It’s not just the big players. Smaller indie brands are approaching the category from a completely different angle. Paris-based label Village PM, for example, has taken cues from climbing footwear and applied them directly to skateboarding. “What interested us was the functionality,” says co-founder Bram De Cleen. “Climbing shoes let you feel exactly what you’re doing, while still being extremely tough.” That combo translates neatly onto a skateboard, where the feel of the board and durability matter more than anything else.
“The first thing we transferred from climbing footwear was a very precise, asymmetrical fit,” he says. “Extended lacing comes in to assist that precision fit—helping with what we call lockdown, the feeling that your foot is held securely by the shoe.” The Village PM team also developed its own rubber compound inspired by climbing rubber, built to be soft, grippy, and hard-wearing.
Keen, on the other hand, has been doing this for decades. The Jasper, first introduced in 2008, has become one of the most recognizable approach shoes around, worn by every big streetwear guy on Instagram. There wasn’t a big marketing push or anything like that, it just sort of…stuck around. “It’s stayed true to its design,” says Meijer. “That mix of authenticity and everyday usability is what makes it resonate.”
