Author: Crossfire

To be perfectly honest, I still can’t figure out how having a comic strip painted across the bottom of a skateboard resembles Rick’s love of shoes, but in all honesty, who gives a flying fuck; It’s a skateboard at the end of the day and the graphic is the first thing to go!

This particular model, like many other Girl pressings, comes to you flat footed and has hardly any concave to it at all. To most skaters who like to diversify their skills across street as well as transition, this board would seem the impossible choice, but I happen to think its all a pile of shit and you should try something new from time to time, you might even like it! This isn’t the first time I’ve unwrapped a girl and probably wont be the last either, I liked the one I rode a few years back and this one was no exception.

Howard’s design on this piece is border-line to flawless; it’s got a subtle tail lift with slightly steeper nose and fits the criteria of the classic 90’s skateboard, crafted with passion. Nowadays people are ingesting all kinds of useless shit into finding the perfect ride, but I’m too old fashioned that way and stick to classics made from organic materials…WOOD! It’s a really poppy bastard too and has lasted me whopping 3 months, that’s beaten the last board I killed by almost a month and is still fine for a few sessions. It’s a good size too as it comes in just under and 8″, but is slightly bigger than your average tech deck.

I don’t know what Girl boards retail for these days, but if you can get your hands on a nice one, then I suggest rolling with it! They are excellent skateboards, produced by this industries more knowledgeable heads, thus giving them the upper hand as wisdom clearly prevails throughout their product range.

8/10

Live FAST, Ride FAST
2P

One of the first shoes I ever skated in, all those years ago was a pair of éS Accels. And despite being praised as one of the best skate shoes in history, a simple design, durable and easily adaptable, I struggled to get along with it.

They seemed clunky. And even when I decided to begrudge them a second chance when the Accel Plus was released, back when all this fancy pants system G2 malarkey was barely heard of, I loathed them. If I ever wound up on the wrong side of an august mafia don, with an extravagant name (that would probably influence me to start up a pizzeria in the same name if I was to survive my encounter with him), and was intent on me sleeping with the fishes. The last thing I would want is for him to pull out a pair of Accel Plus and strap them on to my feet. I’d have sunk on some serious Titanic level of proportions.

Vaughan’s homely autumn touch to the Emerica Trans-Ems looks superb. And undeniably congruous of the images connected with a fiery British winter. However, I couldn’t help but have hideous flashbacks of those fucking Accels. Artwork aside, they are the spitting image of them. The design, the shape, even the sole was screaming, “ACCEL” in a haunting, banshee like voice. I was a tad wary to put them on my feet and go anywhere near water. Naturally, it was raining outside.

So, when in the comfort and safety of my own home, I shoved them on. And fuck me was I wrong about these shoes. My feet were transported to another dimension of comfort, to the degree in which I think tiny elves were hidden in the stitches of the shoe and were persistently reassuring my feet that everything is just fine. I was in love. And had an irresistible urge to go skateboarding. It could have been flash floods outside and I still would have gone. Thankfully, I don’t live anywhere near Yorkshire, so I could skate to my foot’s content. So while the STI foam doesn’t reassure me about going into any dark crevasses belonging to any female inhabitants of Essex unprotected, I did feel capable of throwing my self down any number of stairs, without any socks on.

These shoes really are everything you could ever want in a shoe. Snug as a bug in a rug, who’s dressed as a thug and sipping tea from a mug. While not for one second faltering on other essentials such as decent grip, durability, and gorgeous aesthetics to match. I would really recommend these to anyone, and while that was also said to me about Accels, I really can’t imagine anyone hating these beauties, as much as I hated them. At all.

www.emericaskate.com

Joe Moynihan.