Here is my list for 2019.

Best part of the year: Mark Suciu – Verso. You know a part is amazing when it’s 12 minutes long and there isn’t a single tic tac. The tech skills, the relatable spots, the middle two songs, the spots, the flow. This dude is one of the best of all time.

Runner up best parts of the year:
Flo Mirtain – Helas Fellas
Bobby Worrest – Venture
Mark Suciu – Habitat Control Room
Gustav Tonneson – Adidas Reverb
Chico Brenes – 7×7

Video of the Year: Helas Fellas

Runner up best vid of the year:
Sour Solution 2 (my two favorite videos of the year are euro vids!)

Now for a bunch of random ones:
Here’s a link to my ‘best of 2019′ playlist that I added to everytime a part I really liked came out on YouTube.
Skater Of The Year: Mark Suciu by a mile
Trick Of The Year: Milton Martinez kickflip into the carwash
Worst Trend: Handrail only parts. I thought these died years ago? Ugh
Most Underrated Skater: Was gonna say Chris Colbourn, but he just turned pro so that’s good. Maybe the majority of the Santa Cruz team.
Best PJ Tricolor remix – To Pavement! So good
Best Instagram Post – NB PJ 533 commercial. This will probably be the last PJ clip we ever see so cherish it.
Best Line Of The Year: Can’t decide. Either Tom Knox in Atlantic Drift Moscow, Bobby Worrest “up the three” in Venture part, Or Suciu’s line at Flushing in Control Room (7:46).

I skated 277 days in 2019 and changed my setup 30 times. Yikes! That’s why my main skate New Years Resolution for 2020 is to stick with 8.25 the whole year.

( I will probably keep adding onto this for awhile)

Simon is one of the best skater’s I have ever seen. He hardly even filmed for this video. He’s one of those dudes that when he skates he charges super hard.

Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

My first shoe review in awhile. The Adidas City Cup cupsole shoe. This is one of those shoes that’s incredibly close to being perfect, but the negatives are quite bad. First the good. It’s one of the most comfortable shoes ever. Great shape, sole thickness, board feel, grip. There are really only two negatives, but as you can see they are huge. First is the durability. That toe piece wore out real quick and there is nothing under it. The other negative is there is quite a bit of heel lift. It’s not so bad on normal skating, but I found heelflips to be impossible in these shoes. So overall, if you don’t have razor toe like me and don’t do heelflips this might be a great shoe for you.

One of my favorite people to skate with, one of the steeziest skaters I know, Stubborn to the core. Heck, one of the best dudes ever. This is his part in The Stubborns. It’s the first part in the video because it sets the tone so well. Rob rips.

Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

The OG Accel is such an iconic skate shoe. This slimmed down version is pretty awesome. It’s a little too slim for me though. It’s basically a cupsole that skates like a vulcanized shoe because it’s so thin and flexible. I would have preferred that they put some newer technology into the sole instead of just a thin sole, but that’s me. It’s a good steezy shoe, decent durability, but too thin of a sole for me.

With Fallen Footwear going under the shoe debate has become a hot topic again. I get bummed out on some of the stuff people say that isn’t correct. So for whatever reason I decided to document my current stance on the whole corporate vs skater owned shoe argument.

For years I took a ‘skater owned brands only’ stance. This changed when New Balance Numeric came around and gave PJ Ladd a shoe. Why? Because I’m a huge PJ Ladd fan and because the shoe seemed perfect (note – it is perfect). Lets start by listing a few facts about all skate shoe brands.
1) All skate shoes are made in China by non-skaters. From Vox to Nike, no skaters are manufacturing the shoes.
2) All skate shoe brands have a skate team.
3) All skate shoe brands have skaters involved in running the team and helping with shoe designs.

With that said what makes skater owned brands different from corporate companies? I think there are two main differences which can be broken up as a pro and con. The pro is that the bigger brands have access to better technology which in many cases make better shoes. This isn’t always the case, just a general consensus. The con is that a non-skater bigwig executive type could pull the plug at any point. It’s my believe that a skater owned brand would hold onto their company longer then a major corporation trying to make numbers. Obviously there is a point where even skater owned brands shut down. Both the pro and con are huge though.

Another aspect of the skate shoe world that often gets overlooked is the environmental aspect. I live in Boulder, CO. I am kind of a hippy. So this is probably a bigger deal to me then others, but I want my shoes to last as long as possible. Both for financial reasons and to minimize my waste.

I guess overall to me the biggest thing is that you buy your shoes at your local skateshop. Whatever brand you chose as long as the local shop benefits I’m down. I personally do not like Nike though. Nike continues to steal riders and make way too much of a point of being everywhere. I want variety in skateboarding. I do not think badly of any other company. I am a little upset that the skater owned brands didn’t immediately improve their quality once bigger companies started moving in, but I think there has been more effort for quality lately.

Thanks for listening. Have fun. Go skate.

A couple random notes:
Supposedly the process of vulcanizing a shoe is incredibly bad for the environment. Why isn’t this a big deal?
New Balance isn’t actually a corporation, but a privately owned company. I didn’t know that until this week.

