The 30 Best Signature Skate Shoes of All Time

Image via Complex Original

Skater: Rob Dyrdek
Year: 2011

If you only know Rob Dyrdek from "Rob and Big," you best do your homework. Dyrdek has been part of DC Shoes since the "DC" stood for Droors Clothing, and has had a whole string of pro models. The Flawless is just that.

Skater: Chad Muska
Year: 1998

The Muska's eS signature shoe was the epitome of late-'90s skate style: An Air Jordan influenced, heavily padded upper with a stash spot in the tongue and some kind of tech in the heel. Skaters wouldn't touch a shoe like this now, but that doesn't matter.

Skater: Joey Pepper
Year: 2013

What we have here is a stone cold classic skate shoe - a vulcanized lowcut with only the most basic design elements. Everything you need and nothing you don't. So simple it's a wonder that it's so hard.

Skater: Braydon Szafranski
Year: 2009

You're going to see a lot of shoes with Air Jordan influences on here, so you may as well get used to it. The Braydon looked to the Air Jordan VI, re-imagining it as a somewhat traditional skate low (there was a mid, too) in decidedly nontraditional colors.

Skater: Stevie Williams
Year: 2012

Stevie Williams' first pro model with Supra took disparate basketball sneaker influences from the past 30 years and melded them into one coherent mid-cut whole. Instant classic.

Skater: Josh Kalis
Year: 2000

Josh Kalis's first shoe with DC, the eponymous Kalis, had an impact far beyond Josh's native Philadelphia. One could say there was some Koston 1 influence to the design, but the use of suede gave it its own spin.

Skater: Anthony Pappalardo
Year: 2010

adidas isn't the only company with deep roots making inroads into skateboarding. Converse's roots go even deeper, although they don't have the breadth of catalog to draw from. Anthony Pappalardo's "Stars and Bars" OX mixed heritage with tech the right way. Too bad the relationship didn't last.

Skater: Sal Barbier
Year: 1995

Sal Barbier's second signature shoe played heavily off of the Air Jordan IX, right down to the bootie construction. Not the first or the last skate shoe to take Jordan inspiration, but by far one of the best.

Skater: Erik Ellington
Year: 2012

If the KCKs (we'll get to them) have a modern-day successor, it might well be the Supra Ellington. Erik Ellington's pro model takes classic Reebok trainer styling and flips it for skate.

Skater: Eric Koston
Year: 2006

Eric Koston's switch to Lakai may have been unexpected, but the brand swap didn't end Koston's run of dope shoes. The Kost One may have been overshadowed by the Lakai re-launch of Koston's first pro model, but the Nike-inspired cupsole Kost One was a beast in its own right.

Skater: Jason Dill
Year: 2005

Lightweight shoes for a heavyweight skater. Well, not literally. The Dill 2s featured primarily mesh uppers and EVA midsoles and were perfect for summer. It's just too bad the Zoom Haven inspired pair never came out.

Skater: Ryan Sheckler
Year: 2013

Ryan Sheckler was like a skateboarding Justin Bieber before there was even a singing Justin Bieber, the darling of the tween set. Now just 23, Sheckler has a growing legacy to go with his ever-increasing collection of tattoos, as well as one of the best signature models of 2013. Not bad.

Skater: Marc Johnson
Year: 1997

That big "M" on the side should have made it perfectly clear whose pro model these were. They were later re-released as the OG, and we weren't even mad.

Skater: Geoff Rowley
Year: 1999

Classic low-cut Vans vulc goodness. When it came time for Geoff Rowley to get his own pro model, he didn't venture far from the Vans baseline - hey, they know what they're doing. The pioneering lightweight Rowley XLT was a keeper, too.

Skater: Natas Kaupas
Year: 1988

The very first skater to get a pro model shoe was Natas Kaupas, when the etnies Natas dropped in 1988. A traditional basketball-cut hightop inspired in part by the original Air Jordan and in part by Ellesse (Etnies was a French-based company, remember), the Natas featured a rubber ollie guard and was produced in four colorways. Made for the streets.

Skater: Lucas Puig
Year: 2012

While the Busenitz (we'll get to them) took inspiration from the soccer pitch, the Lucas Puig looked to the tennis courts. adidas has a deeper archive than any other sneaker company, and skaters have always adapted things made for other reasons – whether it be terrain or shoes - for their own purposes, so it made perfect sense that adidas' skate launch would draw heavily on the company's own history. Nicely done.

