Vans Stage 4

Our wear test of skateboarding's first-ever vulcanized cupsole shoe

In 1966 Paul Van Doren introduced the first vulcanized rubber soled shoe specifically designed for skateboarding. Since the introduction of the cupsole design in the 1980s, a debate has roared within the skateboard community between the two styles. On the one hand vulc soles offer unparalleled board feel and grip with a minimal break-in period, but tend to wear down rather quickly leaving the wearer …

Martha Davis

The designer's latest footwear collection with the Workshop Residence uses reclaimed materials from the Bay Area

A long career in industrial design informs Martha Davis‘ footwear collection, which was first launched back in 2009. The multifaceted designer spent the last few months at San Francisco’s Workshop Residence, creating shoes by hand from custom steel shanks, vegetable-tanned leather and reclaimed wood from the Bay Area. Debuting today, the three new styles represent Davis’ embrace of natural materials and minimal fashion. Davis found …

The New Nike+

Sneakers embedded with pressure sensors and accelerometers bring all-new opportunities for athletic performance tracking

Originally unveiled in 2006, Nike+ has grown to a committed community of over six million digitally connected users. To build upon this concrete foundation Nike has today announced the Nike+ basketball and training shoes embedded with pressure sensors and accelerometers to collect previously unmeasurable, movement-based statistics across multiple levels of speed and agility. The groundbreaking technology is the next step in building a robust ecosystem, …