Emerica was founded in 1995. Rautureau Apple, who started Etnies in 1986, was bought out by a European shoe conglomerate acquired by an American company. Pierre-André Senizergues, who had been designing and distributing Etnies in the U.S. since 1990 under the name etnies America, lost the licensing rights to the etnies name after the acquisition. He then started Emerica, derived from "Etnies America". All etnies shoes sold in Fall 1995 were shipped as Emerica shoes in Spring 1996. That same year, Pierre-André bought the rights to the etnies name outright[1] and continued producing both brands. Emerica focused on core skateboarding, while etnies pursued a broader market with surf, women's, BMX and moto-x footwear in addition to its skate shoe. Currently skateboarders *Andrew Reynolds, *Chris Leggett, *Leo Romero, *Heath Kirchart, *Ed Templeton, *Kevin "Spanky" Long, and *Bryan Herman have signature model shoes with the brand. Team Pro *Aaron Suski has a signature colorway available on the "Vette" shoe, and British pro Vaughan Baker has a signature colorway in collaboration with Blueprint Skateboards available on the "Trans-Em" shoe.