Say what you want about the skateboarding shoe industry, at least they diligently recycle. For every new shoe coming out, your average skate shoe company strips their old models for parts and stitches them back together Frankenstein-style. Then those recycled shoes roam the wild lands of suburban skate parks, trying to find at least one The Hills Have Eyes-esque hick to impress. “Look, we’re a pair of shoes from 1866 and we’ve got TOE CAPS now,” those wretched excuses for innovative shoe design yell desperately in the pimply faces of Monster-addicted scooter kids. The first impulse would be to douse those pitiful remnants of the past in gasoline and set them ablaze, thus relieving them from their uninspired existence; yet, even the most unimaginative product has to have a place in this world. Adidas Skateboarding, however, is having none of that shit. Following their recent innovative 3ST line is a completely new model called the Sabalo. It’s a low-cut, vulcanized skate shoe boasting Geohex technology that subverts expectations: its silhouette is minimalist, yet features a subtle double-layered gum construction on the leather upper. It’s not a redesign of a soccer shoe, it’s not a sorry attempt to cash in on your nostalgia, it’s a completely new design – and that’s very welcome. Add Adidas pro Diego Najera’s own eggshell colorway and premium leather upper to the mix, and you’ve got yourself a pretty decent-looking and well-performing skate shoe on your hands. You can buy the Adidas Skateboarding Sabalo at our web shop and at our store in Frankfurt from tomorrow March 14th.
