Did you know there is a specific word for a person who looks far younger than their years? It’s neanimorphic. This word perfectly describes the ever-youthful, ever-positive creative genius captain of Enjoi and Jacuzzi Skateboards, Louie Barletta. Louie has been pro for decades, and his unique, fun, creative skating speaks for itself. In this interview, Tom digs into everything from knitwear collections to the entrance of Skechers into the skate footwear market and the newly resurgent Enjoi Skateboards!
First question here is: If you were to play a Smith song right now, what are you picking?
That’s an easy one. It would be “Well, I Wonder.” Because I wonder what the next question is. If it was a Morrissey song, it would be “Suedehead” because me and Ben Raemers used to always talk about that song a lot. And that song meant a lot to both of us. So if it was a Morrissey song, it would be that.
How much knitwear do you own?
Way too much. Way more than my wife for sure.
Best book you have ever read?
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, for sure. It’s more of a how-to manual than a book.
What was the craziest, most insightful thing you ever heard Rodney Mullen say?
So in the early days of Enjoi, Rodney was on the team and we were doing a lot of US tours just traveling, so we’re in the van quite a bit and we weren’t at a gas station but we’re at like some rest stop of some sort we’re at picnic tables and we’re eating some food or whatever and he’s sitting there and he looked at me and deadpan, just staring at me – he goes “Louie you know you’re fatally loyal to your friends” and I was like dude!? At the time, I took it as a diss – kind of like, what the hell do you mean? But now looking back, I’m like, yeah, I guess I am to a degree. So Rodney was right, you know?
Did Tyrone Olson really rip up a six grand check up in front of you?
Yes, yes, he did. That was true. That was in the heyday of Osiris. Good times for sure. I think a lot of dudes did a lot worse with their pay cheques back then though. Ripping it up isn’t that big of a deal.
What was the grossest thing you’ve seen on tour?
I don’t know. I’ve seen a lot of bones sticking out of bodies. That, to a lot of people, probably would seem gross.
What’s the most beautiful thing you’ve seen on tour?
Evan Smith proposing was probably like the most beautiful thing I’ve seen.
Are you still skating a 1993 Guy Mariano shape and when was the last time you rode a Girl board?
That’s a good question. Yeah, I still ride that same shape and then I haven’t ridden a Girl board probably since ‘96 ish but Sly Sullivan our new jacuzzi M, he found an old Mike Carroll Girl board and he brought it up last weekend and I stood on it and it just felt like home, it felt great.
When did you stop working a full-time job?
Alongside being pro, that was like at the very end of Bag of Suck (video), so around 2005ish probably.
Favourite pro shoe you’ve released?
I think the Duffs’ one was really good. I like that one a lot. That was a good one.
Being an ex-rider for them, how do you feel about Skechers being back in the skate shoe market?
I’m pissed because they didn’t put me back on! No, I’m just kidding. I think it’s cool. I mean, it’s like I think the skate game needs more paying shoe sponsors for riders. I think that’s huge right now in skateboarding – the market for shoes is so small that it limits how many guys could ride for shoe brands and limits how many pay cheques there are for people. So I think it’s a good thing.
Is individualism dying or thriving in skateboarding?
I think it’s always been there, and I think it’s always been dying, and I think it’s always been thriving. I think it’s like from which eye you see out of when you look at skateboarding. You know, I think if you naturally tend to focus on very polished skateboarding, you’re going to gravitate towards those guys. If you look to, like, grittier raw skateboarding, you’re going to gravitate to those guys. So, I think it’s always been there throughout all of skateboarding. I don’t think there’s a more thriving time or less, you know. I think that the industry sometimes will focus more on certain things, right? Or popular culture might, but those guys, they’ve been in skateboarding since the first dude stepped on a board, you know? So yeah, I think it’s always there.
Understanding the history of skateboarding and the tricks around it seems to be super important to you. Do you give the guys on your team history lessons in the van?
Dude, all I do in the van is tell stories. Whether you take it as a history lesson or not, that’s on them, but yeah, definitely.
In the mid-90s, after watching 411 video with the London retrospective, you came over to London with notes from the video on how to get around the city on the tube. Have you got any stories from that trip? Who did you bump into?
