DOSE REVIEW: Skating The New Mike Vallely x Cariuma Vegan Skate Shoes
The bright green box turned up boasting of being both recycled and recyclable. As I was unboxing the brand new Mike Vallely x Cariuma vegan sneakers, I was happy to see that all the packaging was completely plastic-free (as expected from Cariuma as they pride themselves on their sustainability).
As soon as I put them on, my feet sank into the super cushioned natural cork insoles; walking around felt so comfortable. I had a skate trip to London planned the next day so I put these babies to the test and wore them there - I’m usually a bit skeptical about wearing new shoes in case they give me blisters but I could already tell that wasn't going to be an issue with these. And it wasn’t, I didn’t even have to break them in, they were as comfy as my oldest pair of sneakers but with a box-fresh look.
I skated around the streets of London and the movement of my feet within the shoes felt really natural and not at all restrictive, like how it usually feels with new shoes.
When I arrived at the skatepark, straight away I went to the halfpipe to run a few lines and it just felt so easy - a nice amount of grip on the board and the weight of the shoes felt perfect. The super high rubber foxing gives the shoe an extra inch of protection meaning even with a brand new setup, your extra-grippy grip tape won’t eat through the shoe’s fabric after a few tricks.
I’ve had trouble with certain skate shoes because I’ve needed more support at the bottoms of my feet, so insoles (like many skaters) have been an important thing for me and these removable cork insoles have been a godsend!
Overall it was a very pleasant experience - hats off to Mike and Cariuma for creating vegan skate shoes that are actually comfy because even now, they’re still hard to come by!
Speed on over to the DOSE store to get your hands on some shirts and hoodies.
