Ucon - Behind the Scenes - 06/09/06

The new Ucon website is now live. Therefore we decided to do a little interview with Jochen from Ucon. Enjoy the interview and visit the website to see the new line and to keep up to date with all the haps around Ucon.



Hey Jochen, a lot is happening with Ucon and since we want to keep people up to date, tell us what's happening with the new line?
The new line is already out in Europe and will be available in the US, Canada, Australia and Japan very soon. We are really proud to present our biggest, and in my eyes our best line in the history of Ucon. We worked hard over the last year not only to improve what you see at the end – the product – but also the small processes nobody can see. Distribution, production, team, shop relations, etc. These are all very important to keep Ucon running.
I don’t want to say too much about the products, because I think it’s better to check them out yourselves. Go to the brand new Ucon website and download the catalog, go through the products on the site or even better – feel the quality and order your favourite Ucon garment right now.



You changed the team, who are your newest additions and why did you re-work your team this way?
Everybody who knows about Ucon recognized that we never had a big team. We never built up our brand on big names. We wanted to build up a brand based on the high quality product. This was part of our plan. We’ve had Jona Messerli on the team since day one, we even gave him the opportunity to create his own line with his friend Cedi. For us it’s more important to have the team riders involved as much as possible and focus on them totally.
Our new team rider is Jon Julio. Having him on the team is the best thing that could have happened to us. He is one of the most talented and down to earth skaters in the rollerblading business. He is a great help for us, because he knows what rollerblading is all about. He’s a great + for our team, and I’m really looking forward to working with him on new ideas and projects.
Additionally we came up with a new idea and created the Ucon Allies. This group of skaters consists out of our best friend, skaters which share our ideas and visions about rollerblading. This has nothing to do with a flow or am team, for sure not, because when you look at the names, for example Fabrice Guyont, Damien Wilson or Nick Lomax you will soon figure out that these skaters are anything but amateur. These skaters share our philosophy and have the great impulse to lead rollerblading with Ucon in the right direction. So in this team you will find our best friends who will help us to move something.



What are your plans for the rest of the year?
Finishing the x-mas line and getting all the ideas together for summer 07. Additionally keeping the website up to date. We will post a lot of news around Ucon from now on. So make sure that you also subscribe to the newsletter to get all the fresh news about the whole Ucon family. We’re trying to contact a lot of more shops outside of rollerblading, to let the world know what rollerblading has to offer on the clothing side. Then building up our own distribution in the UK, US, Japan and Australia is something we are working on a lot. Enough to do I guess, so let’s get it started!



Since you are also a part of the Clip crew, tell us what the plans are for the next release of Clip?
Lukas and I met like two months ago to write everything down for the new issue. I would say we have a masterplan which we try to follow. Clip 3 was a great success for us, so we are motivated to go on and make it even better. Lukas is very busy, because he also works for a snowboard project at the moment, and I have a lot to do with Ucon, but issue 4 will be better again, that’s for sure. We’ll shortly be visiting the UK for ten days to get some footage with Oli Short. Dave Benski, the German newcomer, will have a profile. We have a lot of stuff going on for issue 4 that’s for sure.



You are always very cutting edge with your designs and your work for Ucon, so what was important for you during the process of designing this website?
All design work was done by Martin, so forward the props directly to him, haha! We really thought a lot about how to structure the website. The old website in flash was really cool, but the problem was that we couldn’t update it as much as we wanted. Right now we have more of a php based website, and that’s really important, because now we can keep the site up to date very easily. The website is very clean and easy to navigate with a pretty big team/allies section. That was also very important for us, because the team is a big element of the Ucon company. The news section will keep everybody in the loop with what’s going on in the world of Ucon. We will update this section almost every day. To summarise, the site will be clean, style, fast, and informative.



How much work do you have to put in each day to Ucon?
There is more to do than you could ever imagine. If you build up a company from scratch like we have, then there’s a lot to take care of. Martin is on a world trip right now, working from lots of different places on the new line, collecting some experience and inspiration. I just try to do as much as I can and I’ve changed my lifestyle in the last few months to really push everything forward. Getting up earlier and working on Ucon as a full-time job. It’s not that easy at the beginning, but the work is so much fun for me at the moment, so I don’t ever dread having to work because I love the work that I do. Obviously you can make more money if you get a regular job after university, but what if you don’t like the regular job? For me it’s more important to have my own thing with my friends and build it up, no matter if this brings a lot of cash or not. We get a lot of respect from all the skaters out there, and at the moment that’s way more important than cash.

Will we see another line for Christmas?
Yes we will have a small christmas line. These are current products, just in some different colours and styles. There will be some stuff from Ucon under the christmas tree., so keep your eyes open!

Tags: cedric eisenring jochen smuda jon julio jona messerli martin fussenegger ucon