In HOLY CRAP news, Eric Koston announced his new footwear sponsor yesterday, Nike SB. Koston has been a skate hero forever, and with the way the Berrics is popping off right now, this couldn't have been a better get for SB. Koston has always been a Nike head, but he's also been a trend leader in skate shoe design since his start.
In an interview with Retrokid for SOLE Collector back in April of '08, when he was asked about P-Rod's deal with Nike, Koston said, "I think they ripped him off...I think a company like Nike, they should be paying out the fucking ass... Somebody of Paul's ability and marketability, he deserves more. LeBron's getting a $100 million deal, it's just not comparable." If one were to extrapolate off of this quote, he could safely say that Eric Koston is chilling. So, in celebration of one of skateboarding's greats, and to mark what will undoubtedly be the start of a flood of awesome SBs with his name on it, we've compiled Eric Koston's greatest signature shoes from his start with éS to his move to Lakai. Hit the jump and get schooled about the dude, and his design process.
éS Koston K1 - 1997
• Skate hero Don Brown teamed up with a then soon-to-be skate hero Eric Koston to design Koston's first signature skate shoe in 1997. It was the first-ever pro model to feature an air system, plus an exposed polyurethane midsole, making it an immediate success. The shoe is such a classic that Lakai released it last year as the Kost-One, and is living proof of how multi-talented and straight up awesome Don Brown is (he is the VP of Marketing at Sole Tech now).
éS Koston K2 - 1998
• Sorry for the shitty "early" pics, there wasn't a whole lot of Internet going on in 1998, and especially not with skateboarders. The Koston 2 was the first skate shoe with an EVA midsole cushion, allowing you to be more awesome and bruise your heel less (even if you couldn't feel your board for shit). Imitators rush to cop and copy.
éS Koston K3 - 2000
• In 2000, Eric Koston won the Globe World Contest in Dortmund, Germany; X Games in San Francisco, California and Gravity Games in Providence, Rhode Island. These are all good things, and they'll get you a re-vamped signature. Also—holy crap this sneaker is awesome. I mean, it might not be pick #1 for skating now, but how cool is this thing! Ball in that sucka.
éS Koston K4 - 2002
• In 2001, Koston got P-Rod on the éS team. We doubt Paul Rodriguez had much to do with convincing Koston to move to Nike this time around, but it's funny how history repeats. As far as sneakers, the K4 was considered dope, but expensive. But that's what was cool about éS, they wanted to push the envelope, not just create some crap that kids would get hurt in.
éS Koston K5 - 2003
• éS Footwear introduces the first-ever official éS Game of SKATE at ASR the same year the K5 dropped. Appropriately, éS team riders Eric Koston and Paul Rodriguez battle it out for the top spot, but P-Rod takes home the $10,000 1st place prize. At some point in here, it became Eric Koston's game of skate, which he re-claimed and continued to destroy for a few years.
éS Koston K6 - 2004
• In 2004, people started talking about a "secret indoor training facility" that Koston was using to get awesome (and to land all of the crazy tricks in Tony Hawk's Underground 2). Ah, if only there was Twitter back then, there would be 30 Berrics across the country by now.
éS Koston K7 - 2005
• Koston's final éS sneaker. The Sole Technology crew sheds a tear, and the man moves to Lakai...
Lakai Koston series - late 2007/2008
• It took Lakai a bit to get their Koston's signature shoes out, but when they did, it was dope. A nice vulc signature, a re-make of the classic ESK-1, and all around good times. The worst part about Koston leaving was that there was a high top version of the ESK-1 coming out for this Fall. It was the most awesome-ugliest thing you've ever seen, but oh well, now there are a butload of SBs that we can get psyched on.
Now What?
• Who the eff knows, but we can safely say you'll see a Kost-Dunk, some Kost-Bruins, a Kost-Blazer, and once Omar's sneaker drops next year, there will be a Koston signature shoe (just 'cause you have to). We're going to go with the over/under on Fall 2010 for the Nike SB Eric Koston, but what do we know.
G-Roc June 12th, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Well done!
Malc B June 12th, 2009 at 01:36 PM
......a feature only skaters would appreciate......good job
Peter Fallow June 12th, 2009 at 02:16 PM
Good post. Peter Fallow usually doesn't delve into the world of street and skate wear, but once upon a time, before the trust fund kicked in, I was forced to cop a pair Dada's from Marshall's that strongly resemble the K3's. See below. http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/sneakers/all/images/81716_600.jpg
OhItsJustGabe May 18th, 2010 at 09:00 PM
man you trip me out . lol
The Real Just June 13th, 2009 at 12:34 AM
"Before the trust fund kicked in" Mannnnnnn fucking jump in front of on coming traffic.
