Nike Skateboarding: A Retro Trip into the Obscurity of New Shoes

What comes to mind when you hear the word 'Nike?' Perhaps some dreaded early 90s high tops, perhaps P. Diddy running his stupid marathon, perhaps USA Olympians… Regardless, it's going to be something about ugly performance shoes.Well, you might as well just toss that whole line of thinking right out the window, because you haven't seen the new releases from the Nike Skateboarding line.

Reflecting, now more than ever, on the styles that cemented the foundation for the world's largest shoe line, Nike has recently released an online catalog of some of its craziest, most retro styles. By accessing the web site's URL, http://www.nike.com/nikeskateboarding/v2/main.html, you too can see the styles.

Instead of just your average, run-of-the-mill catalog, Nike Skateboarding features an interactive Macromedia flashboard that displays the styles of the past and present. A few showstoppers: the Dunk Lo Pro SB in Jersey Gold/ Cascade Blue by Sean Martin; the E-Cue in Yasssatuka Camo; the Blazer SB in Vegas Gold/ Black; and last but not least, the brand new metallic Dunk Lo Pro SB's by James Keoni Arizumi (to be released in conjunction with the eclipse on March 29, 2006).

Aside from the interactive shoe-board, the site features some of its new clothing, store finders (the site does not feature an option to order anything via the web), and the preternatural page of sponsored riders' profiles. As soon as the viewer clicks on the the riders link, he/she is treated to a Brady Bunch-like set up of the profiles that move and contort with or without the interaction of the viewer's mouse-clicks. Beyond that, the viewer can read up on the riders' specifics, and make their whole bodies contort/ dance.

Still, it's the shoes that steal the show. I decided to sign up for the monthly shoe giveaway that the site features, hoping to win a pair of new Zoom Tre's in the classic Red/ Black colorway.

If I don't win, I'll still feel like I've benefited. After downloading a few AIM profiles, a really cool 'hemp design' wallpaper, and reading Nike SB's public apology for ripping off Minor Threat and Dischord Records, I was happy to have fooled around on the site for about an hour. Too bad I couldn't order any shoes.

Honestly, I'd like to see more webpages like this. Aside from all of the hoopla-the multimedia, the video clips that appear in between navigation, and the animation overload-I'll remember the back catalog and will, definitely, come back to visit. If only more brand names did this with their products, i.e., catalog them and give them a history for consumers to read up on, perhaps the companies would be more highly regarded. Although I am [and will always be] an avid supporter of Adidas, I will remain a curious onlooker of the Nike catalog.

Maybe I'm not that interested in wearing the shoes themselves, and I'm not going to find any Nike stores near my house, but I will repeatedly return to check out the wild styles of Nike SB.