The 20 Best Board and Shoe Brand Collabs Ever
Once upon a time, board brands were the only companies that mattered. But as the number of skate shoe companies grew, so too did skaters’ fixation with footwear. In recent years, board and shoe labels, now on equal footing, began to collaborate, releasing kicks that featured logos and colorways that in eras prior would have only appeared on decks. Think Nike and Chocolate, or Girl and Lakai. These combined efforts have yielded some classic designs. Check out our 20 favorites.
Huf x Krooked – Brad Cromer Genuine Colorway
It’s not quite a pro shoe, but this special colorway of the Genuine is a nod to Huf team rider Brad Cromer’s board sponsor, Krooked, and its iconic eyes logo, which looks cool on the kick’s heel.
Fallen x Deathwish – Slash
Slash’s Fallen model—which we liked to begin with—gets the Deathwish treatment, with his board sponsor’s iconic logo appearing on the shoe’s tongue.
Gravis x Alien Workshop – Dylan Slip-On
Gravis and Dylan Rieder may be no more, but Dylan’s sleek slip-on model looked good with the understated Alien Workshop logo on the heel. We expect something equally dope to come out of his new shoe deal with Huf.
Adidas Skateboarding x Roger – Adi Ease
We hadn’t expected adidas Skateboarding to work with Roger, Stacy Lowery and Michael Sieben’s irreverent board company, but the adi Ease colorway the collaboration produced was cool—few shoes look good with red laces—and so was the video released to promote it. We’re always down for Sieben’s art, even when it appears on an insole.
éS x Chocolate – Justin Eldridge
éS was one of our favorite shoe companies, and this Justin Eldridge collaboration is yet another example why. Check the classic Chocolate logos running along the tongue, or the tag with Eldridge’s name in the board brand’s unmistakable script, all on a shoe with a timeless silhouette.
Lakai x Girl – Howard
To exactly no one’s surprise, Lakai released a collection of Pretty Sweet colorways after the much-anticipated video dropped. The Brea and Howard models got the flick’s logo and color scheme, with the latter being our favorite, in part because, well, it’s Rick Howard.
Emerica x Toy Machine – China Flat
Though this collab doesn’t come as a huge surprise—Toy Machine honcho Ed Templeton has skated for Emerica for a long time, as have some of his riders—we were psyched to see Tempter’s classic art on this stripped-down canvas shoe. If, like us, you’re feeling Ed, then you’re feeling this series.
Lakai x Creature – Pico
This collab, which laced the Pico with Creature’s signature black-and-green colorway, came about thanks to Raven Tershy, who skated for both companies. The flare logo looks at home in neon.
Emerica x Enjoi – Jerry Hsu
Oftentimes, a collab shoe means an understated acknowledgement of a skater’s board sponsor—a logo on the tongue or the heel, or maybe a slightly modified colorway. In Enjoi and Emerica rider Jerry Hsu’s case, though, it gave us the former company’s panda graphic plastered across part of a shoe’s upper and the entirety of its insole—and it looked good.
DVS x Plan B – Torey 2
Plan B and DVS teamed up for a colorway of the Torey 2, technician Torey Pudwill’s latest shoe. The kick comes complete with a tie-dye insole featuring a TPUDS graphic. It may not help with your nosegrind nollie flip to lipslides, but it does look cool.
Lakai x Girl – Carroll Select
Another not-quite-understated ode to a board sponsor, in this case, Girl, which Mike Carroll also happens to co-own. The Carroll Select is an ideal canvas for logos, but none suits it better than this one.
Emerica x Shake Junt – Reynolds 3
Emerica’s classic Reynolds 3 got dipped in Shake Junt’s signature green-and-gold colorway. Anyone who’s likes the Junt should like these shoes.
Adidas Skateboarding x Cliché – Lucas Pro
To mark Cliché’s 15th birthday, adidas Skateboarding dropped a special edition the Lucas Pro. The neon insole, along with the embossing on the tongue, highlighted the fact that the French board brand had defied the odds and stuck around for a decade and a half.
Lakai x Baker – Griffin
Riley Hawk may still be am, but Lakai and Baker linked up to give him a colorway that shows his loyalty to both brands. His take on the Griffin is clean and simple, with both sponsors’ names displayed on top of the tongue. When he does turn pro, a signature shoe won’t be far behind.
Lakai x Trunk Boyz – Carroll Select
It may not exactly be a shoe x board brand collab, but this year, Lakai released a series of colorways designed by the Trunk Boyz, Girl and Chocolate’s young guns, who are known to hold down the back panel in the tour van. While Vincent Alvarez and Stevie Perez put their stamp on the Manchester and Pico, respectively, Raven Tershy’s take on the Carroll Select is our favorite of the collection.
DVS x Almost – Daewon CT
With this colorway, DVS and Almost paid homage to Love Child, the classic World Industries video that introduced us to Daewon Song in 1992. The shoe’s insole features the controversial artwork from VHS tape’s box, which Almost also ran on a board. As an added bonus, Daewon dropped a web clip in which he recreated a couple of lines from the section.
Huf x Expedition – Joey Pepper
Joey Pepper has been around for a long time, but only recently has he begun to get his due. His signature shoe on Huf was an instant favorite, and this colorway, released in conjunction with his board sponsor, Expedition-One, made us like his model ever more.
Vans x Powell-Peralta – Sk8-Hi
Vans’ Sk8-Hi is a classic shoe, and Steve Caballero—who’s ridden for the company for decades—is a classic skater. So it made sense for the Vans, through its Vault line, to put one of his iconic dragon graphics on the side of the sneaker. The brand also put Ray Barbee’s ragdoll graphic on the same model, and dropped Slip-Ons with similar imagery on them, too.
Huf x Cliché – Hufnagel Pro
Keith Hufnagel has never—and likely will never—skate for Cliché, but as part of its second collaboration with the French board company, his brand, Huf, released his signature shoe in a special-edition colorway to show love to the Europeans. They grey-and-yellow combo accomplishes exactly that.
Nike SB x Chocolate – Dunk Low-Pro SP Chocolate
This wasn’t a Richard Mulder pro shoe—at the time, Nike SB hadn’t given anyone a signature model—but the Chocolate graphic and Mulder-designed colorway were fine by us. Consider yourself lucky if you got your hands on this limited-run model when it came out.
Once upon a time, board brands were the only companies that mattered. But as the number of skate shoe companies grew, so too did skaters’ fixation with footwear. In recent years, board and shoe labels, now on equal footing, began to collaborate, releasing kicks that featured logos and colorways that in eras prior would have only appeared on decks. Think Nike and Chocolate, or Girl and Lakai. These combined efforts have yielded some classic designs. Check out our 20 favorites.