Rating: STYLE
Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: OVERALL

I’m super hyped that Es is back. I’m hoping they put together a small team and keep at it. Anyways I had a few pairs of these. They run big. I normally wear a size 11, I wore a size 10 in these. They are very thin vulcs, so the break in period is almost non-existent. The sole durability is average for a vulc shoe. The top is below average, if I didn’t shoe goo them they would have had a hole in a couple days. The black ones with the patent leather are a bit much, but other then that they are a good looking shoe. I wore these on a road trip and my achilles was super sore by the end from pushing. I’m old though and should probably stick with the added support of cupsoles. All in all a decent vulc shoe.

Rating: STYLE
Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: OVERALL

I don’t have many good things to say about these shoes. The horrible lack of durability is inexcusable. Get it together Emerica. Neither of these lasted longer then a week.

Rating: STYLE
Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: OVERALL

My first Vans in forever. I’m gonna say that although the sole blew apart I still really liked these shoes. The board feel and grip was amazing. They kinda hurt my feet when trying flip tricks, but whatevs, they are great shoes. Stylee as most Vans are of course.

Rating: STYLE
Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: OVERALL

Actually experimented with a corporate shoe. Everything about this shoe is great, except the sole blows out immediately. Which is a big problem! The sole was bare of tread within a week of skating. If you are gonna whore yourself out in corporate shoes, they should at least be durable!

Rating: STYLE
Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: OVERALL

This is not a good shoe. I really don’t have one good thing to say about it. The fit is horrible. The sole is kinda thick which could be ok, but combined with a super thin upper it’s just weird fitting shoe. Neither the sole or upper last long. The style isn’t all that either, but at least it doesn’t have a swoosh on it.

Rating: STYLE
Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: OVERALL

This shoe straight up hurt my feet. I’ve been in more of a cupsole zone lately so I’m not sure why I even picked these up. The sole and the insole are very thin. Great board feel, but too much pain for me. A pretty nice looking shoe for sure, grippy sole, good fit. Didn’t last very long though.

Rating: STYLE
Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: OVERALL

I have now skated roughly 10 pairs of this shoe and consider it an all time favorite. The review below was from the first pair I got, although I updated it a little.

It isn’t a mystery that I’m one of the biggest PJ Ladd nerds out there so when the opportunity came to wear a shoe that he rocks I didn’t hesitate. This contradicts pretty much any anti-corporate shoe policy I’ve had in the past and completely makes me a hypocrite. To my credit I did get them at one of the raddest shops in Colorado history (303) and these shoes are only available in skate shops. I guess the line is getting fuzzy as to who to support anymore. Do you support skater owned brands that are available at Ross? Or mega corporations that don’t really care about skateboarding, but are only available at skateshops? I don’t know anymore, it’s up to you. I can tell you that PJ Ladd has been my favorite skater ever since PJLWHL so supporting a brand that’s supporting him felt ok to me. It’s a little weird though. When I go to the gym at work every old retired man is wearing New Balance. I’m not that old yet. Ha. Okay, back to the review. These shoes are really good. They are very comfortable. Extremely comfortable. The sole probably would have lasted forever although it does go bald somewhat quickly. I gave up on this pair because I got sick of shoe goo’ing the top and it was starting to form a weird bubble. The top wasn’t so durable. Probably about what an average shoe looks like after a few weeks with me. The board feel is decent, the grip a little sub par. They felt great in the streets, but on tranny there was some board feel to be desired. As far as style it’s kind of a weird one. I guess the fact that PJ Ladd wears them trumps the fact that they look like old man retired gym clothes. Maybe? With all that said I would consider wearing the Stratford again in the future, it’s a good shoe. I hope to see an actual PJ pro model soon though!

Rating: STYLE
Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: OVERALL

These shoes lasted 14 skate days

This is the closest I’ve experienced to the perfect skate shoe in awhile. For a cupsole the board feel is really good. They broke in quick, they look good (can’t go wrong with black suede, white sole, and a skater owned logo). My only complaints are that the sole wore out sooner then I wanted it to. 14 skate days is still pretty high for me though. The other issue I have with them is the weird cracking noises they make. Kind of like the sound of snow packing under your feet. I never noticed it actually skating though, just standing. So whatever, this shoe is about as good as it gets.

Rating: STYLE
Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: OVERALL

These shoes lasted 20 skate days

Alright alright, anyone who knows me knows that I have talked a lot of trash on Nike skate shoes. I try to stick to skater owned companies and Nike represents the enemy. I have been dared over and over to actually try a pair and I finally gave in on the condition they were free. So huge thanks to Jaimie for hooking me with a pair. I’ll start with the style. They were bright red and they look like golf shoes. They aren’t D3 ugly, but pretty close. I painted the upper part black though and they ended up looking alright. They also game with a super thick “Lunarlon” insole. They were way too thick for me so I swapped them out for some Lakai insoles I had. The board feel was ok. Although if I would have been forced to skate those lunar insoles I can’t imagine how bad the feel would be. In my book insoles are meant to be swapped out though. This made them kind of a loose fitting shoe, but that’s my bad and the shoe is clearly designed for a thicker insole. The impressive part of the shoes is the durability. I normally blow through shoes faster then this. It’s not however, night and day longer then other shoes. I normally blow out the sole on the front foot setting up for flip tricks. This is the first time I’ve ever blown out the heel of my back foot. Still though, they lasted a long time and I wore them for a week straight all over Montreal, hiking, etc. I will give them credit on durability. Overall I am happy to say that I gave these shoes an honest try and will not be tempted to get them ever again. Nor should you. Support some skater owned brands and lets get rid of this crap.

Rating: STYLE
Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: OVERALL

These shoes lasted 10 skate days

On the cupsole tip again these days. These shoes have kind of a weird fit. The collar is a bit puffy for me and I wanted to lace one more eyelet, but it would make the shoe too tight in the collar. The board feel wasn’t great. They skated decent before the sole went flat, but once the tread was gone they skated pretty bad.