"Just wanted to let you know that I've really enjoyed reading your blog. My favorite pieces so far have been about the budget shoes. As a father of 2 small kids and a stay at home mom, skate money is scarce and I'll be picking up some of the Airwalks tomorrow because of what I've read at your site. Have you seen the new Shaun White shoes at Target? $35 a pair in a couple different styles.
Thanks again from a broke skater dad.
Gary"
We've actually received a surprising amount of positive feedback on our "Head-To-Head Pricepoint Skate Shoe Tests". First of all: It's good to know that we're actually doing something useful, and not just taking up valuable bandwidth with a ton of useless jibberish...
On the other hand: It kinda makes us wonder why in the world none of the "other print magazines" aren't doing this sort of direct, honest, and comparative testing themselves...? Are they getting pressure from advertisers to ignore the "pricepoint" market, or to not give their budget-minded readers some useful information...? Are the mags just lazy, and/or clueless? Are they out of touch with the real world, and their real-world readers...?
I don't know, because I don't run a magazine. But if I did, I would have to acknowledge that the "pricepoint" market is so big, that it just can't be ignored anymore. Especially in the middle of a recession...
It's also kinda cool that skaters are starting to bring suggestions to me... like Gary did, with the Shaun White shoes. I'll definitely be putting those on my "Check Out" list. The Solitary Life answers to noone, but the readers. So what the readers want, the readers shall get...!
Likewise: Don Villa asked us to check out the Airspeed Nate Sherwood kicks, which we're doing right now (I have a pair on my feet as I'm typing this, as a matter of fact!). They're pretty good shoes, so far. Very comfortable, very simple... and so far, pretty durable. A lot more durable than the Airspeed Official II's were...!
One thing that I found to be kind of funny, but have forgotten to mention: We have made numerous attempts to contact Airspeed, regarding the "air-tech sole" of the Official II's. We have received no response at all from Airspeed to date. The moral? Save your receipts! If you have any problems with these shoes, your best bet is probably to return them to the store where you bought them for a refund or exchange... in this case, your local Wal-Mart. And, avoid those Official II's. It's the only shoe that we've tested so far, that has actually fallen apart from the inside-out.
Thanks to everyone that's brought us some valuable feedback and suggestions. They are getting heard, and we do take them to heart. So, keep those letters coming...!
