Skate Shoes SS17 Trend Report

The skate footwear market moves quickly these days. With major athletic players claiming more and more market share, endemic skate shoe companies are renewing their focus on quality products built for skateboarding. Our Boardsport SOURCE Trend Report has the core skate shoe styles that retailers can rely on for Spring/Summer 2017. By Dirk Vogel.

What happened? Within the last year, the skate footwear brand landscape has radically changed. Time-honoured brands have gone out of business – including the recent demise of Fallen Footwear – while rumours of future company implosions are rampant.

“The skate footwear market is a tough one these days. Even though the exposure has been good with mainstream events like Street League, Dew Tour, X-Games, and big budget videos like We Are Blood, the small shops are ordering less, sometimes closing and the smaller brands are suffering,” said Antoine Soulé, DC Shoes EMEA Footwear Product Line Manager. One key success factor right now is support for core skate retailers, says Don Brown, VP of Marketing at Sole Technology: “éS focusing on supporting skate shops is creating strong success. Our sales have doubled every year since our re-launch in 2014 and continue to grow. Skate retailers are stoked that we’re 100% skate, 100% skater-owned and operated and easy to deal with.”

From a technological features standpoint, endemic skate footwear brands across the board are responding to the situation by going back to the essence. “We’re putting our main focus on the quality and performance of our products, delivering the kinds of shoes and innovations that skateboarders need today,” said Joe Marckx, Director of International Sales at the DVS Shoe Company. The timing could hardly be more perfect, said Emily Nutbourne at HUF: “We are finally in a situation where consumers aren’t just concerned with a group of three or four ‘big’ brands, they’re seriously interested in what younger, fresher players have to offer. And the big brands have noticed, allowing their own design to be dictated by what these newer brands are offering. The rubber toe cap, for example.”

Speaking of rubber toe caps, will this major trend continue? Or is it already played out by spring/summer 2017? Let’s dive right into trends, with a quick look at prices first.

PRICING AND VALUE
Keeping in mind what Antoine at DC Shoes said about stores ordering less product, it all comes from heightened price sensitivity among consumers. For basic shoes, the sweet spot is between €65 to €75. Some brands can offer quality at lower prices, including OSIRIS: “€50 seems to be a key price tier. We’ve had great success with our Protocol and Relic shoes in that space,” said Tony Chen, President at OSIRIS.

Osiris – The Protocol

“On the other end of the scale, we’ve just introduced the AV Rapidweld Pro Lite in SP16 at €100. We are really seeing the skaters adapting to a higher price point and being open try new technology. I feel there is a lot of room for growth at both ends of the scale, with some brands commanding up to €140 in stores right now,” said Darryl Charles, Vans Action Sports and Energy Merchandiser.

MEGA TREND: FOCUS ON TECHNOLOGY
In apparel as much as in footwear, one of today’s biggest value drivers – and justifications for higher price points – is technology. Leading the charge, athletic companies, drawing on synergies from other sports such as running, are raising the bar: Nike released the tech-laden Nike SB Eric Koston 3 Hyperfeel, Converse introduced abrasion-resistant Metric CLS technology, and adidas injected skate shoes with GEOFIT collars and heel stabilizers. Core skate shoe brands also focus on building the perfect skate shoe with more tech, divided into three main categories: Impact resistance, light weight, and longevity. “Our Performance line now offers six technical toe-caps to enhance endurance and two formulas of impact-absorbing evolution foam,” says etnies President James Appleby, pointing out the Jameson and Marana Bloodlines, and the new high-tech Helix model.

For impact resistance, many companies are going the route of including impact-cushioning insoles made from EVA and other foam materials (seen at HUF, Diamond, DC, DVS, Vans, éS, New Balance, and more). Other brands have reengineered footbeds from the ground up, including Globe: “We are increasingly using EVA and open cell foam lasting boards across various models. In using these materials in place of fibre boards as traditionally used, we make the shoe more comfortable, lighter in weight, and provide additional cushioning and flexibility,” said Matt Wong, President of Global Product at Globe. These tweaks in construction also afford lighter weight shoes, which we are seeing this season from brands across the board, usually indicated by variations of “Light” in model names. And for longer lasting shoes, skate brands shield uppers in a variety of new materials and seamless constructions, including Vans Rapidweld technology, DC Storm Textile, HUF Infinity Rubber, DVS Vaporcell compound and éS footwear STI Thermothane toe piece, which is similar to skate wheel urethane.