Anti Nike Skate Shops Live Longer June 13th, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Koston owned a part of lakai and they have not been doing great since the economy fell…Rather than trying to help lakai and wait for things to get better he sold his shares of lakai then sold out to the highest bidder which was between Nike and Vans (Vans is also a huge corporate beast #2 Poser shoe IMO)…This year there will be some major shoe brands and skate brands go under…Nike is a major part of the problem…Call me fuckin gay or whatever you want, but the truth is that Nike forces you to buy so many of their shoes every season and small shops end up having to cancel orders from real skate shoe companies to give all their money to Nike…That is the truth and you cannot argue with that….The current trend will put out even more core skateshops out of business until the only place left to buy your skate shit is Sport’s Authority…That’s Fuckin Gay As HELL!!!!!!
Mat July 20th, 2009 at 03:27 PM
Yer I couldn't agree more,Plus Nikeys don't even give you the long-lasting sneakers like alot of other skate shoe companys.
reydo August 11th, 2009 at 02:25 AM
thats bullshit i got some blazers theyve lasted two months longer then the mj selects i had before
Hillbilly86 July 3rd, 2010 at 03:05 AM
I'm a sales rep for a deck company and I talk to a bunch of shop owners and that is the case. Many of the shop owners here in NC wont order from Nike because they wouldn't be able to afford other brands thanks to Nike's high volume minimum and the only reason Nike began making skate shoes was because they saw the money they could make, they don't care about the sport they're looking at the green. nothing but a bunch of greedy ass fagots.
chiney June 15th, 2009 at 01:48 AM
i agree wit anti-nike above... thisz guy went from being a skate purist to being a fucking sell out over nite... apparently for alot of skate shops these days if they dont carry nike in some way shape or form they tend to tank... is that rite??? fuck all this money bullshit... common (sense) aint been the same since hes gotten public success and thats jus an example from elsewhere... dam koston u fell off
me December 29th, 2009 at 03:38 AM
in response to all the negative nike doesnt sell to anything but core shops bedsides any internet things the only places around me that have them are small core shops and that makes the statment about shops going under because of nike retarted nike sb will never sell in sports athority so there is no worry there and the economy is on an upswing so he left lakai so that they didnt have to pay him his sallary ok thats selling out well he has a wife and kid so its understandable they dont want a normal life he deserves every cent that he gets he has influnced skateboarding in more ways than most and vans maybe be coprate but they still sponsor good skateboarders and they make affordable skate shoes so i dont think they sold out if anything their helping us progress they had some of the first skate shoes and without them we wouldnt have a majority of the skate shoes we have
Hillbilly86 July 3rd, 2010 at 03:11 AM
Koston is a badass skater and moving to Nike was a smart move on his part cause there's alot more money there, but very few of the 50 different shops here in NC that I have to travel to or at least talk to over the phone carry Nike because a shop has to order a certain amount of their shows, and that number is pretty high for small shops, and if the shop orders then they can't afford to order from many other shoe companies. The economy is on an up swing in certain areas but I know for a fact here in NC for shops it's a weekly battle, one week they will do more business than they could have imagined and the next week they'll be doing good to sell 2 decks, it's still not steady like it needs to be.
cleric7 June 15th, 2009 at 08:41 PM
I need those yellow/green ones!!
J From MD, But Born In D.C. June 16th, 2009 at 02:21 PM
the Koston 2's remind me of some ACG's or Air Maxes lol. but congrats to him going with Nike SB,maybe he'll get his own SB signature shoe? only time will tell..
Dann from Southampton, UK June 17th, 2009 at 07:54 AM
Anti-Nike, thats just the way a recession goes, more skateshops will open up eventually. Don't underestimate what Nike can do for skateboarding, this could propel it into the public eye as a real sport, not a little niche. Get out of your little "my local skate scene means i have to hate on any kind of corporation blahh blahh poser shoe" mentality, realise that posers wear every kind of skategear, and grow up. Well done Koston!
klm1015 June 19th, 2009 at 01:11 PM
Wow no wonder he sold his share of Lakai all the sneakers look like a complete rip off of other shoes!!!!