Converse Cons are celebrating the release of the new One Star Pro 90s, a mid version of the classic One Star Pro. They sent a host of team riders from Europe and the US on a few tours and the resulting coverage is a special zine project called 'The Relay', as well as some video coverage by the same title, you can find part one here and part two here. We caught up with French Cons and Polar Skate Co team rider Paul Grund to find out more.

Where did you guys travel to on these trips with Free Skate Mag?

I only went to Italy, we went to Milan and Rome first, and then a couple weeks after we went to Napoli and other cities around. Some of the other guys went to Germany as well.

How long did you spend in each city and was it easy to be productive, or did having such a large crew cause any issues?

We stayed like a week in Milan and 2 days in Rome, and then less than a week around Napoli. Yeah it's always pretty hard to be productive for me, but it's not related to the size of the crew, it's sick when you're a lot, you feel less individual pressure I guess...

What was your favourite place to visit during the mission?

I really liked Rome because of the history of the city, Napoli was really nice too! Mario is living around there, he was our guide and really took care of us.

The Converse crews from each area of Europe seem to be pretty tight with one another, collaborating on trips quite often. Then there are the US guys too. Who is your favourite CONS team rider to chill and skate with, from outside of France?

There is a good vibe around all of us, Kenny is sick to skate with cause he's always hyped and David because he's hilarious!

Between Polar and Converse you seem to constantly be featured in skate clips, do you find it easier to get stuff done on the road, or do you prefer to work on video parts or mag features closer to home?

It's hard to answer this question, at home you have time to focus on something but it's always the same spots, whereas when you are on trips there's new spots and you have to be more spontaneous.

How much time do you actually get to spend back in Bordeaux and what is the skate scene like there?

The last few months I always seem to be away so I'm not spending that much time in Bordeaux, but when I'm home I'm usually skating with Ben Chadourne (Cons filmer) and trying to film, but mostly having some rest and chilling with my friends. There is a really active skate scene back home with all the guys around Riot Distribution.

Are you an honorary member of the Bloby's crew, even though you don't come from Paris?

I'm not an honorary part of the Bloby's crew, let's say I'm more of a guest.

Did you grow up skating in the 90s, and if so did you ever imagine that you'd be traveling so much because of skateboarding today, it seemed like you had to be based in the US to do that back then?

I started skating in the late 90s in a really small town in a middle of the biggest forest in Europe, so no I didn't think I would do so much traveling with skateboarding. Now the European skate scene is pretty big so that's why I can do all of it.

Did you know about the One Star back in the 90s?

At that time I didn't really care about shoes.

You seem to skate in the One Star Pro 90s more than most of the crew, what do you like about them specifically?

I don't know, they just look good and they are nice to skate.

The French Converse crew seem to get as much coverage (if not more) than most of the global crew. You guys always seem to be on some sort of mission, do you do any other sort of work other than skating or can you make a living by skating full-time in France nowadays?

Yes I do but it's hard to work on the side since I'm always away, I'm pretty lucky I guess.

You were just over in Sweden too, and you were there for quite a few weeks, any specific projects in the works that you can tell us about?

Yeah since I'm on Polar, I'm going there every Summer for at least a month to skate with all the guys. And yeah there's always something going on with Pontus, maybe a new clip coming next year
Ok thanks Paul, maybe we'll see you over here in SA one day too.


Look out for 'The Relay' a special Converse Cons x Free Skate Mag Zine project available in-store now, featuring Paul and huge crew of Cons riders. There are also some banging edits dropping on Free Skate Mag's site from this project too.