It’s a cupsole shoe battle royale! Featuring three shoes from some of my current favorite skateboarders. PJ Ladd, Mark Suciu and Brandon Westgate. I gave up on vulcanized shoes awhile ago because they hurt my legs and back too much. I wore Footprints Gamechanger orthotic insoles in all of these shoes. I love them and highly recommend them. I blow through the left toe of every shoe I’ve skated. So having to duct tape in an extra piece of suede into the toe is normal for me.

New Balance Numeric PJ Straford 533

Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

The original Blackbox made Stratford 479 had become my favorite shoe ever. The New Balance made 533 had a lot to live up to. I loved how flexible and yet supportive the 479 was. The 479 was not very grippy though and not the most durable shoe. I have skated about 5 pairs of the PJ 533 now. While I was initially hesitant of the thicker and stiffer sole I have become just as big of fan of the PJ 533s. The 533 is way grippier and way more durable then the 479. The 533 toebox doesn’t fit as perfect as the 479 for me, but it’s still a good fit. This shoe lasts forever, over a month of skating everyday. It’s insane. From a hippy standpoint I really like that I’m killing fewer cows and wasting fewer resources when I skate these. And I am a huge PJ Ladd fan so supporting him is a major plus to me. This shoe is great. I do with the sole was slightly more flexible though.

Emerica Westgate CC

Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

I have had the Leo and I don’t like that shoe. So I was happy to see the new Westgate offer a bit more support then the Leo, but still remain a simple thin cupsole. The long and narrow fit is a little weird and required some breaking in to avoid blisters on the outside of my toes. They are also a little too spongy for me initially. They did break in though and there were a few days where I loved this shoe. I say ‘a few days’ because the shoe didn’t last much longer then that. I wore through to the insole in 9 days. That is not good. For the record I skate Mob grip, but that didn’t stop the PJ shoes from lasting a month. I’m in a position where durability isn’t my biggest concern so I will say I still like this shoe quite a bit. Even if I couldn’t ollie over a car in them.

Adidas Suciu ADV

Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

Alright this is kind of a weird one to review. I like thin cupsoles so I thought the ADV would be similar to a cupsole. It’s not, it’s insanely thin and skates like a vulcanized shoe. It also comes with an incredibly thick insole which I replaced with my normal Footprints Gamechanger. So I didn’t really skate the shoe the way it’s designed. I only lasted a few days before I gave up on these. My feet hurt in them even just skating flatground. Rating the durability isn’t easy either as I only skated them a few days, but as you can see they already had wear marks. Judging from experience I don’t think they were very durable. With all that said, if you like a super thin shoe and a thick insole, maybe these are for you.

No surprise, but the PJ shoe wins. Never doubt PJ.

Dave made this edit from our trip to Portland last fall. It’s a must watch. Dave kills it at editing.

Yeah yeah, no one cares, but here’s my picks.

SOTY: Easy. Wes Kremer. Dude kills.

Best video: Transworld Outliers. Brad Cromer!

Best video part: Chris Joslin welcome to Etnies. Sorry, it was the one part that motivated me more then anything else this year.

The line starting at 2:41 is my second favorite line of the year and the mach 20 treflip down the sidewalk after the credits is pure epic.

Best line of the year: Wes Kremer. The f/s flip at the end going mach 20 is the icing on the cake.

Best trick of the year: Chris Joslin bigspin at MACBA

Most disappointing video: Plan B Lies. Not even just because of the lack of PJ, but the editing is horrible, the music sucks and the skating is made boring. How you only show the bigspin at MACBA once is beyond me. And then slow motion TPuds standing there more then the trick? Whack.

Runner up most disappointing video: Enjoi Oververt. An entire video of 2 minute parts? Come on now.

Best creative part: Scott Stevens

This part definitely had me trying some new no complies for a few weeks.

Maybe actually the best part of the year: Auby Taylor

And why the hell isn’t he pro? And why did Krooked blow it so bad?

Best part that makes me want to go to the east coast and skate ledges: Gavin Nolan welcome to the Zoo.

Best shoe: New Balance Numeric Stratford.

It’s embarrassing to the skate shoe industry how much better this shoe is then anything else. And NB still isn’t happy enough with the quality.

Best cover: Ryan Gallant kick back noseblunt Clipper. So sick!

Thing I am most ashamed of skate wise this year: Even more embarrassing then the fact that I love New Balance shoes is the fact that I don’t watch skate DVDs so much anymore. This is mostly due to my kids basically owning the TV, but still, I mostly watch parts on my computer or phone now and that sucks.

Worst trend in skateboarding: The loose trucks speed check is the hipster tic tac.

Still the best transition skater ever: Grant Taylor

Rating: STYLE
Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: OVERALL

I’m super hyped that Es is back. I’m hoping they put together a small team and keep at it. Anyways I had a few pairs of these. They run big. I normally wear a size 11, I wore a size 10 in these. They are very thin vulcs, so the break in period is almost non-existent. The sole durability is average for a vulc shoe. The top is below average, if I didn’t shoe goo them they would have had a hole in a couple days. The black ones with the patent leather are a bit much, but other then that they are a good looking shoe. I wore these on a road trip and my achilles was super sore by the end from pushing. I’m old though and should probably stick with the added support of cupsoles. All in all a decent vulc shoe.