What do two guys who were obsessed with brickmaking and hated liquor have in common with professional skateboarding?
James Randolph Sayre and Peter Fisher founded the Sayre & Fisher brick company in the 1850s in what is now Sayreville, New Jersey, and the bricks went on to be used for everything from the base of the Statue of Liberty to some of the most iconic original skateparks in the Northeast.
By 1900 Sayre & Fisher was one of the ten largest employers in New Jersey. They envisioned a company town that would be morally upright, liquor free, and support the industry which relied on the massive clay deposits along the Raritan River.
Now, in homage to the Sayreville and the mighty Sayre & Fisher bricks, Vans, the famous sneaker company, has made a limited release Skateboarding collection in brick red.
The project is a collaboration with NJ Skate Shop which had their first shop in Sayreville, but had to close it down after Hurricane Sandy in 2010 and is now based in New Brunswick
Co-owners Steve Lenardo, Troy Jankowski and Chris Nieratko pitched the idea for the brick colored Vans two years ago and the project has now come to fruition.
According to Lenardo, the inspiration hit when he was asked to help redesign the Sayreville skatepark.
“When they were digging [the old park] up, all these bricks came up and it just rung in my head like ‘this is crazy’. Then when it came time to do a Vans shoe that brick thing kind of popped up.”
So Lenardo and shop co-owner Chris Nieratko went to work researching the bricks at the Sayreville Historical Society.
They had done shoe collaborations in the past with brands like eS Skateboarding and Nike SB, so when Vans contacted them about doing a shoe they pitched their idea.
“They didn’t understand it at first, but they thought it was super cool at the same time. I think now they’re super hyped,” Lenardo says.
The limited edition line includes the Half Cab, The Slip On Pro, and The Gilbert Crockett Hi.
They went on sale at NJ Skateshops in New Brunswick and Jersey City on March 20.
On the day of release there were roughly 500 people lined up outside their New Brunswick location to get the shoes.
Nieratko said that “When we had the whole release it was kind of cool because everyone that came in, there was a lot of township pride for Sayreville. So everyone had their grandfather worked for the brick factory, or their dad, or their mom, people live where it used to be.”
The first batch of 700 were almost gone when they became available at about 20 pro skate shops nationwide a week later.
Also for sale across the country are 150 Sayer & Fisher Co. bricks even though the company closed down in 1970.
Nieratko told MyCentralJersey.com, “The sound of skateboard wheels rolling on the ground is very distinct… you can hear it coming blocks away,” said Nieratko. “When rolling on the brick it takes on an entirely new life, almost like jazz, a constant high hat of the wheel, a beat to each time a wheel rolls over the mortar in between the bricks.”
He added, “Our tiny town has been so instrumental in developing these iconic skate spots on the Eastern Seaboard that just wouldn’t be here if not for the S & F Brick Co,” he said. “We wanted to honor that and tell that story so skaters in New Jersey know their place in skateboard history.”
Anthony Morales is a repeat customer of the New Brunswick location. When asked his thoughts on the brick Vans he said “They’re amazing. The history behind them incorporates pretty much a history of early America. It incorporates skate history, it just shows how much comes out of New Jersey that people don’t realize.”
This story really is about appreciation of your local community, your local skate shops, and your local skateboarders.
As Morales put it “Keep skateboarding a lot. Skate local, shop your local shops.”
