The Changing Of A Shoe

Remember when skateboarding was just another trend and our parents wished it would just go away? I do. And, skateboarding didn’t go away. Now the activity is as much a part of American popular culture as baseball and football. When I was an adolescent and skating just hit my town, me and my friends would go skateboarding every day after school. During those days, there was not a lot of marketing surrounding the fade. Because of that, we just had our skateboards and that’s all anyone cared about. Of course, that has all changed. Now, there are lines of clothes and shoes for every taste.

When I first started skate boarding footwear wasn’t really a concern. I’d just strap on any old pair of casual shoes I had laying around. Some of my friends would even skate in their sandals or boots, I always thought they were crazy. Of course, there weren’t any real choices then. As the years passed by several types of shoes specifically made for skateboarding have since come and gone and now we have several types to choose from.

For a long time I used canvas shoes. This may have been in part, due to the fact that I used to play a lot of hacky sack. And canvas footwear was the way to go for kicking the bean bag around. And, who wants to think about having to get a separate pair of shoes when you already have a perfectly good pair in the closet. Canvas shoes were good skateboarding shoes in the beginning because all you really needed was a flat sole so your foot would have as much contact space with the board and road as possible. But as skate boarding grew and became increasingly more popular people started doing new things on their boards. People started to skate on half pipes, empty swimming pools and constructed skate parks. As the diversity of the activity expanded the shoe need to do the same. Now the canvas shoe began to show some weaknesses. The first thing that begins to be seen is the obvious wear. Because of the tricks done with the skateboard the canvas begins to wear down on the outside of the foot around the small toe and the outer ridge of the foot. This may be the first flaw noticed with the canvas shoes, partly because it is visually noticed. The second major issue with canvas footwear is the lack of support provided, not always noticed right away because it come with time. A good skate shoe needs to provide ankle support while still allowing for full mobility. Most canvas shoes don’t have aches in the sole or heal support. For the most part the shoe is just a sole, some canvas, and shoes strings.

The solution to this came along in the form of a low cut shoe with ache support, reinforced heal and toe, suede shoe leather and a thick sole. Because skateboarding has become such a diverse activity the shoe needed for it had to become more suitable for the activity.

Skateboarding past through being a fade or a trend. The activity has become a household word and is quite often some ones hobby within the household. I still think about picking up skateboard and strapping on my shoes and hitting the streets. Perhaps, I’ll see you out there.

By: Jack Moe

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