a suede or leather composition, and double or triple stitching.

Many features of the Skate Shoe are designed to increase its durability. The Skate Shoe is subjected to the abrasiveness of a skateboard’s grip tape on a regular basis when worn by skaters. This is why skaters tend to go through shoes quickly. Super Suede, Action Leather, and plastic underlying the toe cap help to increase the durability of a skate shoe. Lace loops and protectors are designed to prevent laces from shredding by shielding the most common areas that contact with grip tape.

While you might not think it is cool, most skaters really need to have pads and a helmet. In fact, unless you are just skating around in your driveway, I can’t really think of a good reason to not wear pads and a helmet. The better a skater gets, the harder the tricks are that they will try. As you try harder moves, you will crash and burn. It is a fact. Hitting the concrete without pads can have you laid up inside nursing your wounds instead of skating so don’t cut your skateboarding time short just because you think it is cool not to wear safety equipment.

One last piece of extreme sports gear you may want to invest in is grip tape. Grip tape is an adhesive backed friction-surfaced material usually attached to the deck of a skateboard or longboard to give the rider more friction to control the board. It is sometimes used decoratively, since it can come in many different styles and colors. Grip tape comes as rough sheets similar to adhesive-backed sandpaper. The grade and size of grit varies by company and manufacture method.

Now that you have a list of some of the key skateboarding equipment, there are some great internet resources for skateboarding equipment like www.SkateboardPlanet.net to save a bunch of money.