That is true, I did watch the 411 retrospective on London, and I wrote down all the spots and the tube (stops) and how to get there. This was way before the internet or anything like that and when I got to South Bank, I met up with somebody, and I had a box of boards that I was trying to sell. I went to Slam City Skates, and I’m pretty sure that was where I met Seth Curtis, and I sold a bunch of boards and me and Seth are still lifelong friends.
So yeah, from that trip for sure, and then I met a couple other people that have come in and out of my life over the years, but they’ve been around for sure. But yeah, that’s what skateboarding is – it’s a brother and sisterhood, and when you meet somebody who skates, there’s that bond, and it’s always there, whether you speak the same language or if you’re from the same area or what, you know? It’s like you look at somebody’s shoes and you could see they skate. You’re just like, alright this guy’s down or this girl’s down. You know, it’s a magical little culture that we have. So yeah, that was rad. That’s how you did it back in the day. You know, I didn’t know anybody when I went to London. I just went there, just like, “I’m going to skate London. It’s going to be sick”.
Obviously, there’s a big elephant in the room at the moment. Please tell us how you managed to get Enjoi back.
Well, That’s how. [Louie flexed his mighty biceps…]. (Editor’s note – check our Steve Douglas interview for the details!)
How did you lose the brand in the first place?
Well, I lost it because we were drinking one night, and we drank a lot, and I took it out of my pocket and set it down with my keys. Then the next day, I was just looking around the house, and I couldn’t find my keys. I couldn’t find Enjoi. And it was gone. I just couldn’t find it after that. So that’s how I lost Enjoi.
Now that you have it back, is the goal to go straight back into what you were doing with the guys before? Or are there plans to give Enjoi a facelift?
That’s an interesting question. I don’t think Enjoi ever needed a facelift. But what we have now is that Enjoi has this heritage to it that we could lean on. We also have current pro skateboarders on the team now and current AMs on the team now. So, we could lean into, like Jose Rojo and Caswell and Jerry Hsu and kind of elevate their legacies through what Enjoi was and the heritage of Enjoi, while also giving younger kids opportunities to live out their dreams and fulfil their dreams of becoming pro skateboarders too. So the brand has become a bigger entity than it actually was before because now we can lean on our heritage division and also the current skateboarding with current sizes of boards and shapes and everything else, while still doing heritage shapes and sizes. So we have the best of both worlds now.
Do you still talk to Marc (Johnson) much?
Unfortunately, I do not. I have not spoken to Marc in a few years now.
After Bag of Suck, Jerry didn’t skate for three years afterwards. Is that something that is impossible for a pro skater to do nowadays?
I thought it was impossible for him to do that back then. Literally after the premiere of Bag of Suck, we went out skating and filmed tricks and just kept going, and we kept filming, and Jerry was so wrecked after Bag of Suck that he just needed time off. I think he had a surgery or two and just got his body back in shape. So that’s how much damage Bag of Suck did to Jerry’s body – that he had to take a few years off. That’s what it takes. Sacrifice to make video parts like that. So, I mean nowadays, can a guy do that? Sure, but I don’t know if they’d do that. I don’t think they would stay as relevant as how people were back then.
It’s pretty well known that Chris Avery and Matt Eversol would use the quirkier clips of you in the videos and often leave out the actual trick that you did at the spot. What happened to the footage that was left out?
That’s a good question. A while back, I was like searching for it (the footage) because there is a rail that we all skated one night in North Carolina. Clark (Hassler) did fakie ollie switch crooks on it. Jerry (Hsu) did Nollie Pop Shuv It, Backside 5-0, and then in Bag of Suck, I did the Switch Back Smith on it. But that night, I did, back tail, front 180 switch crooks, switch back lip, switch front smith and switch back smith. And I often wondered where all those other tricks went. So, yeah, I don’t know. Maybe I can come out with a part. The alternative universe part.
After you quit Enjoi, was there ever a temptation to join another deck brand, film a part or two and chill?
After I quit Enjoi? No, I don’t think so because when Enjoi died, I kind of felt like, for me, that was all that I wanted to do was be part of Enjoi. So I never thought about another deck brand at all. We had thought about doing a sister brand with Enjoi, and we turned that into Jacuzzi Unlimited because I felt that with all the guys (pros), we had such a rad energy around the Enjoi squad at that time.
