Has anyone tried the Emerica Gammas yet?
I have an incredibly wide forefoot (at the bunyon area) so don't have much luck with shoes other than Vans (old skools especially). I did have the Emerica Spanky G6, which was a sweet shoe, but was slightly too narrow and also slightly too long even though it was a one piece toe. I can tell the Gammas are wider in the middle of the foot, but I am worried about that longer, narrower Emerica toe. Are the Gammas any wider than the Spanky G6 at the forefoot or is there a relevant comparison to Vans anyone can give?
Alright I tried these from the sale on emerica's site a few weeks ago and have skated them for a few weeks. These are good shoes for wide feet if you desire a stiff cupsole. I have absolutely monster wide feet at the ball of the foot (the kind of bone deformity only surgery can fix) and there is still enough room for my toes, luckily I still have a healthy arch but this can make cupsoles really hard to fit into - and I can fit into these just fine TTS. I was really pleased with that. The flick is pretty good, and much better than the spanky g6 I previously tried. Not as good as what I normally skate, but once it broke in didn't inhibit any flip tricks.
I imagine that you could get aftermarket insoles in them, as well. I didn't need to, even without the g6 pour in. My only caveat to this is that they take absolutely forever to break in, and the bottom feels somewhat slick until 3 or so sessions in. Lately I need to skate in flexible shoes, so I'll just keep these around for flatground sessions when I'm learning flip tricks when my feet are sore. These shoes are far too stiff for me, unfortunately, but if you like stiff shoes you could do worse than grabbing these.
Oh, with regard to vans sizing at least - wider than crockett high in the forefoot, slightly slimmer than old skool.