Great blog, great idea. I’m writing a PhD thesis on the history of sports shoes and have been looking at the skate booms of the 70s, 80s and 90s. Unearthing old magazines has been nigh on impossible (the British Library has just one copy of R.A.D. and one copy of Skateboard!), so this is incredible for me.

I’m interested in the way skaters used shoes intended for other sports for skating, before the massive boom in skate shoes in the 90s. The letter here – ‘Skate and get gangrene’ – is interesting because it shows someone asking for advice on footwear, and a response which advises customizing the shoes (with gaffer tape) to make them more suitable for skating. Did you get any more of this type of thing? Or publish any more shoe reviews (bar the couple that are already on the blog)? I’d love to see them if so.

Cheers
Thomas