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: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

The New Balance Numeric 379 is a slim vulcanized shoe with very little padding. It’s good for what it is, but my feet definitely wanted a little support. The shoe has a great flick. I feel like this herringbone tread pattern is not as grippy as the older vulcanized soles NB makes (255, 345). Anyway, a good simple shoe.

It’s a cupsole shoe battle royale! Featuring three shoes from some of my current favorite skateboarders. PJ Ladd, Mark Suciu and Brandon Westgate. I gave up on vulcanized shoes awhile ago because they hurt my legs and back too much. I wore Footprints Gamechanger orthotic insoles in all of these shoes. I love them and highly recommend them. I blow through the left toe of every shoe I’ve skated. So having to duct tape in an extra piece of suede into the toe is normal for me.

New Balance Numeric PJ Straford 533

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: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

The original Blackbox made Stratford 479 had become my favorite shoe ever. The New Balance made 533 had a lot to live up to. I loved how flexible and yet supportive the 479 was. The 479 was not very grippy though and not the most durable shoe. I have skated about 5 pairs of the PJ 533 now. While I was initially hesitant of the thicker and stiffer sole I have become just as big of fan of the PJ 533s. The 533 is way grippier and way more durable then the 479. The 533 toebox doesn’t fit as perfect as the 479 for me, but it’s still a good fit. This shoe lasts forever, over a month of skating everyday. It’s insane. From a hippy standpoint I really like that I’m killing fewer cows and wasting fewer resources when I skate these. And I am a huge PJ Ladd fan so supporting him is a major plus to me. This shoe is great. I do with the sole was slightly more flexible though.

Emerica Westgate CC

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: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

I have had the Leo and I don’t like that shoe. So I was happy to see the new Westgate offer a bit more support then the Leo, but still remain a simple thin cupsole. The long and narrow fit is a little weird and required some breaking in to avoid blisters on the outside of my toes. They are also a little too spongy for me initially. They did break in though and there were a few days where I loved this shoe. I say ‘a few days’ because the shoe didn’t last much longer then that. I wore through to the insole in 9 days. That is not good. For the record I skate Mob grip, but that didn’t stop the PJ shoes from lasting a month. I’m in a position where durability isn’t my biggest concern so I will say I still like this shoe quite a bit. Even if I couldn’t ollie over a car in them.

Adidas Suciu ADV

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: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

Alright this is kind of a weird one to review. I like thin cupsoles so I thought the ADV would be similar to a cupsole. It’s not, it’s insanely thin and skates like a vulcanized shoe. It also comes with an incredibly thick insole which I replaced with my normal Footprints Gamechanger. So I didn’t really skate the shoe the way it’s designed. I only lasted a few days before I gave up on these. My feet hurt in them even just skating flatground. Rating the durability isn’t easy either as I only skated them a few days, but as you can see they already had wear marks. Judging from experience I don’t think they were very durable. With all that said, if you like a super thin shoe and a thick insole, maybe these are for you.

No surprise, but the PJ shoe wins. Never doubt PJ.

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 quick break in period)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: OVERALL

These shoes lasted 12 skate days

My first Sole Tech shoes in awhile. Man, they are comfy. That’s about all I have to say good about these shoes though. They took a long time to break in. The inside of the shoe on the heel tore out so my right achilles was rubbing on something hard. The tread pattern wore out quick. The soles still felt decent when I gave up on. They had a little hole starting in the sole. I would have kept skating them, but I didn’t feel like shoe goo’ing the toe area for the 4th time. The board feel wasn’t all that either. I think Emerica takes pride in making kind of bulkier shoes, so maybe they would be good for you.

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.

Rating: STYLERating: COMFORTRating: BOARD FEELRating: DURABILITYRating: OVERALLI’m not sure exactly how many pairs of this shoe I’ve had, but it’s a good one, and I enjoy skating them.  I’m pretty picky with the tongue on shoes and this shoe easily has the best tongue of any shoe I’ve ever skated.  It’s thin, but responsive and protects the top of your foot.  Style wise this shoe is a hit obviously considering it’s basically a vulcanized version of the ever popular Accel.  As with most Sole Tech shoes the Square One is super comfy.  The sole packs out and feels like paper after a few weeks and the ollie area will sometimes blow out.  The ollie area can be shoe goo’d, but still, why not have the both layers of suede go all the way into the sole instead of ending where the layers meet.  Oh well, over all I think it’s one of the best shoes out there.eS Footwear

Rating: STYLERating: COMFORTRating: BOARD FEELRating: DURABILITYRating: OVERALLHere is the first of many shoe reviews I’m going to do on this site. I blow through shoes like crazy. Maybe it’s because you tear up shoes more when you never actually land tricks? Wow I never thought of that before. Anyways, the first shoe up for review is the Supra – Sport. Stylee shoe indeed although my photo of them makes them look like crap. Fake vulcanized sole, but some weird type of cupsole that feels close enough to a vulcanized to consider skating. The first day out on these shoes spelled the end of them. I blew through the ollie area in one game of SKATE causing my toes to stick out. It sucked!Supra Footwear