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Skateboarding Product Reviews

Emerica Trans-Ems (Vaughan Baker Colourway)

Trans EmOne 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.