With our team manager at the time, Jeff Davis, who became my partner in Jacuzzi, it was just a rad opportunity to get all those guys together because everybody was floating around, like they didn’t know what to do after Enjoi ended. It came out of me wanting to try and help out all those guys and do something, rather than that I needed to feel validated by having my name on a skateboard. I actually opted not to be pro for Jacuzzi, but the powers that be were like, “We should have a board too”. So yeah, it was very honouring to do that. I was honoured to be able to have a board out with Jacuzzi, for sure.
With Sidewalk Distribution, you’ve made it one of your highest priorities to make sure that not only are the skaters being paid, but they are being paid enough to live. How much did the final few months at Enjoi before you quit have an impact on that decision?
Well, yeah, that’s kind of what I just explained.
For me, with Enjoi ending, I was good with just being done with everything, but not having a place for everybody to go to kind of was the catalyst to start Jacuzzi and do it right. Not only with proper pay for the team riders, but also having a mental health specialist on staff that those guys could call at any time when they need help. To me, that’s way more important and more reason why I wake up every morning, and I run the brand, and I do all these things is because I know it’s helping out these guys in a situation where a lot of people would not ever be able to find that kind of help, you know? So that’s what my driving force is.
You mentioned in the past that Jacuzzi was a half-joke, half-serious idea at first, but it was only when people like John Dilo made it clear that they were down that you realised it was something you had to do. Where does the line sit between brand power and the power behind the people running it, representing it? And I guess what I’m asking is, what is more important, the panda or the people?
That is a very good question.
I don’t think that the brand would have such an impact if people weren’t invested in the team riders that were associated with it. Because you could have the raddest name in the world, but if you have people that nobody cares about, the brand will not succeed. It might succeed in some weird, strange, mainstream way, but for what I believe in my heart and what other pro skaters I hope want is that validation from their peers within our core skate culture.
So no, I don’t think you could have a brand without the people, and it be successful, because the people drive the brand. And with Enjoi, it was very, I think, hopefully obvious. Like I might have been the dude waking up every day answering emails, but for the most part, it was a team effort of what we’re doing together, and Jacuzzi is the same way. We kick ideas around to all the team riders of what we’re doing, whether it’s trips, graphics, or all that stuff. So it’s very much a family affair with that stuff.
What will happen with Jacuzzi? More room for new riders if both continue? Are you going to have a pro board for both Jacuzzi and Enjoi?
Well, first off, we’re definitely keeping Jacuzzi.
That it is because coming from Enjoi, I know that feeling of starting something from ground zero, where it’s a name, and at first you’re like, this is a stupid name. And like, I would never wear an orange shirt, to like believing in the brand and bleeding for the brand and sacrificing for the brand. And then that name becomes something, not only to you, but to everybody, you know?
So for these guys who have like put their faith in me and Jeff, that Jacuzzi Unlimited is a name that people will want to be part of, you know, and to have these guys sacrifice and bleed and put all their time and effort and sacrifices into Jacuzzi. It would be completely unfair to take those guys away and put them on Enjoi. Right? So they earn their spot on Jacuzzi through blood, through sweat, through all that. It wouldn’t be cool to take those guys away, and Jacuzzi is doing great on its own, so it’s just going to be a sister company now. Like, Enjoi and Jacuzzi are just going to be sister companies. And honestly, we have so many people who want to ride for Jacuzzi that, like, now it gives us a little breathing room. We can start putting people on Enjoi and expand our team, basically. So it is a win-win situation for everybody.
How much have you learned during your time at the helm of Jacuzzi? What new knowledge will you be taking over to Enjoi?
That board series don’t necessarily translate to sales. Back in the day of Enjoi, a lot of sales were driven by board series, and we don’t see that with Jacuzzi. We’re seeing like that individual boards just with good art and good graphics sell. So I think the days of us having to do these huge board series are done. That is one huge thing that is a takeaway.
Enjoi has such a solid brand identity. What inspires the Jacuzzi aesthetic?
I like to think of Enjoi, and this is very much me – when I’m happy, I’m like high, high, high. When I’m sad, I’m low, low, low. I like to think of Enjoi as like bright, bright, bright. Jacuzzi may be the darker side of what we do, you know? The graphics are a little more edgy. They’re not really geared towards little kids, you know? It’s not poo-poo and fart jokes. It’s more like deep cut jokes, you know? That’s the difference in the aesthetics. Jacuzzi is a darker, more mature version of Enjoi with the same ethos of just having fun with your friends.
