Kevin Porter Interview

At the age of 27, Kevin Porter has gone from "The Leader of the New School" to a well respected veteran of the sport. This being said, it was no wonder that the BMX world began to buzz over the internet when it was announced that Kevin (as well as former teammate Corey Martinez) were leaving the Orchid Footwear team. I hit up Kevin for the low down on the reasons for departing Orchid, and to talk about his new shoe sponsor, Duffs Footwear.

(Photo:Duffs /David Leep )

You rode for Orchid for over five years, why switch it up and start riding for Duffs?
Well, I originally rode for Duffs, for around two or three years. Derek (Adams, owner/creator of Orchid) asked me to start riding for Orchid, which I was really excited about. My good friend Brian Tunney was the Duffs team manager and one of the main reasons I rode for Duffs. When I heard that Tunney was putting in his resignation as TM, Orchid started asking me to ride for them. I was unsure about the future of Duffs and the venture derek was beginning sounded very interesting, so I took the offer under the advice of Tunney.

I went for it and I spent the last five years very happy with Orchid and very intrigued with all the things that Derek did. I was psyched he gave me a shoe; I was very happy with all my shoes. It was awesome having a shoe and being able to walk around in my own shoe.

Orchid has done a lot of changing in the past year or so, and I feel they need some fresh faces over there. Over at Duffs, my good friend Brian Osborne became the Team Manager. We’ve stayed in contact ever since I left Duffs and he initially became TM. He’s always wanted to work with me…we talked about working with Beloe, but I was dedicated to Derek has always done me right.

I hit a brick wall with my personal life and I need to make changes and start focusing on making myself totally happy and staying on top of things. One of the things I saw being really appealing was trying out this new deal with Duffs. I was happy with them before, and only left because Tunney left as well. I had a really good time at Orchid, did cool things, had good teammates, went on some good trips, and ended on good terms with Derek. I really hope it stays that way, because I really appreciate him as a friend; he’s done a lot for me. I’m just really looking forward to this new thing with Osborne, and the team. Karl Poynter is a part of it now and I’m a big fan of Karl, so we’ll see what happens.

What shoes are you riding in the Duffs line?
Right now I'm riding the Louie Barletta shoe and the Gambler. I haven't really been out riding in them since I told Derek I'd ride for Orchid to till the end of August. I've ridden in my Duffs for photo/media purposes and they are really nice. It’s really interesting stepping into a new pair of shoes. Typically with shoe companies the sole is the basically the same. To know I'll be stepping on new soles for a while is pretty interesting. I'm so used to the Porter sole; its been underneath me for five years almost. There are still some Orchid Porters floating out there, so if you're interested, snatch them up from empirebmx.com.

You had three models of signature shoes for Orchid, will you be designing a signature shoe for Duffs?
There have been discussions of a signature shoe, but nothing too serious yet.


(Photo: Andrew Brady )

What is it like having a team manager like Brian Osborne?
It's amazing. He’s the one dude out there that can talk more than I can, and we're like two peas in a pod. You can barely squeeze a word in between the two of us; I'm surprised we can get things done. He's awesome, and I look forward to many fun times with him. Currently I’m about to go to Interbike to hang out with him.

A few other Duffs team members are from the Midwest, are there any plans to do any trips or projects with them in the future?
Hell yeah! We're going to go on the KP trip, Karl Poyter/Kevin Porter (laughter). We've been planning that one for awhile, so I'm sure it's coming soon.

(Photo: Andrew Brady )

Thanks/shoutouts/last words?
I'd like to give a big shout out to Derek, he's been a great guy. Him and Mike Clarke, they've been chucking away at Orchid for awhile now. I know they've been working real hard, and I see great things in their future. I'd like to give a big shootout to Shawn, who was once my TM and to Matt Lippot, they were there for a really long time and we all went on trips together. Mandrew, who is somewhere in the world, maybe back at Orchid…all those dudes in the Philly area are awesome. I always wish I was part of the Philly crew; it’s got a sense of class to it, so it was nice to be a part of Orchid and I'm gonna really miss those things about Orchid. Big shout out to the Orchid team: Corey, Van, Wiz, Steven Hamilton once upon a time, same thing with Chris Adamski and Sean Arata, who have also parted ways. That's about it man, I really want to thank them for everything in the past, and good luck in the future to all those guys.

I look forward to working with my new best friend, Brian Osborne, we'll be sending texts and tweets to each other on a daily basis. I look forward to hanging with the new team and having some new experiences…so go out and buy yourselves some Duffs!

You can check out the Duffs website at www.duffs.com , and see where Kevin is walking his Duffs around at by following him on Twitter at twitter.com/tierrakp