Shoe fit is so subjective, and there's really no substitute for going and trying on shoes at your local skate shop (or whatever shop carries the kind of shoes you're looking for), so I almost never post shoe reviews. But I like these shoes, so here goes. I'm 37. There's no real skate shop near me, so I can't just go and try on lots of skate-specific shoes (aside from a few big brands at the mall that all felt like big marshmallows). I just started skateboarding again after about 20 years, and I wanted some shoes that I could wear to make it as easy as possible to learn to roll around and ollie properly. Then maybe other tricks. So that's the context for this review. These are the first skateboard-specific shoes I've ever bought. However, I have range of other "technical" shoes (rock climbing, approach, trail running) so I'm somewhat familiar with judging shoes designed for a particular task. I chose these because they were reasonably priced and the existing reviews on Amazon seemed to indicate that they have (for lack of a better description) a good technical fit - snug, a bit of break-in needed, solid construction, designed to do one thing well. I wasn't disappointed. ** Fit **: I have fairly long, narrow feet. I normally wear an 11.5 (and I size my shoes with less than 1/4" from the end of my big toe to the end of the toe box) and the 11.5 in these is a good, snug fit. There's very little volume in the toe box, which made them feel small when I first put them on, but after a few hours of walking and light skating, they fit like a glove. You could wear them without socks (the neoprene-style sock liner in the shoe wraps around almost the whole shoe, including the heel), but I wear them with ultra-light weight wool or tech-fabric socks. Comfortable both ways. If you have wider feet or need more room in the toe box, these are probably not the shoes for you. ** Build **: I was surprised by the build quality of these shoes. The stitching, glue, and - well, everything - on the pair I ordered was absolutely perfect out of the box. The upper is quite thin, but I expected that given the previous reviews and the aim of this shoe to be technical footware with good board feel. The end of the toe-box has some additional reinforcement, the sole (on my pair) was perfectly glued (no mess or overrun), the stitching is very nice, and the "feel" of both shoes is like a mirror image - no weird "this heel is slightly looser" or anything like that. Great. ** Durability **: I've only had them for a couple of days, so I can't speak to the durability yet. As mentioned above, the top is relatively thin. If you're skating hard or learning tricks, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if you blew the tops out after a month or less. To put this in context: I can't ollie. I'm currently following the various YouTube videos that show you how to go through the various motions - dragging your front foot up the board, hopping off the board halfway through the ollie, holding onto a bar while you do the full ollie motion etc, etc. These shoes feel *great* doing that...much better than the [some other brand] sneakers I was wearing before. I have a better sense of where the board is, and how my foot connects to it. I'd be more than happy if these shoes lasted me a few months given how accurate the feel is. ** Arch support **: I include this only because it's one of the criteria Amazon uses for their shoe ratings. These shoes have no arch support. They're technical skating shoes. If you need arch support, look elsewhere. These are extremely low volume shoes, so buying high-arch inserts is unlikely to make them any more comfortable or useful to you, as it will probably just make the shoe feel weird. ** Everyday wear **: As you've probably gathered from my review so far, I'm not the guy you'd be looking to for style advice. Having said that, these are low-key, good looking shoes. I could wear them to work, and nobody would notice, but that means practically nothing because I'm about two decades short of the intended audience. However. I wouldn't wear them casually, because - while they're comfortable and fantastic for riding - they're just not that great for walking around. The fit on these shoes is pretty technical and geared towards maximizing board feel - specifically on the upper surface. The toe box is long (meaning you're less likely to destroy your laces when doing tricks) and low volume (meaning they feel a bit cramped when you're not skating, although this evens out a bit after you've broken them in). They're really almost like slip-ons...you could even skate without laces, and not lose a shoe. So. What more can I say? I like these shoes. I think they're going to help me learn to skate better. I couldn't really ask for more.