Skater: Jim Greco
Year: 2005

Nothing high tech here, just a creeper-inspired Vans for a style - and skate - pioneer. We would not be mad if these were put back in production. Hammers.

Skater: Paul Rodriguez
Year: 2005

P-Rod's signature Nike's have changed considerably since he first signed on, but there's still much to be said for his first pro model. Zoom may not provide the otherworldly cushioning of Lunar, but the first shoe needed to be a home run - and it absolutely was. The Tinker Hatfield blessed "J-Rod" just added to the mystique.

Skater: Kenny Anderson
Year: 2011

Skate shoes went on a major weight loss program after the early 2000s, and by the time the first decade of the new millenium came to a close, slim was the move. Kenny Anderson's first pro model with Converse was based on one of their classic trainers, and the sleek shoe was perfection on and off the board.

Skater: Chad Muska
Year: 2011

The first two Supra Skytops - while amazing in their own ways - seemed to be different for different's sake. The third incarnation, however, was quite serious. Drawing on equal parts basketball and running inspiration, the Muska's latest greatest remixed the past in a futuristic way. Catch up.

Skater: Stefan Janoski
Year: 2009

More or less a skatable boat shoe, Stefan Janoski's Nike SB remains stubbornly in production four years after its initial introduction - something nearly unheard of with anyone's debut signature shoe in any sport. But what would a sequel even look like? Sometimes you just get it right the first time.

Skater: Jason Lee
Year: 1995

Before he moved on to bigger things - like acting, mustache farming and scientology - Jason Lee was one hell of a street skater. His Airwalk pro model was perfectly understated (especially compared to Airwalk's earlier output), with just his signature across the tongue.

Skater: Andrew Reynolds
Year: 1998

Maybe it's just because it was Andrew Reynolds' first pro model, but the shape was right, the colors were spot-on, and everything clicked. Prime material from the airbag era. Gum soles didn't hurt, either.

Skater: Eric Koston
Year: 2011

Nike SB was plenty legit by 2011 - with 10 years in the game and a roster that included Paul Rodriguez, the days of incredulous "Nike in skateboarding?" responses were left far behind - but the addition of Eric Koston to the team was still huge. It only followed that he'd get a pro model. The Eric Koston 1 featured a revolutionary drop-in Lunarlon insole and a deceptively basic upper that just flat-out performed.

Skater: Dennis Busenitz
Year: 2010

The Busenitz Pro is one of those sneakers that made you say "why the hell didn't they come up with this earlier?" An indoor soccer shoe on steroids (based on the classic Copa Mundial), the Busenitz Pro staked adidas' claim in skate in a major way. And while follow-ups like the Busenitz Vulc and Busenitz ADV have naturally followed, the originals are already all-time classics.

Skater: Sal Barbier
Year: 1994

It doesn't get much simpler - or much better - than the Sal 23. Sal Barbier's first pro model didn't have the overt Jordan influence that later shoes (including his own SLB) would have, but the embroidered "23" on the heels made for the perfect touch. The ultimate form-follows-function classic.

Skater: Mike Vallely
Year: 2000

A tough shoe for an even tougher skater, the etnies Vallely featured a rubberized toe and a heel airbag for hard landings. Released right in the middle of the "fat is better" era, the Vallely was a little puffy, but nowhere near as overdone as its contemporaries.

Skater: Kareem Campbell
Year: 1995

Kareem Campbell's kicks. Inspired by the classic Reebok Workout, the KCKs actually spanned two separate companies as they were later produced by Axion. But Duffs - founded by Steve Rocco and Rodney Mullen - did them first and did them better.

Skater: Eric Koston
Year: 1997

The eS Koston was the first modern signature skate shoe, in that it actually had a cushioning system. It also gets some extra shine from being Koston's first pro model, but even had it been a one-shot deal, the first Koston would still be legendary. Don Brown killed it.

Skater: Steve Caballero
Year: 1993

Forget the best signature skate shoe ever, the Vans Half Cab is probably the best skate shoe ever, period. The cut-down version of Steve Caballero's signature hightop emerged organically, as street skaters sought freer movement and broke out the X-Actos and duct tape. Twenty years later, the vulc mid-cut has no shortage of imitators and no shortage of praise.