DC Has a Skate Shoes Problem
DC is maybe not at the forefront of the skateboarding shoe landscape. Now, it still has more cache than, say, Vans, which is as much a retro ‘90s pop punk shoe as a skate show these days. The thing is, the megaliths of shoes, Nike, adidas, et al, got in the skateboarding realm, and they used their muscle to get to the head of the table. DC still has a lot of skate shoe offerings, though. They have the form to work as skate shoes, in terms of durability. The soles, the toe caps, they are there. However, the issue with DC is, like, more than half their silhouettes don’t look good.
Looking through the DC landscape on the website, I don’t really see any skate shoes other than the low tops that work. The Teknic, in “super suede,” is nice, and the tan/green colorway of the Teknic is their best-looking shoe. However, anything with some lift around the ankles just looks bad. Instead of looking like cool skate shoes, the look tends to be more like a knockoff basketball sneaker from the ‘90s. The Manteca 4 is the only one that doesn’t look “off,” but the colorways are laid out poorly.
Now, DC can’t compete with a Nike SB, but the offerings could be better. When you offer, as of this moment, 47 different looks, and there are two or three I would wear, that’s a problem.
