This thread feels like 2009 all over again. I know for me and my friends, (early-mid-20's, most of us skating since the late aughts) most of us skate either vans or nike. I've skated a few pairs of nike recently after skating almost exclusively vans for the last 2 years or so and let me say, they're fucking comfy. They're just more comfortable than vans. Blazer lows are absolutely without question the perfect shoe for me. Maybe it's just my foot, but my friends say the same thing.
Shoes are tough, cause they aren't like clothes or boards. They're super dependent on quality, comfort and consistency, and these massive brands can provide that. It sucks, yes. Watching iconic brands that I grew up with flounder at the feet of the swoosh and the three stripes was hard, but they had their own fuckups that brought them there too. Yeah, the big 3 didn't help, but it's not entirely their fault. The hardest to see go was Huf. Great, unique enough designs, rad team, rad flow program.
Anyways, I'm rambling, this does suck, but I don't see nike or adidas pulling a Nike Snowboarding on us. We're far less niche than that. Anyone can buy and wear skate shoes, but you can't say the same for snowboard boots.