The Best Skate Shoes

Every skateboarder has their own individual style and preference when it comes to their footwear. Different environments, climates, and terrain can be important factors in choosing the right shoe for skating in. After all, the perfect shoe for a skater in Los Angeles might not necessarily be the shoe of choice for a skater in Germany, Australia, or Japan. While there’s been a lot of global carry-over for trends in skate shoes, there can never be a definitive list for something like this—it’s just too subjective.

And yet, here we are. Because we do lists around here and because we want to push a few buttons, we hit up Brian Jones, a skateboarder, brand guy, and a writer who has been in the industry for years on all sides of the game, obsessing and bleeding skateboarding since 1985. Jones tapped a few of skateboarding's greats to assist in narrowing down this list a bit better and making it as unbiased as possible.

We picked through the good, the bad, and the ugly, looking back at different generations of skaters and influential designs that survived test of time. We can’t lie: Removing the rose-tinted spectacles at times was hard. Some fond memories from the past now look bizarre in the grand context of everything. Someone like Jovontae Turner might have looked fresh while skating Embarcadero in a pair of yellow Airwalk NTS, but could anyone else really have done them the same justice? There’s a lot to be said for someone’s individual style when it comes down to how good a shoe looks on-foot.

Our initial list of 50 options has been painstakingly narrowed down to just the top favorites, so join us as we reminisce about some of the most loved, most respected, and most memorable shoes ever created to skate in. These are the best skate shoes.

There’s no denying that Lakai have created some great shoes over the years, but we keep coming back to the Manchester model, first introduced in 2007. Uncomplicated clean lines are complimented with classic vulcanized construction for a solid no-frills real skate shoe. Ten years on, the Lakai flare symbol remains a mark of quality and credibility.

It might not have the innovative technology of modern skate shoe designs, but the Converse Chuck Taylor Hi Top still offers many skaters everything they need in a skate shoe: flexibility, durable outsoles, and unobstructive support. Anyone who doubts the power of the Chuck should refer back to the ‘80s, when they were spotted on everyone from Christian Hosoi to Aaron Fingers Murray. A true classic.

Nike's move into skateboarding in the early 2000s was no surprise. But what was surprising is how long it took them to make a big push after they had accidental skateboard footwear successes with the Jordan 1s and the Blazer. With the release of the original Air Jordan 1 in the late '80s, skateboarders had a shoe they could turn to with a little more protection and padding under their feet. Hardwearing and supportive, it’s easy to understand why the Jordan 1 found its way from the basketball courts to the sidewalks.

The Osiris D3 is a polarizing piece of footwear. Some may know it as the best-selling skate shoe of all-time (after a slow start, sales inexplicably rocketed six years after its release), whilst others treat this bulky behemoth with contempt. When Osiris rider Dave Mayhew wanted large lace loops for his third pro-model, the folks at Osiris were a little skeptical about its appeal. However, sometimes you have to leave it in the hands of the Gods: The updated D3 2001 is rumored by many accounts to be the best-selling pro-model skate shoe of all time.

The original DC Lynx dropped in 1998, quickly establishing itself as a reliable member of the DC Shoes arsenal. Worn by many members of the DC team at the time, the Lynx was built to last, featuring solid construction across the uppers and bold styling from the side panels through to the branded fabric strip down the center of the tongue. Since revived in a number of different editions, the original grey and red colorway remains a highlight in the Lynx’s history.

If you skated in the late ‘80s or early ‘90s, you’ll more than likely recall the Prototype series. Utilizing the Fahrenheit temperature scale for naming the various editions in the collection, Airwalk had everyone covered, from the vert-friendly (and almost knee-high) 620° through to the mid-top Bruisers and garish 600° Lava editions. If they were good enough for Tony Hawk and Matt Hensley, they were good enough for us.

The popularity of Eric Koston's first pro-model may well remain unsurpassed by any of his future models. The K1 created a frenzy when it first dropped in the fall of 1997, introducing unique styling, airbag technology in the heel for extra cushioning, and an exposed polyurethane midsole. We’d never seen anything like it—and perhaps we won’t ever again.

Released in the mid '90s, this timeless gem's simple silhouette inspired many other brands to follow suit. A clean-looking shoe that looked stylish whether you were skating or just chilling, it was the perfect vehicle to carry Sal Barbier’s name. There were several colorways produced over the years, but we’ll always look back fondly on the white and black edition that Sal rocked in the original Etnies ad.

After winning Thrasher magazine’s Skater Of the Year award in 1998, Andrew Reynolds was given his first pro-model skateboard shoe by Emerica. Appreciating Reynolds’ style of big, technical, and solid skating, the design team knew that he needed something more than a standard vulcanized shoe. the end result was the classic Reynolds 1, featuring an airbag in the heel to minimize the risk of those pesky heel bruises.

As we said at the start, this list is subjective, but few could disagree that the Vans Half Cab is, hands down, the best skateboard shoe ever created, for more than one reason. Steve Caballero’s pro-model has been in the Vans line for almost 30 years years, becoming the longest running pro skateboard shoe in history. It's been copied, replicated, and bootlegged by many other shoe brands, each hoping to capture a smidgen of the success that the Half Cab has enjoyed. Worn by almost every reputable skater at some point in their careers, the Half Cab still looks just as good today as it did when it first dropped in 1991.