I have to admit that I received these shoes seond hand- But that actually works in their favour as you will soon find out… The Es Accel Plus is a jazzed up version of the classic Es Accel being in that extra flair was added with an ankle strap. Why an ankle strap on a lo-top shoe, I don’t know but it definitely makes for a steady shoe on your foot and that beats broken and twisted ankles any day!
So, like I mentioned at the start, these shoes were passed on to me by a friend who had barely skated them, plus he’s the opposite stance to me (Goofy) so it all works in my advantage. I owned a pair of Accels in the past and knew they were a staple for good skate shoes, but the Accel Plus is that level higher of fresh-o-meter. Firstly, the material Es have used a synthetic suede, is bloody grippy and tough. No slippery leather of grazed suede here. When the material does wear through, it reveals a weird fluffy white coat which does stand out on a pair of black shoes, but remains nonetheless resistant to a good scrape.
Another sweet feature to the Accel Plus is the gum sole. You just can’t go wrong with a gum sole on your griptape. Look how many companies are ripping the ‘vulcanised’ gum grip at the moment! The sole does wear away gradually, and the grip fades, but that’s only after a good solid few months of skating. Any sole that maintains it’s function of connecting you and your board for a few months or more is a good sole.
Finally, we’ll finish on the ‘plus’ factor of this shoe, the ankle strap. Like I said earlier, it definitely secures your foot like a seatbelt and doesn’t dig into the top of your foot because of the padded tongue. However, the stitching last about a week before it starts to rub away and the cut material starts to flap about in the wind- This rates pretty low on the fresh-o-meter. I just fixed it up with some shoe-goo, but I can imagine some people will straight cut those things out if they look like that.
All in all, the Es Accel Plus is a top skate shoe. It’s simple and functional. I know Es have been getting a bad rep for making footwear oddities that try and look tech but end up looking like badly tuned blobs. Then there’s the argument that Es are trying to disguise every shoe as an Accel, but I don’t see the problem in this at all. The Accel blueprint is one of skateboarding’s finest and most copied shoe of all time. I’m still skating mine, and if I get a chance to ride some more (especially with this synthetic material!) I will without hesitation.
9/10
Ralph Lloyd-Davis
22/06/2006
