Salivating Yet? b/w Yeah, I’m a Skatin-Ass Dude
Perforated leather makes almost anything better. And it definitely worked well on these Chucks. They’re dropping in Spring/Summer 2010, and I will definitely be copping. I’ve been skating for a long time–since 1994–so I remember the times before skate shoes were big puffy unattractive things. I’m not hating, but for a while it was tough to find slim skate shoes. It all started with the DC Syntax. I remember mad people hating on that shoe like, “That doesn’t look like a skate shoe it looks like Nikes.”
Right afterwards the Es Koston shoe came out and it was the first skate shoe with air in it. The air bubbles were sooo janky. They did three colorways for the shoe, White, Black, and Blue. Only the blue ones had the air bubble, and if you skated them the bubbles probably popped in the first week. No one cared though, because they were so ill. You gotta understand that in 1997/98/99, whenever they came out, skateboarding was not very cool, and being able to have a piece of fashion that carried credibility outside of skateboarding–because let’s face it, air bubbles in shoes are a status symbol–was an amazing advance in the skateboard lifestyle market. Nowadays Wayne is dropping DC references in his verses, but back in the day we caught a lot of flack. But, you know what? I was rocking gear that no one else in my school had, and in a lot of cases no one else in my county. I used to geek hard for catalogs from CCS, and CSE, and later on Street Machine (Street Machine was my secret jam, because it wasn’t super popular and they had a really good deal on 3 day shipping) and I’d literally sit up in bed with a flashlight picking out gear and decks.
I’m thrilled for where skateboarding is now, but it used to be very very different. It lacked the immediacy–in many senses of the word–that it possesses today. Lately I’ve been skating a little bit and having a great time mostly missing tricks and making fake fart sounds when I do. I’ve met some real rippers here in the city, and luckily for me they’re willing to befriend a stiff old dinosaur like me. Here is a flick of my homie Max Piras doing a Front Noseblunt and popping out to avoid the trash cans. Get it Max:
Photo by John Kim
August 13th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Those shoes are really awesome. I hope I remember to look for them when they’re released.
August 13th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
thats a lot of words for some hightop cons… must be extra hip!
August 13th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
You wouldn’t get it. Skateboarding is different in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA than in italy.
August 13th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
thems is cute; converse never failllll! just dont wear them in the snow or rain -_-
August 13th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
not crazy about the shoes, but i love the skateboarding nostalgia in your post! the ccs catalog was my bible back in ’94, saving up all my money for a new sale deck or whatever. and calling tons of skate company’s phone numbers asking for catalogs, stickers, etc. they probably thought i was annoying as hell but it was so much fun. living and breathing skating. if only my shins weren’t so sensitive these days
August 13th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Not sure where you grew up, but there was nothing underground or “uncool” about skaters or skate clothes in 97-99
August 13th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
I gotta agree with Zach, the super baggy everything skate style circa the late 90s blew.
August 13th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Bring back KCK’s. If you don’t know….
August 13th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
The Es SLB (the one with an integrated sock) was my favorite skate shoe of all time! I had four pairs. I have not and never will skate Chucks…no padding and the soul is flimsy as fuck.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
90′s skater style big pants, small wheels! Super LOLZ. Though I must say, they unofficially brought back the trucker hat before it became ‘cool’ for the first breath of the late 90′s/early 2000′s
August 13th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
@ Cornbluth: In 1997-1999 I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a D.C. flagship store in SoHO; Alphanbumeric wasn’t sponsoring Rally Racers; Vans didn’t collab with Marc Jacobs; Owen Wilson didn’t make cameos in Chocolate Tour; when Nike sponsored skateboarders they didn’t make commercials about them, they probably paid them poorly and definitely made them wear ugly shoes–I can recall Pat Channita skating in those purple things that came out early on. Skateboard fashion has been ahead of the curve in a lot of instances, but that doesn’t mean it’s always recognized as such. When I wore my Sal’s, or my Clockers, or my Iomis to school they were greeted with Bobo, not DopeFresh. To say that there was anything
I’m not sure where you grew up, but in the rest of the United States of America there wasn’t anything fashionable about skate clothes circa 1997. By 1999 the #tightpants fad had begun, but fashion didn’t catch on to that for another 5 or 6 years.
August 14th, 2009 at 1:42 am
I mean, you went from one extreme to the other, but okay.
Because you asked, I grew up in Miami Beach and was living in NYC by 98.
August 14th, 2009 at 2:58 am
Bring back cargo pants. Take that shit back from the mall strolling beach bums. I said it. Function guy. Some beige cargos, a pair of Kareem Campbell’s first Axion shoe and I’m good.
August 14th, 2009 at 4:27 am
i loved the first Plan B video that came out in 92′. to me, that shit summed it all up.. that and Check Your Head.. and girls that wore big jeans.. oh, i for some reason that shit was hot. what the fuck was i thinking. yup, and i’m drunk. again.
August 14th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Max Piras is Dope and his HAHA FUNTIME crew is dope as well!
http://www.hahafuntime.com they have a new video up
August 15th, 2009 at 12:36 am
nice post.
Those CCS catalogs were almost as sacred to me back in the early nineties as were the skin mags I kept hidden in my stash spot in my room.
Its funny, as ive grown older Ive met more and more dudes (and ladies) who are even more committed to skating then I ever was (and it pretty much ruled my life between the years of 95-01). For instance, i literally just ran into my neighbor (who is a good 10 years my senior…..im 27). He was packing up his car with a bunch of his bros for a long weekend of camping out/hitting random skate parks. Mad respect.
Dude also hooked it up with a sweet Creature deck (the Mummy if anyone is listening) that ill be cruising around on for the rest of the summer. Who says old habits die hard?
So while the whole scene of skateboarding is definitely a bit more crowded these days it still has the same heart (in my opinion).
Oh and baggy pants on chicks: there isnt anything better than a little heavy petting through some loose denim…….just sayin’