In 2012, Pappalardo, who, at that time, was no longer listed as an "Ambassador" for the brand—along with Fowler—provided a detailed and candid interview on the 48 Blocks skateboarding website, in which he explains his experience with Converse's skateboarding division. Pappalardo's signature model shoe had been released in 2010 and, according to the skateboarder:
Word was, my shoe was actually doing alright. Actually, I don’t know that for sure, to this day I have never been told, but it seemed like every single kid in NY was running them and they just were everywhere. Since they kept it running the following three years with a total of over twenty different colorways of it being released, some as recently as 4 – 5 months ago, would I be the crazy one to say it was probably a success .
Over the course of the interview, Pappalardo explains that his experience with the company "just comes down to blatant shady business". Pappalardo had left his previous sponsor, a highly regarded skate shoe brand named Lakai, to join Converse, a company that had made an offer based on Pappalardo's video part in the, at that time, recently released video, Fully Flared—Fully Flared became a widely praised, award-winning skate video that Pappalardo calls "the biggest, most watched skate video of our decade". In the interview, Pappalardo explained his decision to leave Lakai:
It was sketchy, and it was a major risk, but I took it and I had to stick to my guns. I had to believe it could work, but I knew it could work if done in a specific way and they were on the same page as I was about how to make that happen. With the Lakai video being released at that time, I was just what they needed and they got it. No big deal, that’s business.
According to Pappalardo, he was eventually offered a deal by Converse, but it was "embarrassing" and he "was making more being an amateur for Lakai"; however, Pappalardo believes that he was "backed up against the wall" and "had to sign" the contract, as the company had just released his signature shoe model. As of January 2013, Pappalardo is not listed on the "Ambassador" page of the Converse website and he explained in the 2012 interview:
Who knows what my relationship with cons is today… 90% of people I run into think I still ride for them. Why wouldn’t they, they put out the 22, 23, and 24th colorway of my shoe not even six months ago. I never got even anything close to a call, email, or anything telling me shit was going to go down, or I was kicked off, get prepared, or anything … They were cowards who did nothing but lie to me every month for two years digging my life into a whole of shit deeper and deeper every month … Your guess is as good as mine.
However, Pappalardo also reveals in the interview that he was no longer going to be paid by his clothing sponsor, Elwood, the day before getting dropped from Converse:
the icing on the cake was I found out the day before that the other team I rode for, Elwood (which I decided to continue to ride for despite getting other offers after the Lakai video as well ) was going to stop paying their skate team
To compound the situation, at around the same time he admits his salary was also completely cut by Chocolate, his board sponsor, in an interview on Epicly Later'd.
Shoes