As difficult as it is with skateboarding trends, there’s one you can’t ignore: skate shoes with rubber toe caps. Dusting off its past, the rubberized cap has its huge comeback in 2016, which leaves us with no other option as to choose it for our first “Trend of the Year”!
NIKE SB ZOOM ALL COURT CORY KENNEDY CHAUSSURES
It feels like every major shoe brand comes out with one or more models celebrating the rubber toe cap skate shoe. Why you may ask? Well, I’ll guess besides the slightly vintage look – I’m thinking of the sneakers from the 90s movie “The Sandlot” – the rubber cap also adds a lot more lifetime to your shoes. Time to face the facts:
- As a skater, your shoes wear out much quicker than it’s the case with ordinary mortals.
- Once your shoes are finally broken in as they just start to adapt to your foot shape, this happens after a few flips: A hole of the size of a baby head blows literally out of nowhere through the upper of your shoe. Well, congratulations, you’ve just become a father!
- And finally: Rubber toe caps are as rad as hell!
You don’t believe me? Then think about the rubberized classics like the adidas Superstar and the Converse Chuck Taylor All Star. Transforming from former basketball sneakers into popular skate shoes in the 80s and 90s didn’t happen without a reason. Even someone who wasn’t into skating or basketball knew and wore either one of the two models. All thanks to the rubberized cap!
Today, the Superstar might be bigger than ever, but other brands like HUF and Nike SB have also adapted the rubber cap to their pro model shoes. While Brad Cromer prefers to ride in his HUF Cromer Suede shoes, Cory Kennedy laces up his Nike SB Zoom All Court sneakers for another afternoon session.
Of course, Converse and adidas have now also increased their range of toe cap shoes. Both, the adidas Matchcourt and the Converse CONS Sumner take the charm of the past to a new decade.
