Vans Alan Peterson Skateboard Shoes
By Cori Jones

For years skateboarders were forced to use whatever shoes they could find, if you used a soft shoe like the Converse Chuck Taylor's you had great grip for ollies and all around great board control. But because they weren't build with skateboarding in mind they would fall apart in only a few weeks. The other option was to buy a large ridged shoe like a basketball shoe that would last much longer but didn't have nearly the board control as a softer shoe. Finally a few companies started making skateboard specific shoes. Vans was one of the first to make skateboard shoes and over the years they have been making great improvements.

Nowadays skateboarding has risen to such a level that you cant compete if you aren't willing to through yourself down 12 stairs while flipping your board several times and in multiple directions through the air only to catch it with your feet and land in perfect form only to snap the board onto and slide down a 20 foot hand rail a few seconds later. This type of extreme activity dealing with high speeds, hard impacts, and extreme precision requires a shoe that is specifically designed for it. The Alan Peterson, a new shoe from the great shoemaker Vans, is just such a shoe. Vans was one of the first shoe companies to make skateboarding shoes and over the years they have been making great advancements. They have a reputation for working closely with professional skateboards when designing a skate shoe, and anyone can see the advantage of having the people who will actually be using the shoes help design them.

At first glance the Petersons look like many other Vans shoes, you don't really see the uniqueness until you get a closer look. They are low-tops so you have all the flexibility that you need in your ankle but they also are very well padded around the heal and lower ankle to give good support and cushion. The toe of the shoe is completely covered with a rubber like material that is soft and sticky enough to give you great board control and grip, yet tough enough to take the abuse of rough skateboard grip-tape and other course surfaces grinding against it for several months. The lining in the toe area of the shoe is very thin in contrast to the heal area. This allows your foot to have great sensitivity and control when performing the precise flip moves.

The rubber coating on the toe makes the shoes a little hard to break in. For a few days they would crease abd push against my toes, it was quite painful. After a few days they were broke in and since then they have been a super comfortable shoe for all around use as well as skateboarding.

I am by no means the worlds greatest skateboarder but I do like to skate and I can really notice a difference in my riding when I wear these shoes. I would suggest any skateboarder or even wannabes like me to try them out. The Alan Petersons retail for $75.

Cori Jones is a new contributor to GearReview.com and specializes in snownboarding and mountain biking.

For more information, contact:
www.vans.com
Vans inc.
15700 Shoemaker ave.
Santa Fe, CA 90670-5515