I wrote previously about Greg Lutzka's move from Globe over to K-Swiss, and now Transworld Business has some more details: Lutzka got much more than just a sponsorship deal from K-Swiss. He has a 5-year contract as creative director of K-Swiss' new skate division, with an additional 5 year option, and appears to have a say in just about everything on the horizon for K-Swiss' move into skateboard shoes.

At any rate, some interesting quotes fro K-Swiss Executive VP David Nichols, who at least seems painfully aware of how hard it's going to be to get any respect from skateboarders and core retailers:

“We know that the price of entry is a real commitment and we’re prepared to do that... We think it’s important to pay our dues... We’ll be here for a long time. We know that certainly in this industry, most things new are rejected initially and we know we’ll have to earn our spot at the table."

Indeed. Still, Adidas and Nike and Converse have all done a fairly credible job of buying themselves some street cred, so we'll see. Should be interesting! Either way, looks like Lutzka's going to be sporting some new bling to mark the occasion.