I haven’t posted a best video of the week in awhile because I felt like nothing has stood out lately. But everything about this one is awesome. Makes me want some Lakais.

With Fallen Footwear going under the shoe debate has become a hot topic again. I get bummed out on some of the stuff people say that isn’t correct. So for whatever reason I decided to document my current stance on the whole corporate vs skater owned shoe argument.

For years I took a ‘skater owned brands only’ stance. This changed when New Balance Numeric came around and gave PJ Ladd a shoe. Why? Because I’m a huge PJ Ladd fan and because the shoe seemed perfect (note – it is perfect). Lets start by listing a few facts about all skate shoe brands.
1) All skate shoes are made in China by non-skaters. From Vox to Nike, no skaters are manufacturing the shoes.
2) All skate shoe brands have a skate team.
3) All skate shoe brands have skaters involved in running the team and helping with shoe designs.

With that said what makes skater owned brands different from corporate companies? I think there are two main differences which can be broken up as a pro and con. The pro is that the bigger brands have access to better technology which in many cases make better shoes. This isn’t always the case, just a general consensus. The con is that a non-skater bigwig executive type could pull the plug at any point. It’s my believe that a skater owned brand would hold onto their company longer then a major corporation trying to make numbers. Obviously there is a point where even skater owned brands shut down. Both the pro and con are huge though.

Another aspect of the skate shoe world that often gets overlooked is the environmental aspect. I live in Boulder, CO. I am kind of a hippy. So this is probably a bigger deal to me then others, but I want my shoes to last as long as possible. Both for financial reasons and to minimize my waste.

I guess overall to me the biggest thing is that you buy your shoes at your local skateshop. Whatever brand you chose as long as the local shop benefits I’m down. I personally do not like Nike though. Nike continues to steal riders and make way too much of a point of being everywhere. I want variety in skateboarding. I do not think badly of any other company. I am a little upset that the skater owned brands didn’t immediately improve their quality once bigger companies started moving in, but I think there has been more effort for quality lately.

Thanks for listening. Have fun. Go skate.

A couple random notes:
Supposedly the process of vulcanizing a shoe is incredibly bad for the environment. Why isn’t this a big deal?
New Balance isn’t actually a corporation, but a privately owned company. I didn’t know that until this 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

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

I skated these shoes for 11 skate days, but they had more life in them

I had these shoes recently and they blew out way too quick. But Meta Sam told me that Lakai had a new manufacture and the soles were better. Since this shoe has one of the best uppers ever I was willing to give it a try. Much to my surprise the sole was much better this time around. The tread pattern still wore off quick, but was still grippy and showed no signs of a hole. This is one of my favorite vulcanized shoes. Glad to see Lakai getting it together.

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 6 skate days

I’ve had a few pairs of these. The first pair seemed like the best shoe ever made. The second didn’t last so long. This pair pretty much set the low bar on sole durability. They only lasted six days! Most of which were short sessions on Rampy. This is really bad. The shoe is a comfy and stylish shoe, but a sole that wears out this quick is not acceptable. I hope Lakai puts the thicker tread on this shoe. It’s experiences like this that make me consider large corporate company shoes. Shame on you Lakai.

** NOTE ** I had another pair of these after being told Lakai had a new manufacture and they were much better.

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 11 skate days.

It isn’t any mystery that Lakai is one of my favorite shoe brands. And for good reason. They are skater owned, their shoes are simple, their team is amazing, they make videos and the colorways are always on point. I’ve had a couple of the Brea’s and decided it’s time to get my shoe reviews going again. I am not a fan of the thick insole Lakai has been putting in their vulcanized shoes. I take them out and use some old sole tech insoles along with my orthodic insoles. I have never cared about insoles in shoes though. If I don’t like them I will just use some old ones that I do like (although I should note that my wife probably cares considering some insoles I’ve used for like six months straight). I always wear my shoes for awhile before skating too. I have never thought shoes should be perfect for skating right out of the box. With that said, I may have put these in the work rotation a little longer then most meaning they took awhile to break in. But it was worth it. It’s a great skate shoe. The upper never needed shoe goo which is incredible by my standards. The sole was not so durable though. The tread pattern wore off pretty quick and as you can see I eventually wore through it. I am pretty well known for blowing through shoes quickly though. I do a lot of flip tricks, clean my griptape and weigh almost two hundred bills.

Overall I like this shoe.