What informs shoe preference?

[Bristol_Palin]

My Favorites:
Adidas Superstar(sorry!)
Adidas Matchcourt(sorry!)

I like both of these too. I know a lot of people don't like the matchcourts, but I thought they skated pretty good. I liked the pointy toe cap. You could make a groove in the rubber that would make kickflips feel really nice. I can say I've hurt my ankle once running across the street in them, so I understand that some don't like the shoe. They were almost similar to the CK All Courts which I liked more. I loved flicking in the all courts once you made the groove in the toe cap. I don't even think rubber toe caps look that great, I just like making a groove which helps me with flip trick consistency. I skated lots of them too, because they went on sale pretty quick. I really like the Superstars, I'm skating a pair right now. They look classic and skate great in my opinion. I wish they would keep coming out with more colorways of the low each season.

Shoes I love skating:
Adidas Superstars
Half Cabs
GT Blazer lows
Vans slip ons
Dunk mids

Shoes I'd still skate if they were still out:
Rowley 1s
iPath Cats
iPath locust
CK All Court

Shoe I didn't really enjoy skating in:
The only shoe I ever skated where I thought, wow this shoe is not very good for skateboarding was the Osiris Ali Boulala. I was really young. I can't believe I actually bought them and wanted to skate them. They were meant to look like creepers so they had that creeper sole and it ruined any kinda of flick. I still skate them for a while and eventually kinda broke them in but they were really bad. I've honestly liked pretty much every shoe I've skated besides those. I may have been bummed on a colorway here and there but these definitely skated worse than any other shoe.

[cosmicgypsies]

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@people who dislike the janoski, when/what pair did you skate? i've heard of quality drops over the years, i skated a pair in 2013 and then another pair from that year or 2012 recently and they were great. cant speak for current ones but they do look fairly worse material wise.

[close]

Nice Try Nike Quality Control Goon


As stated prior, they are like standing on a platform... which is the antithesis of what a vulc should feel like.

The materials separate easily (I've seen this on multiple pairs (approx. 20+/- from multiple people)


They are simply garbage, and if you like them... you're probably garbage too, garbage corporate minion.

qc goon? get fucked lad skated a pair of 2012 janoskis this year for 2 months at the start of the year, retired em for some vans tnt sgs that fell apart in less than a month, skated them again for another month then gave them to my friend who got a month out of them himself. ymmv but compare that to say the state salems, huf choices or multitude of vans i skated this year which were all pretty fucked within about a month timespan and it's easy to see why people go the nike route. note that i would not go out and buy a pair of janoskis brand new right now as the pair i skated were a leftover pair from the 2012 hypebeast days but at the same i have no qualms with them.

[Matthew_James]

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@people who dislike the janoski, when/what pair did you skate? i've heard of quality drops over the years, i skated a pair in 2013 and then another pair from that year or 2012 recently and they were great. cant speak for current ones but they do look fairly worse material wise.

[close]

Nice Try Nike Quality Control Goon


As stated prior, they are like standing on a platform... which is the antithesis of what a vulc should feel like.

The materials separate easily (I've seen this on multiple pairs (approx. 20+/- from multiple people)


They are simply garbage, and if you like them... you're probably garbage too, garbage corporate minion.

[close]

That's a little harsh seeing that the guy just stated his experience in the shoes

[close]

Hardly, considering it's Garbage (like what Nike puts out) that is killing established skate shoe companies.

No, it’s skateboarders like you who forego garbage Huf and Lakai shoes in lieu of your beloved NB# that are killing core brands. What’s funny is you openly support New Balance, as if that’s doing some justice 😂

[Omars_Dad]

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@people who dislike the janoski, when/what pair did you skate? i've heard of quality drops over the years, i skated a pair in 2013 and then another pair from that year or 2012 recently and they were great. cant speak for current ones but they do look fairly worse material wise.

[close]

Nice Try Nike Quality Control Goon


As stated prior, they are like standing on a platform... which is the antithesis of what a vulc should feel like.

The materials separate easily (I've seen this on multiple pairs (approx. 20+/- from multiple people)


They are simply garbage, and if you like them... you're probably garbage too, garbage corporate minion.

