DVS

DVS is a skate shoe brand, not a board brand — if you came here for wood, what’s here is vulcs and cupsoles. It started in 1995 in Los Angeles and it’s one of the few ’90s labels still alive after going bankrupt twice. Who actually founded it is disputed: English Wikipedia credits Kevin Dunlap and his father Winston, with brothers Brian, Mike and Tim Gavin joining soon after, while Sidewalk, writing up TransWorld’s “Skater Owned” documentary, calls Tim Gavin — a former Girl pro — the founder outright. What is verifiable is that Thrasher was already running DVS ads in the October 1996 issue.

History

Through the ’90s and early 2000s, DVS was one of the brands that filled the shoe wall in every shop: Jenkem lists it alongside DC and Circa as the companies that owned that space before Nike and adidas moved in. The group’s distributor, Podium Distribution, was formed once Lakai and Matix were created. Thrasher’s 2000 issues carry DVS ads featuring Keenan Milton and Keith Hufnagel.

The hard part comes later. In May 2012 DVS filed for Chapter 11, citing rising costs in China — where its product is made — and the retail downturn that followed the 2008 financial crisis. Sequential Brands Group bought it in 2013 and it resumed normal operations. On 31 August 2021, though, Sequential itself filed for Chapter 11: the second bankruptcy in the brand’s orbit in under ten years. That year DVS was sold to Elan-Polo International, which runs it today.

The team

The brand doesn’t publish a current rider list, so only documented names go here. The heaviest is Daewon Song, the face of DVS for years; the “Skater Owned” documentary shows him alongside Jeron Wilson, Daniel Castillo and Torey Pudwill. The team trips Sidewalk covered in 2013 and 2014 add Jon Nguyen, Marty Murawski, Zack Wallin and Luis Tolentino, and in 2016 the brand signed Walker Ryan. France’s Flo Mirtain, Chris Shier, Louis Taubert, Adrien Coillard and Jason “Wee Man” Acuña have all ridden for it too. The 2000 Thrasher ads feature Keenan Milton and Keith Hufnagel.

The shoes

The shoes that explain the brand are the heritage ones: the Comanche, the Celsius and the Enduro, which DVS keeps alive in updated builds. The current line runs to the Comanche and Comanche LT, the Celsius, the Core 95, the Enduro Heir, the Milan, the Revival, the Slot and the Sureshock, plus two boots, the Comanche Boot and the Militia Boot. Collabs have always been part of the house: there was a Gavin 2 made with Blueprint Skateboards and a Cliché capsule built around Flo Mirtain.

Who it’s for

DVS is worth a look if you want a classic skate shoe with a recognisable ’90s silhouette at a price that usually sits below the big athletic brands. If you’re after the latest impact tech, or a team you can follow week to week, this isn’t your brand: DVS today is mostly a well-made catalogue of inherited models. Line it up against the rest in the shoe catalog.