HISTORY OF SKATE SHOES - PT 2

A book sounds well overdue – is it just shoes?
It’s all about skate shoes! We will not show a single skateboard in the book (just in the ads of course), just hard skated and thrashed shoes next to very special ones.
We would say there is no other sport out there which focuses more on footwear. Skateboarders have always paid a lot of attention to shoes. After all, they’re what connects us to our boards – and to the world at large. Skaters know what difference a pair of shoes can make. We test them to the limits, wear them down, skid them across griptape and hot pavement. We will cover the whole history and the present in terms of brands, famous and popular shoes, signature models, trends and styles. You will see many shoes that are long forgotten which will bring back the emotions you had when you pulled a new trick or skated a special spot.

The evolution of boards is well documented, but I haven’t been able to find much on the sneakers?
Those things always depend on the interest of the people.
In our museum, shoes have always been part of the exhibition, since they are witnesses of long gone, hard skating times. For collectors though, the ‘new’ shoes seem to be more interesting. But for us, the shoe only had a life (and therefore a history) when it was truly ripped down to the sole. There was not much demand for ripped skate shoes as a collector and I guess still isn’t. Skateboard decks for example with their graphics, are items which are much more attractive for people to collect. I mean, who wants to collect stinky, dirty, ripped and thrashed shoes? We do! There is no soul in a new shoe!