[close]

That's a little harsh seeing that the guy just stated his experience in the shoes

[close]

Hardly, considering it's Garbage (like what Nike puts out) that is killing established skate shoe companies.

[close]

While I'm not a fan of the janoskis there are Nike shoes that I like to skate.  Also most "core brands" are corporate backed and ran so that high horse you are on is pretty lame.

[close]

It's only partially about the corporate backing (funding from outside sources is an essential part of financing a business... duh), it's the predatory practices that Nike (and more recently Adidas) has used to bully shops into taking subpar product & 10k+ minimum orders of said product.

Nike & Adidas flood the market & drown out companies like Lakai / Huf etc.

So, I refuse to purchase either of those brands... so, back to the point of the thread.

Being a shitty predatory mega corp (like Nike) excludes the brand from my list of potential purchases.

For being a large / non-skate corp, New Balance has done it the right way. Letting NB# essentially operate as a seperate wing of the company. Vans, being owned by VF corp still manages to maintain it's identity as a core brand & has operated well w/in it's confines.

But then there's shit deals like the one HUF finds itself in right now... whose corpo backers are pushing for the closure of footwear portion of the brand... essentially destroying the company as it's known.

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[close]

[close]

I do write code for a living & Twin Peaks was probably one of the best shows ever on television.

Great job

I think #NB has probably done well with shops because at NB's heart they have been a niche company catering to hardcore runners. Sure they have stuff in large department stores but go into any mom and pop running shoe store and their walls are filled with NB shoes and gear that you just won't see in footlocker or macys. So while they handle large accounts they understand that there are businesses out there that also cater to a very specific markets.

[Matthew_James]

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@people who dislike the janoski, when/what pair did you skate? i've heard of quality drops over the years, i skated a pair in 2013 and then another pair from that year or 2012 recently and they were great. cant speak for current ones but they do look fairly worse material wise.

[close]

Nice Try Nike Quality Control Goon


As stated prior, they are like standing on a platform... which is the antithesis of what a vulc should feel like.

The materials separate easily (I've seen this on multiple pairs (approx. 20+/- from multiple people)


They are simply garbage, and if you like them... you're probably garbage too, garbage corporate minion.

[close]

That's a little harsh seeing that the guy just stated his experience in the shoes

[close]

Hardly, considering it's Garbage (like what Nike puts out) that is killing established skate shoe companies.

[close]

While I'm not a fan of the janoskis there are Nike shoes that I like to skate.  Also most "core brands" are corporate backed and ran so that high horse you are on is pretty lame.

[close]

It's only partially about the corporate backing (funding from outside sources is an essential part of financing a business... duh), it's the predatory practices that Nike (and more recently Adidas) has used to bully shops into taking subpar product & 10k+ minimum orders of said product.

Nike & Adidas flood the market & drown out companies like Lakai / Huf etc.

So, I refuse to purchase either of those brands... so, back to the point of the thread.

Being a shitty predatory mega corp (like Nike) excludes the brand from my list of potential purchases.

For being a large / non-skate corp, New Balance has done it the right way. Letting NB# essentially operate as a seperate wing of the company. Vans, being owned by VF corp still manages to maintain it's identity as a core brand & has operated well w/in it's confines.

But then there's shit deals like the one HUF finds itself in right now... whose corpo backers are pushing for the closure of footwear portion of the brand... essentially destroying the company as it's known.

Ross, you’re more of a problem than Huf’s competition is. Look at your list, you don’t support them. Maybe if you bought their shit instead of corporate shoes, they’d be around. And btw, Nike and Adidas and Cons all operate their skateboard programs independent of their other programs just like NB#. You have zero clue, and you would make a great religious zealot.

[RossDailey]

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@people who dislike the janoski, when/what pair did you skate? i've heard of quality drops over the years, i skated a pair in 2013 and then another pair from that year or 2012 recently and they were great. cant speak for current ones but they do look fairly worse material wise.

[close]

Nice Try Nike Quality Control Goon


As stated prior, they are like standing on a platform... which is the antithesis of what a vulc should feel like.

