HISTORY OF SKATE SHOES - PT 1

Do you remember seeing Vision and Airwalk?
Vision was around in the seventies, but it never got huge until the mid-eighties. They made decks and these shorts called Mad Rats, which were shorts with nylon material, so if you ate shit on concrete you would just slide and not bruise up.

Were you happy with the performance?
Now that there is more choice, you’re a bit fussier about what you skate in. I still ride for Osiris with something like a Blazer sole, because I know the style really works. As long as it’s flat and it’s got a Blazer-ish sole I’ll wear it. But I don’t think it has changed that much, it is a very similar looking shoe from what it was many years ago. Shoes got cumbersome once it got too technical. The one I remember was the one called the Salmanaga, it was a Vans shoe and it was massive. It was like your foot had swollen up or something. It was too big to be functional. I wish I had a set of those because they were massive.