First of all, let me say that wearing these for one day of skating will convert any Nike-hater. These kicks are some of the best shoes I’ve ever owned… even better than the tap-dance wingtips I used to wear when I was working off Broadway. Wait, I’ve never danced in my life… what the hell am I talking about? Ah yeah… the shoes… these things came from Heaven. Here’s the details:

The entire front half of the upper (from toe to middle) is covered in a mesh of really tough yet flexible rubber. The little holes (divets actually) allow a lot of air to pass through… in fact, the one biggest thing I had to get used to was the feeling of air blowing on my feet during windy days… they felt as if my shoes were blown out… almost like being barefoot. Now I’m hooked on the feeling of windy toes… regular shoes feel like they’re suffocating. Oh yeah, and when I said the rubber was tough I meant it… I’ve been ollie’ing and kickflipping the hell out of them and the sides aren’t worn down at all. The ollie area of the shoe still looks brand new. Indestructible? So far, yes.

The back part of the shoe is leather… as you can see on the black ones, this part has some wear, but it’s cosmetic… if you’re the type of person who’s concerned with how good their shoes look, don’t worry because a pair of pants covers this part of the shoe anyway. But who cares, right? We’re skaters not fashion models.

The first thing I thought when putting these on is that the soles felt “squishy”… the white area around the sole is made of really soft foamy latex-like filler. They compress a lot… this compression is aided by two airbags in the sole… the toe area has its own air in the form of a really thin, stretched out bag that takes care of the ball of your foot and the heel has a thicker bag that almost looks like a little pillow… since heels usually take the brunt of impact, they’ve upped the shock absorption in this area.

Now, with all of these airbags you might think you’d feel like you’re wearing stilts, but they feel just the opposite. Even with all of these little gadgets, the sole is really thin… you can feel your board’s concave, which is something I like a lot. The more board I can feel the more board control I feel I have.

The laces are located at the very top of the shoe, and the eyelets are covered by the leather part of the upper. I seriously doubt you’ll ever snap a lace in these puppies.

These are at the shop in white (with blue trim) and black/redwhite and brown/tan (the latter two are pictured). There’s a funky little Easter-themed colorway in existence,but I’ve never seen ‘em in real life.