The materials separate easily (I've seen this on multiple pairs (approx. 20+/- from multiple people)


They are simply garbage, and if you like them... you're probably garbage too, garbage corporate minion.

[close]

That's a little harsh seeing that the guy just stated his experience in the shoes

[close]

Hardly, considering it's Garbage (like what Nike puts out) that is killing established skate shoe companies.

[close]

While I'm not a fan of the janoskis there are Nike shoes that I like to skate.  Also most "core brands" are corporate backed and ran so that high horse you are on is pretty lame.

[close]

It's only partially about the corporate backing (funding from outside sources is an essential part of financing a business... duh), it's the predatory practices that Nike (and more recently Adidas) has used to bully shops into taking subpar product & 10k+ minimum orders of said product.

Nike & Adidas flood the market & drown out companies like Lakai / Huf etc.

So, I refuse to purchase either of those brands... so, back to the point of the thread.

Being a shitty predatory mega corp (like Nike) excludes the brand from my list of potential purchases.

For being a large / non-skate corp, New Balance has done it the right way. Letting NB# essentially operate as a seperate wing of the company. Vans, being owned by VF corp still manages to maintain it's identity as a core brand & has operated well w/in it's confines.

But then there's shit deals like the one HUF finds itself in right now... whose corpo backers are pushing for the closure of footwear portion of the brand... essentially destroying the company as it's known.

[close]

[close]

[close]

I do write code for a living & Twin Peaks was probably one of the best shows ever on television.

Great job

[close]

I think #NB has probably done well with shops because at NB's heart they have been a niche company catering to hardcore runners. Sure they have stuff in large department stores but go into any mom and pop running shoe store and their walls are filled with NB shoes and gear that you just won't see in footlocker or macys. So while they handle large accounts they understand that there are businesses out there that also cater to a very specific markets.

Precisely

[calvinsdream]

I'm interested in how shoe preference during formative years influences later shoe preference and what factors contribute to shoe preference homology between individuals.

Here are my favorite shoes from when I first started skating, my overall favorite and least favorite shoes, and some defining characteristics of my feet.

Favorite shoes during formative skate years:
Emerica Laced
Lakai Manchester
Emerica Herman

Overall favorites:
Adidas Lucas 1
Lakai MJ
Emerica Provost Slim
DC Mikemo
Gravis Dylan Mid

Hated:
Adidas Matchcourt (w/toe cap)
Nike Janoskis
Emerica Hsu Mid

My feet characteristics:
Wide-ish, medium arches, longer toes, hairy big toe

Just so it's clear, all listed shoes have been skated till death (i.e. outsole hole formation) and each shoe was ostensibly free of manufacturer defects.

I'm curious what others like and if we observe any non-obvious patterns between people.

Whats the link to your blog?

[Bizarro chris]

Busenitz pro. The thick heel & padding at the ankle really helps with my achilles tendonitis.

[Hacksaw Jim Duggan]

I have extremely narrow feet and am pretty OCD about the tread on the soles. You can tell almost just by looking at some soles whether they're gonna be good or not. I almost exclusively skate mids becuase I use the entire side of my foot to ollie, therefore I end up going through my sock on most lows.

Best:
adidas Matchcourt RX Highs in white leather - Owned about five pairs of these and they were incredible. adidas makes the best vulcanized soles I've tried thus far.
Nike Blazer mid

Tempted to try: (Anyone skated any of these?)
State Salem
Lakai Cambridge

Worst shoes:
Lakai Flaco
Any Vans "Pro" shoe - That "Ultracush HD" insole is terrible! It feels like a mattress on your feet and completely cuts off any board feel.

[Bousiña]

Favorites:
- Vans half cab (classic ones).
- Vans era/authentic.
- Converse Chuck taylor (lunarlon ones and normal ones).
- Adidas Skate.
- Nike Blazer.
- Nike Dunk.
- Lakai Manchester xlk.
- És Sal 23/20.
- Emerica Reynolds low.
Hated:
- Any pair of DVS I've skated.
- Dc tonik.
- Nike P.rod 4.