Get yo kicks.
This is a retrospective of the shoe pages from assorted California Cheap Skates catalogs from 1990 to 1992. We wore some kind of weird footwear back then. It's also crazy to think how the catalogs had between two to four pages of shoes compared to how many different brands there are today. Fewer choices isn't always a bad thing.
Airwalk, Vans, and Vision are the big three. It's a little surprising how few options Vans offers. There is Steve Caballero's model, the Classic High Top, and the Chukka Boot. It seems odd that the Classic Low is not available. Maybe people really weren't skating the low at the time so CCS didn't carry them. I never had any Vision sneakers. There are also the initial offerings from Etnies and Simple.
I primarily stuck to Airwalk and had a good sampling of their assorted models. I like the 540˚ in blue. I went through two pairs of the Velocity model, one in black and one in white. I had a pair of the Enigma in the classic green colorway. I also had two pairs of the 620˚. I think I had the black ones and a version with a white/purple color scheme. I really wanted the NTS, but that never happened.
I tried out the Etnies E-Z when I started college. They were very stiff and I don't think they ever broke in correctly. They were durable, but if I had them today, I would have tossed 'em for being uncomfortable.
Were Simple Shoes vegan? The copy is poorly worded. It sort of sounds like they used some synthetic materials, but at the same time used leather and suede.
Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, November 27th. Have a good holiday and/or weekend.
Top to bottom:
1. Spring/Summer 1990
2. Fall 1991
3. Winter 1991/1992
4. Winter 1991/1992
5. CCS Fall 1992
6. CCS Fall 1992
7. CCS Fall 1992
5 comments:
Some of those shoes are gigantic. You could storm the beach at Normandy in those things.
It almost seems like things are better in your memory. You think, "Those shoes were cool". But when you see them again, it's, "They looked like that?"
Thanks for posting this as I could never remember the name of some Airwalks I had..the "Next". The other thing that stands out is how shoes that today would be considered high are sold as mids due to the gigantic plastic covered "Normandy boots" (great visual) being prevalent.
I had the enigmas in olive and khaki. Three of my friends had the Not the Same shoes; one had green, one had blue and one had black. They all agreed that they were so difficult to break in because of the rubber was so hard. Airwalk used to be something special. They had such a roster, and they had a full page ad where it was nothing but a list of their team riders. I remember reading those names and just being amazed that all the best dudes were on their team. But, things will always change.
There were a few shockers as to how high some of the high tops were. Even the mids look rather high.
The Etnies E-Z did not have the weird texture on the toe cap. CCS must have gotten an early sample for the catalog.
A friend had the NTS. They seemed a little clunky.
Airwalks were rough to break in. Once they were good, you were set. They lasted forever. They also got really stinky. I'm sure some of those problems were caused by being clueless kids.
Sweet post. Yea I had the airwalk disasters but also wanted the nts and never happened ha. Had to have the vans fukka chukkas after Hensley ollied the picnic table to nose manual. Before that vans off the walls after seeing Tom Knox in speed freaks. So weird that everyone wears vans now, mostly chicks and posers ha
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