LIFESTYLE STORIES
It’s no secret that a sizeable chunk of skate footwear revenues comes from non-skaters. With the ‘sneaker hype’ losing steam, the focus is shifting to skateable shoes that look stylish and feel comfortable – whether people skate in them or not. Peter Frericks at C1RCA sums up the formula as, “skate lifestyle with light materials, mainly canvas in a still clean looking skate shoe based on a vulc outsole.” DVS Shoes dedicated an entire new line to the approach: “Our new LITE(LT) Series represents a greater commitment from DVS to the lifestyle category. The shoes feature inspiration from those key trends in modern footwear like sock top, no-sew upper treatments, progressive fabrics and knits, lightweight compounds with increased flexibility, cushioning and energy return. Our goal is total, intuitive comfort,” said Brent Phelps at DVS. At Diamond Footwear brand director Juston Tucker is stoked on, “the ‘All Day’ shoe for Brandon Biebel, a skateboarding/lifestyle hybrid shoe that features a fully breathable knitted upper paired with a classic suede toe.”

COLOURS: WHITE ON WHITE KICKS
Summer time in Europe sees skateboarders adopting loftier colour palettes – black shoes still reign supreme, though – and more playful prints. The meteoric rise of all-white shoes continues from last summer season, when white Vans were sold out(!) in the U.S. on the strength of endorsements from men’s magazines and viral videos. For 2017, the hot trending combination is (drumroll!): all-white uppers and natural gum soles. Also trending for SS17: dark greens, off-whites, muted pastels, light greys and blues, and playful use of neon and primary colours for contrast. Also, watch out for the éS SAL in baby blue! Meanwhile, designers at New Balance Numeric are injecting a new colour into shoe walls: “We are using a good amount of burgundy as a nod to New Balance heritage. Burgundy allows you to have the traditional ‘dark shoe’ look that dominates skateboarding without having to solely use black or dark grey,” said Nick Pappas, Footwear Product Manager.

CUTS AND SILHOUETTES: ATHLETIC AND SCULPTED
Next season’s silhouettes fall into two camps: Overtly technical designs with innovative materials and mesh inlays in an athletic, runner-inspired silhouette on one side (think éS footwear SESLA). And classic, heritage designs injected with tech “under the hood” on the other (think Vans Pro Skate line). What both have in common is the focus on performance: “Right now we definitely see a desire for more technical product, but also keeping a classic look to the shoes,” said Darryl Charles at Vans, while pointing out the AV Rapidweld Pro Lite and new Wafflecup in the Pro Skate line. Across the board, clean-looking shoes such as the Globe Eagle model, HUF Hupper 2 Lo, and the re-released éS SLB model are combining classic lifestyle (see Trend: Lifestyle) with shreddable performance. Toe sections in SS17 are for the most part non-stitch and pointed. The rubber toe cap trend seems to have peaked in 2016, but still retains some staying power. On that note, the lifestyle runner silhouette is also alive and well in models such as the Premier DVS, Globe Dart and etnies Scout.

And for a sleeper trend, Tony at OSIRIS pointed out: “We are definitely seeing a resurgence in demand for more chub tech style shoes. This fall, we introduced the PXL which is an updated version of our old Pixel model. It features a large airbag and a multi panel heel cup, and for Spring 2017, we’ll be introducing the Idem, another tech shoe, built on a PU pylon midsole.” Time will tell, but look out for wider cup sole shoes giving vulc styles a run for their money.

Globe Mahalo SG by Mark Appleyard

OUTLOOK
Skateboard footwear is changing rapidly and not just in terms of products. “The skate footwear market is considered technically a war zone. The skate footwear market is an ever-changing market place, with the only constant being to expect the unexpected,” said James Appleby, etnies Vice President. According to consensus in the industry, the changes will continue, at least for the foreseeable future. “Skateboarding runs on about a 10-year cycle, meaning every 10 years or so, we see the trends change dramatically. But with the increasing popularity of ‘smaller’ hardware brands like Polar, Palace, WKND, I think skate footwear will also go through more changes,” said Nick at New Balance Numeric.