Pierre Andre Senizergues Talks Etnies’ ‘22′ Collection

Early next week, Colette will drop the Vent Deux, or “22″ Collection, a series of sneakers designed by the owner of etnies, Pierre Andre Senizergues. The name is a reference to the French version of “5-0,” a.k.a. the thing you yell when there are cops coming. So if you’re skating in France, or if you hear the hip-hop police coming and you’re in Paris, it’s “Vent-Deux.”

We sat down with Pierre to speak about the collection, check the full range of 5 sneakers and the interview with the boss about why he did them after the jump.

Interview by Bradley Carbone

Complex: Pierre, we're looking at your newest collection of shoes. Nice Job. Can you tell us a little about it?

Pierre Andre Senizergues: Thank you. I personally design a collection every year, and this is my third time going through. It's a way for me to explore my passion, and every year I try to do something related to the age of etnies.

Complex: So this is number three. The first was for your 20th anniversary?

Pierre Andre Senizergues: Yes. In '06, I designed the Gratitude Collection, commemorating 20 years of etnies to thank everyone who helped me from the beginning. Last year was 21, so I did the DA (Drinking Age) collection, since people in the United States drink when they turn 21. This year is the 22nd anniversary of etnies. We used to have this saying in France when the cops showed up: “Vent deux, voila les flics!” it's more or less like how in the US you say “Five-0.” And same thing with the US, no one knows really why. It just is. You just say “Vent deux”, which translates to Twenty two in English.

Complex: How does that collection bring forth the theme?

Pierre Andre Senizergues: I wanted to get something around the origin of etnies through this collection. And I was going through all the old tear sheets and our press book from back in the day. We were this rebel company, so this theme of running from the cops and the idea of us doing our own thing kind of clicked. I looked back into our history and wanted to bring the classic etnies rebel themes to this series.

Complex: What specifically?

Pierre Andre Senizergues: Well, we used to do a lot of vulcanized shoes in high top and mid top versions. Consequently that's kind of a returning trend in skate right now, so choosing a mid top style worked perfectly. As far as colors, etnies always used a lot of red and black as well as the eighties camo and zebra prints. It was 1986, so those crazy prints were big. I thought, let’s bring back the prints and colors from when we started, but clean it up a little, with today's materials. The camo re-visits the idea of hiding from the cops. But of course it's the exact opposite with the bright colors, so there is that rebel nature weaved into the story.

Complex: Yeah, I'm not sure that these colors will help anyone hide from the cops!

Pierre Andre Senizergues: Haha. Yes I know, but it's kind of the idea. The bright colors go with the idea of celebration, but a lot of these materials and colors are heritage for us. We were doing croc and snakeskin materials in the '80s on skate shoes. This shoe is actually based around my pro shoe from when I was a professional skateboarder, the Senix.

Complex: Oh cool. Is it the exact shoe from the '80s?

Pierre Andre Senizergues: The Senix was my promodel shoe at the beginning. It came from my last name, because my last name is to long. When I was in Kindergarten they used to call me Senix, because it was easier than trying to say Senizergues. It's very similar to the original shoe, but when we looked at the original shoe, we saw that it had a lot of extra and unnecessary stuff. I wanted to deconstruct the original shoe and bring back in what was necessary. It's also part of the environmental approach we take with all of the etnies product. We have so much stuff. Sometimes its better to have less, you know? We don't need so much extra stuff.

Complex: Yes, but it's still fun to get new things and explore new product.

Pierre Andre Senizergues: Ha. Yes, I guess.

Complex: So do they still call you Senix?

Pierre Andre Senizergues: Ha. No. But my name, and the name of the shoe relates back to this European story, the children's book Asterix and Obelix. Have you heard of it?

Complex: No.

Pierre Andre Senizergues: Well it's basically a story of a little village of rebels on the east coast of France during the Roman Empire. And all of the rebels in the town's names end in “X”. So calling me Senix was kind of like calling me a little rebel.

Complex: [Laughs] So it goes all of the way back.

Pierre Andre Senizergues: Yes, so the story basically goes that the Romans own everyone and everything except for this one little village, these French rebels who have discovered this magic potion. The Romans are always trying to capture this village but they never can, because this little group of rebels have their magic potion. It's a lighthearted story, but this story is a lot like the etnies story. We started in France in a small village, kind of, with no strengths, and we had to be creative and do interesting things so that we could defy the big brands and get a hold in the marketplace.

Complex: Kind of the etnies allegory, huh?

Pierre Andre Senizergues: Yes!

Complex: Can you tell us about the release for the shoes?

Pierre Andre Senizergues: Well, with the collection I did last year, with the Drinking age that was very US, so we released that with Blends in Downtown LA and San Diego because it was a very American-based story. This one is a French story so I decided that I'd like to do this in a French shop. So I spoke with Sarah from Collete and she was excited about it. They will be carrying it starting early next week. They will be selling 11 pairs of each shoe in the shop, and if they don't sell out right away, you might be able to get them on Wesoldout.com. These shoes are called the Senix MV, for Mid-Top Vulcanized.

Complex: It's a very small run.

Pierre Andre Senizergues: Well I do this collection to inspire my designers. I'm still a designer in my head, even though I don't do it so much as before, but I still have that need. I like to do these capsule collections to get involved. So while it's not big, we use this as a platform to try new things that can influence the brand down the line. Like we have the eco-transparency facts on the box.

Complex: And what's that?

Pierre Andre Senizergues: It shows you how “green” something actually is. When you buy something to eat or drink, you have the nutrition facts, so why shouldn't the products that you use have their environmental transparency information? I think it should be necessary. So this is a good idea, and we're on the brink now. We want to be more transparent, so we can focus more on where we're coming from and how were making shoes. So this label tells you about the carbon footprint and the ecological sourcing for these products. We use recycled foams, water-based glues, natural rubber, and soy-based inks to cut down on the harm to the environment.