Kustom footwear Dekade Wake Tonic: versatile footwear for skateboarding and wake skate

Commente ::

8 août 2008 ::

Catégories : Test shoes

After riding some Globe Haslam and Etnies Sheckler 2, I’m now testing a footwear brand of "water sports" who sent us a model.
We are going to test here a versatile shoe, which can be used for skateboarding, wake skating, walking or chilling in your bath

The footwear: Kustom Footwear Dekade Wake Tonic color
"Wake tonic" is the name of the color of the shoe but as Olive pointed out : Waketonic, it’s a little tecktonik ( french electro shit trend for teenagers) !

The external sole: A little too thick, the underside of the sole looks like a tire with little holes to let the water pass through when you’re on your wakeboard.
There is also the slot to allow the shoe to bend easily from the beginning. The sole grips quite normally on a skateboard grip.

The inner sole: A not really classic sole as it has holes in the sole to make it very airy, which also allows quick drying.
The sole is very well shaped for the foot, like with Sole technologies soles, therefore we have the foot well maintained and it protects you when you do your tricks (regardless of the sport you practice).

La languette : La languette c’est le hic de la chaussure. The tongue: The tongue is the problem of the shoe. The shoe is black and blue with a little bit of yellow and the tongue is fully yellow.
Who choosed that color?
The tongue has a good length eventhough a few more millimeters would not have hurt. In fact I prefer when the pants fall BEHIND the tongue rather than ABOVE.

As I do not lace the shoes ’till the end, we mostly see the tongue when we look at the shoes from above !!! Too bad!

The materials: thick plastic on front, net for the top and sides. A net which allows a perfect breathing of the foot with even wind coming inside the shoes when you ride.
Inside the shoe, there is a foam that dries quickly but that really makes you sweat (well at least ,mostly for me and my stincky feet )

The particularities :
a shoe whose primary purpose is to practice Wakeboard (or Wakeskate). That is why it has incredibly effective breathing holes and specific materials to resist to water. Indeed, the materials used dry faster than suede or leather (and does not rot) so the shoes can be worn from the beginning ’till the end of the day, after racing, wake skating and then skateboarding.
That is why I said earlier that it is a versatile shoe.

The price: 69 € at HawaiiSurf here. I did not even know that Hawaii was selling some, I found that when searching on google.

Availability: On the website of the brand, there is a list of shops selling Kustom gear but as the list is super long I invite you to visit their website – find the link at the bottom of the article

Available colours:
Black and Brown / Waketonic / White graffiti / White gum / White Plaid / brown and white.
The test:
The inside material is not ideal at all when you wear socks because the shoe slips from the foot if you don’t tighten the shoe hard enough. On the other hand, with naked feet, they are superb.
-> Effective laces protection but the net on top of the shoe tends to break early when you ride your skateboard and the plastic on the front doesn’t grip at all. We are far away from the Leo Romero’s from Emerica .
-> Indeed the net breaks but is still well held in the shoe, a little high, but yet comfortable.
Photo after 2h of ride.

–> After being in the water, the drying time is approximately 6 hours under a big warm sun . The sole grips well even when it is very wet, so it is a sole that does its job well.
–> When you’re in water, they do not feel heavy, the water seeps across the shoes and it is very easy to swim with.
Left Photo below with my dear Johanna !

In the end, a non-skateboarding brand trying to make multi sports footwear results in a shoe not fully skateboarding oriented , nonetheless , no doubts it is perfect for wake skating. But we do not practice wake skating (yet ))

More photos as soon as possible!

To resume:
The Decade model is very useful when you go on vacation in the south (of france> sun and shores )and you go swim in the creeks. But I definitely prefer the Kerrupt model, Josh Kerr pro model (surfer), wich you can see on the right and seems much more adapted to the practice of skateboarding. On essayera de refaire un test dès que possible car c’est du matériel innovant. We’ll try to do another test as soon as possible because it is innovative gear.