TJ Rogers may have gotten hurt during his world tour, but we still had a blast with him during the tour’s Munich stop back in September 2025. We celebrated the launch of his first pro shoe at Theresienwiese skatepark (Skatedeluxe hooked it up), got to see Luke Lutz killing it on the other side of the lens (guaranteed stoke whenever media people get some as well) and we had the ultimate honour to witness Tom Penny skate our hometown. In addition, we conducted a little interview with TJ, and with the world tour video being out now, there couldn’t be a better moment to release it to the world wide web. Enjoy the read!

Hey TJ, how are you doing? Kevin [Parrott] told me you got injured?

Yeah, unfortunately I got injured at the DIME Glory Challenge. I was skating one of the street challenges before the event and rolled my ankle pretty bad. Definitely one of the worst ones that I’ve had. It’s unfortunate, you know? But it is what it is. I still try to make the most out of the tour. I’ve been having a great time with everyone.

Could you give us a little recap of the world tour or is it all a blur by now?

No, definitely not. Every day has its special moments and I’m stoked on everything that’s been going on with the tour. We started in San Francisco on August, 21st. From there we went to five other cities in the US (Los Angeles, Kansas City, Chicago, Albany and NYC), then one stop in Canada (Toronto) and then we came out to Europe and did six cities here (London, Paris, Lyon, Geneva, Munich, Krakow). I was hoping that I’d able to skate at each stop, but no matter what, I’m so grateful that I got the opportunity to do this tour.

Who came up with the idea for the world tour?

When Don Brown originally presented me with getting a pro shoe, I knew that I wanted to do something special for the release. We talked about different ideas and came up with the concept for a world tour. So, when the Nideckers took over, I went to a sales meeting for my shoe – that was last year in November – and presented them our idea… They were down, and here we are, a year later.

Your shoe is the first éS pro shoe in a very long time, right?

Yeah. It’s been almost 15 years since they’ve done a pro shoe. Not only it being the 30 year anniversary for éS, but to be the first guy to get a pro shoe in so long… I just feel very blessed and grateful. I have two colours that came out for the first drop. One is red and white, which stands for the éS colours, but it also kinda replicates Canada’s national flag. So, that one really means a lot to me. And then there’s the other one, that means just as much to me, to be quite honest. It’s the colourway of my dog. There’s even a photo of my dog on the insole.

How do you handle travelling so much and being a dog owner at the same time?

Good thing that I have a good support system. I have not only my girlfriend who helps me whenever I’m out of town, but also my good friends Ivan and Kim, whose dog is @rowdy_dachshund. That gives me a lot of peace of mind, cause whenever I leave town, I know that nothing can go wrong.

When Free posted your latest part for them, I read that you’ve got some more coming out this year?

Yeah. I have a few parts that I’ll be dropping by the end of the year, including an éS HD part. There’s a Sk8mafia video dropping later on this year, that I’ll have a part in. And I’m filming for a Thrasher part, too.

How do you manage to work on so many parts at the same time?

The filmers definitely play a huge role in my productivity. I have my main man Luke Lutz, who’s on this tour with me as well. I filmed a lot with him over the last few years. I think it’s also him being so down and so productive with his own craft, that has helped me to get to where I’m at. Teamwork makes the dream work. I’ve got a good relationship with him and everyone else that I typically film with. So grateful for all my homies who film! They allow me to premeditate or preplan certain spots or tricks, cause I know that when we go out into the streets, I can just do what I wanna do and they’ll be there and they’ll be on point. 

Talking about video parts, could you name a few of your favourite moments from éS’ video history?

Oh, that’s a hard one to define. But what probably stands out to me the most is Menikmati. That was a pinnacle moment in time. It’s really hard to do these days what Menikmati did back then. Ronnie Creager’s three final tricks on this ledge. There’s Arto’s front board. Tom’s song and his frontside flip and switch frontside flip. There’s just so many things… Menikmati stands on its own in a way.

Since he’s been on tour with you, would you have a Tom story for us?

Tom was only supposed to be there for the stops in France, but we were having such a good time together, that he decided to roll with us for the rest of the tour. It’s been an incredible experience just to kick it and skate with him. I’ve been a big fan of Tom ever since I was a kid and it’s surreal to now be travelling with him through Europe. We bonded a lot over the last few days. It’s been amazing.

I imagine. Before we wrap it up, let’s get back a bit into some shoe talk. Now that you’ve got your own pro shoe, I assume that’s what you’re gonna be skating for quite a while. But has there been any inspiration from other éS models? And what were the shoes that you skated the most, before you got to design your very own one?

I’ve got a lot of inspiration from a couple of older models and I wanted to recreate a certain feeling. I’m really a big fan of how my shoe turned out and I believe in the product. As for some other favs, I’d say the Silo, for sure. They only were out for a few years. On top of that, I really loved the Evant. They took the sole and put it on the Two Nine 8. So, the Two Nine 8 is basically a new Evant, just a slightly different one. And I obviously love the Accels. I skated a pair of the 95s right before my shoe came out. Man, they were really good as well.

Thanks for the insight! Any last words on the world tour?

I’ve honestly had the best time on this tour with each and every person and in each and every city. So many great people all over the world came out. I didn’t know that I had so much support in so many different places. It was very overwhelming and I feel super grateful. It also made me really appreciative of what I do and I can’t wait to not only get better now, but also to put on harder than I ever did before. Things are looking good over at éS as well and I’m really excited to see where we go from here. 

Thanks, TJ! Hope you enjoy the last day of the tour. Speedy recovery, too! 

You gotta believe it, you know I’ll be back soon.