so far, my favourite pair of skateboarding shoes has been my vans/anti.hero tony trujillo tnt4 shoes. i think vans is a really good brand for skate shoes. i wanted to check out ipath though because they look cool, and i hear they have good manufacturing practices. for example, i noticed that their shoes are not made in china. they _are_ made in thailand; but *shrug* although thailand may have its own set of manufacturing policies that don't match "made in the usa," at least "made in thailand" is not "made in china."
anyway, i was a little worried because these shoes only have 4 pairs of eyelets. i worried if they wouldn't fit as snug. well, they _do_ have a _little_ bit of problem at the toe, but i seem to be able to make them fit nicer at the toe by tightening up the laces towards the that area. i can tell the benefit of _not_ having as mane eyelets is that you don't need that set of stitches down near the toe that shreds up so fast from ollies. of course, i superglue all the stitches ahead of time anyway. i appreciate that the eyelets all have metal inserts. that's great.
the vulcanised gum soles are also great. they provide excellent grip and board feel. the suede seems to be pretty durable so far.
the shoes come with a set of white laces and a set of brown ones (when you buy the brown colour). i use the brown ones. i like my shoes to be on the darker side.
i bought mine for about $30 with free shipping.
