Skate shoes are weirdly cheap right now, and a few are worth your attention
From Converse's vulcanized Louie Lopez Pro 2 to the Andrew Reynolds 933, here are the shoe deals actually worth picking up this week.
The bulk of this week's drops are shoes, which is either a clearance cycle thing or seasonal restocking pressure, but either way the prices are real. Most of the list is noise, the kind of basic construction clearance you'd expect at this point in the summer. A few, though, are genuinely interesting deals on shoes with actual skate credibility behind them. Here's what stands out.
Shoes: Converse Louie Lopez Pro 2 — 59% off
The Converse Louie Lopez Pro 2 is down to $35 from $85.37, which is a 59% drop and a price that makes it basically a no-brainer to try. Louie Lopez's signature with Cons sits in the vulcanized category, which means a thin, flexible sole built for maximum board feel and grip during technical tricks. Vulc construction sacrifices some impact protection compared to cupsole shoes, but what you get back is direct feedback from your feet to the board, which matters when you're trying to lock in flips and slides with consistency.
At $35, this is the kind of shoe you can buy as a backup pair or a dedicated session shoe without stressing about it. Louie is a genuine technician and his input on a shoe design tends to show up in the fit and the way the toe box is shaped for ollie grip. If you've been curious about vulc construction but haven't wanted to gamble full price on whether it suits your skating, this is the window to find out.
Shoes: New Balance 933 Andrew Reynolds — 52% off
The New Balance 933 Andrew Reynolds is sitting at $65, down from $134.95, which is 52% off a pro-level signature that normally sits near the top of the shoe price bracket. Reynolds is a cupsole skater by history and preference, and that philosophy tends to carry through in his collaborations. New Balance's skate line has put real effort into impact protection and lateral support since they entered the category seriously, and a shoe at this price point is built to handle heavy skating, not just casual sessions.
The 933 is for skaters who are putting in time on ledges, stairs, or anything where your feet are absorbing repeated impact and you want the shoe to hold up structurally over weeks of use. At $65 it's still not a throwaway purchase, but for a pro sig with legitimate construction behind it, the original $134.95 ask was the real barrier. This gets it into a range where it competes on value with mid-tier options that aren't offering the same level of build.
Shoes: Lakai Essex Elite — 59% off
The Lakai Essex Elite is at $35, down from $85.37. Lakai has a long history of building shoes specifically around the feedback of technical street skaters, and the Essex line sits in their more refined, lower-profile range. The Elite designation usually signals upgraded materials or construction details over a base model, and the emphasis on precision fit and lock-in suggests this is a shoe built for skaters who want their foot to feel planted and stable during technical tricks rather than floating around inside extra padding.
Three retailers are sitting on inventory at this price, which tells you this is either end-of-colorway clearance or the model is cycling out. Either way the shoe doesn't change. For $35 and a brand that has consistently delivered for technical skating, this is worth picking up if Lakai's fit has worked for you before or if you want to try a shoe designed around that kind of precision.
Shoes: eS TJ Rogers — 40% off
The eS TJ Rogers is down to $74.95 from $124.92, a 40% drop. eS has been building technical skate shoes for a long time, and TJ Rogers is a skater whose style sits firmly in the precision technical street category, which means his input on this shoe is focused on the things that matter during serious skating: how the toe box responds under pressure, how the sole grips during slides, and how the fit holds up through extended use. A $124.92 shoe from eS is built with that in mind throughout.
At $74.95 this is still the most expensive shoe in today's recap, but it's also a different category of construction. If you're skating regularly and you're at a point where the quality of your equipment matters to your progress, spending $75 on a shoe designed around a pro's actual technical preferences is a reasonable investment. The 40% drop brings it into range with shoes that aren't offering the same level of engineering.
Deck: Polar Skate Co. Team Trumpets Football — 56% off
The one non-shoe worth flagging today is the Polar Skate Co. Team Trumpets Football deck at $40, down from $90. Polar is a brand with a specific identity in skateboarding, built around a particular aesthetic and a roster of skaters who are influential in the current direction of street skating. Their decks are known for consistent press quality and reliable concave, and a team graphic at this price is unusual because Polar's brand positioning doesn't typically lead to deep discounting.
At $40 for a Polar deck, the math is simple. If you're in the market for a new board and you've been watching Polar's output, this is a straightforward opportunity to skate a board from a brand that matters in the current conversation without paying the premium that usually comes with it. The Trumpets Football graphic is a collaborative piece, which makes it a collector's item for some and a functional deck for everyone else.