Skate Update: Ryan, Rough Cuts and Reputation

Core shoe brands have it tough in 2026, we can't lie. Having ruled the roost throughout the '90s and early '00s, the sportswear brand invasion of the past two decades has all but shut out those original skater-owned companies and, as it stands, very few remain in anything close to the guise they once had.

Emerica, however, very much continue to hold their own. Whether it's a commitment to a particular aesthetic or simply the irrepressibly gnarly approach of their team riders, the brand celebrates thirty years in business in 2026 and is still going strong.

Their latest release, Why Are You Doing This?, just dropped on Thrasher's YouTube and, even before clicking play, we all know what to expect. With Spanky, Figgy, Leo and Dixon on the team, it's gonna go in hard and it's gonna go in fast.
And it does!

Toby Ryan appears to have come out of the womb skating. And as Real turn him pro, they've taken a retrospective look at the life that brought him to this moment – it really does seem as though he's been stood on those four wheels since the year dot!

Mixing archive family footage with contemporary interviews with his mum and dad, Toby's story is not as typical a 'Californian Dream' as one might expect. Raised in a single-parent household, he may have grown up in Carlsbad, but he certainly didn't have it easy and nothing was handed to him on a plate.

As is so often the case, sheer guts and determination, combined with a burning love for skateboarding, carried him through to where we find him now – elevated to the pro ranks with one of the most legit brands in the biz.

So all that remains to be said is: congratulations, Toby!

We all love a rough cut. A longer-form video than your typical standalone section and one that shows us a somewhat sanitised version of what went into the tricks in the parts we love.

Obviously, Jacuzzi Unlimited have had it tough recently – we imagine MJ's death hit main man Louie Barletta particularly hard, so they have every reason not to be firing out brand-new content every week. And, as such, this rough cut from Matt Savidakis' part last autumn is the perfect way for the brand to start releasing footage without the circumstances becoming too overwhelming for captain Lou.

Clocking in at a little over 23 minutes, this is a solid slice of offcut pie. And with Jacuzzi boasting a solid back catalogue of footage from the past few years, hopefully the likes of Dilo and Caswell will lean on Louie to put out similar collections. It would certainly keep us entertained!