crob, the nine club, nine club, 9 club, tricktips, podcast, clips, highlights, skateboarding, jeron wilson, the nine club with chris roberts, greg lutzka, k swiss, millions

Id: cbuA3Z1op50

Length: 11min 7sec (667 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 14 2024