Chapter One of Emerica’s Legacy
In 1997, Emerica released Yellow—our first full-length video. Stacked with a legendary crew - Jamie Thomas, Marc Johnson, Chris Senn, John Cardiel, Donny Barley, and more - Yellow was raw without overthinking it.
Black Sabbath, Dead Kennedys, The Adolescents, and a DIY production style gave Yellow a look very much of its time.
What Yellow Meant Then - And Now
Emerica’s first full-length marked the shift from being an extension of etnies to becoming a fully fledged name in skate footwear.
To today’s audience, Yellow stands as a snapshot of ’90s skate culture—but it’s also a bit of an odd curio. “Raw without overthinking it” still holds true. The sound mix is awful. The footage a result of just going skateboarding and pulling the camera out of the rucksack if the session warranted it, rather than heading out on ‘filming missions’ themselves.
Aside from the yellow title cards, there’s no real overarching vision.
But the skating more than makes up for it. SoCal, NorCal, East Coast - Yellow hits so many touchpoints. The list of names reads like a who’s who of the next decade in skateboarding. We’d argue you don’t get Dan Drehobl’s Free Your Mindpart without Yellow laying the groundwork.
But these identity issues? They’re modern complaints. Back then, a cohesive brand “vision” was rare. This was nearly half a decade before This Is Skateboarding arrived - when Emerica’s identity was still taking shape.
Still, Yellow is a solid reminder of where we came from:
100% Skateboarding. Do-It-Yourself.
The Legacy of Yellow in Modern Emerica
Sure, the team wasn’t fully dialled at the time. But on the product side, a few shoes from that era have resurfaced in the line. Most notably: the Mute.
It’s striking how many heavyweights in Yellow were running the Mute. It quickly became a team favourite on it’s launch - and now it’s back, retooled and rebuilt to carry that legacy forward.
Go peep the video.
