Well, technically, you can skateboard in any shoe. Just like with any other sport, you can play in just about anything, but a professional football player would never dream of stepping on a muddy football field with basketball shoes and a basketball player would never dream of stepping on the court in golf shoes. Virtually every sport relies on good footwork and skateboarding is not different. Without the proper skateboarding shoes, you will never be able to control the skateboard and your body the way you want to. To make it worse, you could get hurt for no good reason.
What is so special about skateboarding shoes?
First a skateboarding shoe has flat, grippy soles that are usually wider than normal shoes. Sometimes, skateboarding shoes will have extra padding on the side and on the tongue to protect your feet when you are doing tricks. Sometimes, skateboarding shoes will be thin and flexible to allow you to have better feel with your feet. This type of skateboarding shoe will still have a flat bottom to give you maximum area to control the board with. Some other features that skaters might want like include reinforced sides to protect the shoes when doing ollies or extra padding on the heels to protect your foot and cushion the impact of landing after a jump. While it may not seem like it, there is a lot of research and design that goes into making a skateboarding shoe.
There are a lot of companies that make skateboarding shoes. Some of them are the professional skateboarding teams and companies. Some shoes are made by the big name shoe companies like Nike. No one shoe or one company is best for everybody. Once you get the basic features you need like a flat bottom and the amount of support and padding you want, go with a shoe that feels good. Every foot is different and many times, the shoes from one company or the other will fit your specific foot and feel much better than shoes that are more expensive with a different company. Sometimes, the best fit is the most expensive too, but when a shoe is expensive it will probably last longer than cheaper shoes and feel better too. One last thing to consider is image. Make sure you will be proud to wear the shoe you choose and look good wearing it.
Regardless of what type of skateboarding shoes you want, make sure you try on several different types and find the one that fits you best. There is nothing worse than having bad shoes making you sore and keeping you off your skateboard. Don’t forget to make sure they fit your style as you also don’t want to be embarrassed to wear them.