I had the éS Arto shoes. From what I recall they weren’t all that different to Accels. Mad puffy too. Too much even for back then. I got them in 10.5 as the 11 was already sold out. The shoe was mad popular here in Finland. First ever pro shoe for a Finnish guy. I figured they’d break in and be fine but no, they were just too small and I had to get rid of them eventually. :'(
Funny thing is now I’m skating mostly 10.5 and some shoes I could probably even go with size 10. Not sure what happened. Did my feet shrink or has the sizing of shoes changed over the years?
Harri Puupponen Sykum pro model also came out in 2002 but can't recall which one was released first. Not that you ever saw a single pair of those in the wild, tho...
Not to mention a Finnish flag on the sole. I loooooved that shoe and it was pretty perfect. A wee bit bigger/puffier than the accel, but it wasn’t a gigantic version like appleyards pro shoe was with the circa model that inspired it
Remember seeing the flag and thinking "Oh. Isn't that what the dudes in buzz cuts wear on their bomber jacket sleeves?". Rural nationalism hits different.
Creagers lasted forever but the sole on the Muskas blew out in a month. Getting hung up on the thickness of an embroidered logo is really funny.