Skateboarding Shoes: Element, DC Shoes, Emerica, Puma, Etnies And Circa

In the early days of skateboarding, skateboarders suffered through ankle injuries—like twists, sprains, blisters, bruises and a laundry list of other foot malaise—because of poorly-fitting skateboarding shoes, which were not actually designed to be skateboarding shoes.

In the days before companies like Element specialized in skateboarder products, skateboarder outfitting were not available to skaters. Skaters relied on T-shirts, jeans and—most unfortunately—shoes not designed for skateboarding.

Before skateboarding shoes, skater's relied on hi-top basketball shoes from Nike or Converse. Other skaters preferred shoes from Puma or Adidas.

As the focus for skateboarding shoes moved from strictly transportation to more trick-based applications, a demand for newer, better, duty-specific equipment developed. In addition to baggier jeans and more comfortable T-shirts, shoes capable of handling the rigor and abuse of skateboarding hit the market.

The list of skateboarding shoes manufacturers is long. However, the list of the best skateboarding shoes is much shorter. Quality skateboarding shoes most valued traits are their ability to withstand abuse from all directions and to absorb the abuse of skating on a skater’s ankles and feet.

DCSHOECOUSA is perhaps one of the best known skater shoe company, both inside and outside of the skate community. Created by Ken Block and Damon Way, the shoe company actually began as a T-shirt company and grew to incorporate a variety of apparel. The success of their shoe line has inspired them to continue their work for the skating community as well as branching off into other alternative sports. Currently the brain trust responsible for the line's skate success also makes apparel and the like for snowboard, BMX, MotoX and surfing.

Two of the many skateboarding shoes companies that are seen accenting feet both on and off skateboards, were once one and the same. Originally know as etnies America, a division of a larger France-based shoe consortium, the skateboarding shoes artisans became two different lines after a series of legal wrangling and business acquisitions. Today, etnies and Emerica are both known for producing quality skateboarding shoes. Emerica tends to attract the most hardcore of skaters with its line of shoes while its sister company markets to skaters, but also has diversified its array of products, attracting athletes from surf, snow, BMX and MotoX.

Circa skateboarding shoes are relatively new comers on the scene. Technically spelled C1RCA, the popular brand was originally an offshoot of the snowboard company Four Star. Four Star sold its franchises in its lines of snowboarding gear, Forum, Special Blend, Jeenyus and Foursqure in 2004, and became "Committed to Skateboarding."




Sources:
Home. C1rca. 2007. Four Star Division. 11 Dec 2006. www.c1rca.com.
Emerican History. 2006. Emerica. 11 Dec 2006. www.emericaskate.com.
Home Etnies Global. 2006. Sole Technology, Inc. 11 Dec 2006. www.etnies.com.
Etnies Skate Timeline. 2006. Sole Technology, Inc. 11 Dec 2006. www.etniesskate.com.
Home. 2006. DC Shoes, Inc. 11 Dec 2006. www.dcshoeusa.com
Our Roots/ Company Story. 2006. Element Skateboards. 11 Dec 2006. www.elementskateboards.com
Element. 2006. Wikipedia. 11 Dec 2006. www.wikipedia.org.
DC Shoe Company. 2006. Wikipedia. 11 Dec 2006. www.wikipedia.org.
Etnies. 2006. Wikipedia. 11 Dec 2006. www.wikipedia.org.
C1rca. 2006. Wikipedia. 11 Dec 2006. www.wikipedia.org.