7 Superbly Designed Skate Shoes
To be clear, you won’t find me skating these days. I haven’t owned a skateboard for years, and the last years I did mostly consisted of me going to the skatepark to sit on the ledge and talk, with the occasional game of SKATE thrown in.
That being said, I grew up skateboarding in Southern California and went through my fair share of shoes. To this day, the appreciation of their form still lives on, and who doesn’t get nostalgic sometimes about a great pair of shoes they used to rock?
This is an ode to skate shoes that made an impression on me when I used to skate pretty much every day and still impress me as an older, more mature — albeit also more jaded — person.
Without further ado, here are seven superbly designed skate shoes.
1. Vans Half Cabs
Over the years, I’ve had many iterations of Half Cabs. From the OG dark navy on white colorway to completely blacked-out ones, they’re shoes that have inspired countless other models in skateboarding and beyond. Even today, now living in the Pacific Northwest, I have a pair of waterproof MTE Half Cabs equipped with Gore-Tex fabric and tread soles that I wear regularly.
The silhouette of these shoes is just undeniable magic. While some mids have a kind of a wonky shape or don’t hit pants right, the Half Cabs are, for lack of a better word, perfect. Having their origin in a high-top version called the Full Cabs, these shoes are a testament to the value of iteration in the design process and the input of creative visions from those from other professions (i.e. the one and only Steve Caballero).
2. Nike SB Janoskis
If you skated between 2013 and now, you definitely owned a pair of Stefan Janoski’s signature Nike SB shoe. This massively successful skateboarding footwear staple still stands the test of time and you’ll be hard-pressed to show up at any crowded skatepark and not see at least one pair on someone’s feet.
It’s said that Stefan Janoski had a firm vision for this shoe and held strong to it despite pushback from Nike. In the end, no one can deny that his insight to create a classically designed low-profile shoe was the right choice. While there have been many variations on the Janoski, none stray too far from the original design. In other words, this shoe was hit out of the park on the first try and the fact that countless people — both inside and outside of skateboarding — still rock them today is a testament to that fact.
3. Adidas Skateboarding Busenitz Pro
I distinctly remember when this shoe first dropped. Though the Adidas Sambas weren’t as popular as they are today, they were still cool shoes that were on people’s radar. The Busenitz Pro’s clear resemblance to the Sambas was eye-catching and after getting my hands on some, I wasn’t disappointed.
The fat soccer shoe tongue is a unique feature, despite most of us cutting it off after a week or two of use. To this day, the shoe’s silhouette looks like a classic Adidas trainer that would go just as well with a vintage tracksuit as cuffed Dickies. The shape of the shoe is crisp and these are one of those models that you look down at and can’t help but feel satisfied with when they’re on your feet.
4. Nike SB Koston 1
We remember shoes for different reasons. But, at the heart of all the disparate reasons, is some sort of emotional connection. For me, the Koston 1s in the plain black/white colorway with a hint of red on the label were what I was wearing when I was skating at my best. On top of that, they are my favorite Nike shape to this day.
The shoe is just undeniably clean. It’s the perfect thickness with the perfect form. And in that OG black/white colorway it’s an undeniable classic. Though Eric Koston and Nike SB are both very successful, I feel like this shoe never quite got the praise it deserved. But to me, it’s the best Nike SB offering to date.
5. Vans J Lays
While the Koston 1s were relatively popular when they dropped, I wouldn’t say they were ever ubiquitous. What absolutely boggles my mind about the Vans J Lays is that there was a time when they were literally everywhere and then, like the Avatar when the world needed him most, they just vanished. The Vans J Lays were a clean, pleasant balance of being puffy and well-formed.
I wore a ridiculous amount of these in my day. Though tye-dye can be super wack and kitschy when done wrong, the OG light blue and black tie-dye J Lays were absolutely pristine. Beyond those, whoever was doing the colorways back then was on fire and there were seemingly endless great choices. I’d also like to take this opportunity to shout out the other Johnny Layton apparel from Vans at this time. Though they’ve pretty much disappeared, if Vans re-dropped that original colorway J-Lays I would be picking up several.
6. C1rca Lopez
I was in the fourth grade when the C1rca Lopez came out. The black and white pair with the skull on the side was my favorite shoe I had ever owned up to that time. The form of the shoe was so clean and looked right with any type of shorts, pants, or capris you wanted to wear.
Another colorway that deserves an honorable mention is the black with the thin white stripes. Though I do remember these ripping pretty fast, it’s not easy to produce a shoe that fits so immaculately. Props to Circa for outdoing a bunch of big-brand competitors they were going up against at the time with this absolute gem of a skate shoe.
7. és Accel
Oh, the és Accel. Just the sight of these brings me back to a time and place. For me, they represent a young youth when I had the energy to barely sleep and still wake up and go skate all day every day of summer. The Accel silhouette is just undeniably classic. Puffy, but tastefully so.
The all-brown colorways are still some of my favorites to this day, but the light blue on white are also tremendous. The specific look of these shoes has been copied ad nauseam, but nothing successfully emulates the pure class of this original. Emphatic shout out to designer Pierre Andre Senizergues for his indelible mark on footwear.
Honorable Mentions: The Osiris D3, The Etnies Callicut, and The DC Court Graffiks
The cultural impact that these shoes, and other skate shoes like them made in the 2000s, can’t be understated. This was a truly unprecedented time in skateboarding as these shoes became not just casual wear for teenage skaters in Southern California, but everyone from six-year-old girls to Midwestern dads.
As you’re probably aware, these chunky shoes are making a resurgence both in skateboarding and in streetwear fashion in general. Though these puffy shoes are divisive, you can’t deny the impression they made on popular culture. So to all the designers who had a hand in designing the Osiris D3s, the Etnies Callicuts, the DC Court Graffiks, and all of the other comparable chunky skate shoes of the time, I salute you.
There Were — and Still Are — Many Other Shoes and Brands That Should Make This List
Look, I’m just one person. I got the shoes I did and I had my own experiences of what I gravitated to and this is not a comprehensive list. There have been so many amazing shoe brands in skateboarding from Lakai to Fallen who also deserve to be highlighted. The amount of design innovation and dynamism that’s come out of the skateboarding world can’t be understated and I feel thankful to all of the designers, skateboarders, and other creatives who helped bring these world-class creations to life.
This list is by no means intended to be a slight toward any of those amazing brands or models that aren’t featured. Instead, consider this a personal love letter to the shoes I happened to grow up skating.
