Circa (styled as C1RCA) is a skateboard footwear and apparel company founded in 1999 that is based in

San Clemente, California San Clemente (; Spanish for " St. Clement" ) is a coastal city in southern Orange County, California, United States. It was named in 1925 after the Spanish colonial island (which was named after a Pope from the first century). Located in the ...

. The brands first pros were

Chad Muska Chad Michael Muska (born May 20, 1977) is an American professional skateboarder. In November 2012, Skin Phillips, editor-in-chief of ''Transworld Skateboarding'', described Muska as "one of the most marketable pros skateboarding has ever seen." M ...

and

Jamie Thomas Jamie Thomas (born October 11, 1974) is an American professional skateboarder and entrepreneur. He is the owner and founder of Zero Skateboards. Thomas' nickname in the skateboard industry is "The Chief". Early life Thomas was born in Florid ...

. It is distributed in Europe by Option Distribution.

History and team

Circa began in 1999 when Chad Muska left éS following the success of the shoe he designed with them. He partnered with Four Star Distribution, launching the Circa brand. Circa's shoes at the time followed the design ethos of éS, with Muska's designs featuring multiple iterations of the "weed stash spot", something he started with the shoe he designed with éS. Some were

Velcro Velcro IP Holdings LLC, trading as Velcro Companies and commonly referred to as Velcro (pronounced ), is a British privately held company, founded by Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral in the 1950s. It is the original manufacturer of ho ...

, others were zip pockets. This has since fallen out of fashion, however there have been other brands that followed suit.

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

and BAIT released a collaboration in spring 2016 for 4/20, the

Stan Smith Stanley Roger Smith (born December 14, 1946) is an American former professional tennis player. A world No. 1 player and two-time major singles champion (at the 1971 US Open and 1972 Wimbledon Championships), Smith also paired with Bob Lutz t ...

Vulc "Happy", which included a

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest ...

upper and a weed stash spot in the tongue. In a 2016 interview by Jenkem Magazine, Jamie Thomas spoke on the topic of how he left Circa. When asked why he left to start

Black Box Distribution Black Box Distribution was a skateboard distributor owned by professional skateboarder Jamie Thomas. Prior to October 2014, it served seven brands, three of which were owned by Thomas: Fallen Footwear, Mystery Skateboards, and Zero Skateboar ...

in 2000 and later

Fallen Footwear Fallen Footwear is an American skateboarding footwear and apparel brand founded by professional skateboarder Jamie Thomas in 2003, after leaving Circa. The company which was out of the market for almost two years (2016–2017) has now been acq ...

in 2003, he said "I left Circa because we were supposed to launch a new sister footwear brand based on the momentum of my line, but they had some massive issues with their snowboard brands, which put them in a serious cash crunch. They quickly canned the new brand and they weren’t able to pay me for about 3 or 4 months. As that balance started to stack up, they didn’t know if or when they be able to pull out of it and pay me, so the longer it lasted, the sketchier it got. Going to DC to start Fallen didn’t seem risky at all, you can feel it when the time’s right." When asked whether he still had an ownership stake in the company, he said "Yeah, as crazy as that is; when I left to start Fallen my stock was fully vested and they weren’t in the position to buy me out, so it’s just been there chillin. I always hoped they’d sell, but it’s been a rollercoaster for them since Muska and I left. Hopefully, they pull it off though and a few bucks will fall from the sky some day." A milestone for the company was the release of "It's Time" in 2006, an almost 43 minute long skate video filmed in the United States with skaters Adrian Lopez, Colt Cannon, Dennis Durant, Jon Allie, Peter Ramondetta, Sierra Fellers, Tony Tave, Windsor James and Nate Sherwood. The current team, as listed on their website, includes Adrian Lopez, James Brockman and James Martin.

References

External links

*{{official website, www.c1rca.eu/ Shoe brands Skateboarding companies Companies based in Orange County, California Clothing companies established in 1999 Shoe companies of the United States 2000s fashion 2010s fashion Skateboard shoe companies 1999 establishments in California