Will Jeff Davis be involved with Enjoi again?
Yes, of course, Jeff’s part of Enjoi and Jeff’s part of Jacuzzi. Jeff’s running Jacuzzi stuff while I run the Enjoi stuff. Like I said, we’re a brother/sister brand, so we’ll be in it together. We’ll be co-existing, co-managing.
It feels as though you have really taken Jeff under your wing over the past few years. Have you learned anything from him during this time?
Yes, I have. I’ve learned that you don’t say I’m really stoked on this, you say low-key, that’s fire and other very quintessential, important things in life that only somebody much younger than me could teach me.
When running a company such as Jacuzzi or Enjoi, how important is it being in the van with the team?
I think that’s absolutely huge. I think the best leaders in life lead by example, not by dictatorships. So being in the van with everybody, sharing a hotel room, skating the spots, all that is so important for team camaraderie. And that’s just the way I am. I don’t want to be an elitist or above anybody, so I’m down to be in the trenches with the boys and girls for sure.
You’ve been a big ambassador for mental health within skateboarding over the past few years. With the PUSH program going for a little while now, can you explain to us what it is and how you’ve seen it impact the team?
Well, okay, this is a great question.
At Enjoi, one of the things that we needed to maintain the brand was to have completes, and when we started Jacuzzi, I didn’t want to do completes because I just didn’t feel like that was the aesthetic of the brand was to cater to that market. So, when we started Push, we started it just as a completes brand.
The idea behind that was that we don’t have a team to actually pay salaries on. So, we had a little extra budget there that we were able to use that money as a give-back program. So what we do is we give back to charities like Make Life Skate Life, where they go around the world, just building skate parks in underserved communities, which I thought was cool. I didn’t really give it much thought until I flew to the Philippines and actually helped on a build, and it changed my whole perception of that. It went from kids never seeing skateboards to by the last day I was there, kids were able to drop in and carve the ramps with like the biggest grins on their faces. Obviously, if you’re watching this, you’re a skateboarder. You know that feeling. So to be able to share that feeling with other people who would never ever in their lives, that little town in the Philippines would have never gotten a skate park. Those kids would have never seen what a skateboard was. For them to now potentially become lifers, potentially change their outlook on life, is huge. I’m getting goosebumps saying it right now because it was so impactful for me to see that in real time. I’m such a huge champion for Make Life Skate Life and what they do, because it’s incredible. It is literally changing lives.
The other thing that we’re doing with Push is we have a mental health provider on staff, right? So we talk about changing lives with kids at skate parks. Push also does a lot of mental health initiatives where we’re helping our staff and our team riders. Whenever they’re in a mental health crisis, we have a phone number for them. The number one hurdle with mental health is that first phone call and 99% of the people don’t know where to call, how to call, or have the money to afford that first phone call. So we’re breaking down that first hurdle right out the gate and not even making it a hurdle. It’s literally a button on your phone you push, and there’s somebody there that they could speak to that will hopefully start them on a path of helping their mental health and their safety. It’s huge, and it’s helped out a lot of guys.
Lastly, with Push, we talk about changing kids’ lives through skate parks. We talk about saving skaters’ and adults’ lives through our mental health provider. We’re also working now with skate schools to try to do some activations where we’re trying to get these little kids when these things that turn into big problems are still small. Maybe we can get them to start helping work through some of these things and cope with some of the problems that they have now before they turn to addictions and abuse. As Push grows, we’ll be able to do some more of those. We’re not quite there yet with the third phase of that, but we definitely have the Make Life Skate Life stuff happening and the mental health specialist on staff. So the third thing is once we get Push up to a level we could afford to do it, we want to start doing the skate therapy and skate schools. Then we’re really doing it. Then, skateboarding will be changing lives forever.
Finally, what’s next for you?
I am not English, but I’m married to an English woman. So after this, I’m going to have a cup of tea. The guy behind the camera is going to go with me and we’re going to get some lunch and then I’m going to jump into another interview. Then after that, I have some meetings I got to do. So, thank you guys for tuning in and hope that was informative. Bye. Bye.
Thanks Louie, and good luck with everything!
