Emerica

Emerica was founded in 1996 in Lake Forest, California by Sole Technology (the broader US skate-industry parent company that also operates Etnies, éS, and ThirtyTwo) as a deliberately-skate-team-anchored skate-shoe brand specifically focused on what the founders described as 'a deliberately-professional-skater-team-anchored skate-shoe brand.' The brand has been one of the defining post-1996 American-anchored skate-shoe brands. The Emerica vocabulary settled around several specific shoe models: the iconic Emerica Reynolds 3 (Andrew Reynolds signature shoe — the brand's defining post-2008-era skate-shoe), the Emerica Heritic, the Emerica Romero Laced (Leo Romero signature shoe), various team-pro signature models from the broader Emerica team-rider roster (including Andrew Reynolds, Leo Romero, Heath Kirchart, Brandon Westgate, Jerry Hsu, and dozens of other team-riders), and a colour palette anchored to washed-black, washed-navy, ecru, oxblood, plus the brand's recurring use of saturated red, electric-blue, butter-yellow, and the iconic 1990s-American-skate-aesthetic accent combinations. The brand is owned by Sole Technology, the privately-held US skate-industry parent company. Emerica operates through skate-shop wholesale globally — including the broader US, European, and Asian skate-specialty distribution network. The brand has been one of the defining post-1996 American-anchored skate-shoe brands.