Why Skateboarders' Shoes Wear Out So Fast
Through out skateboarding history a sand paper material known as grip tape has been glued to skateboard decks. This material made for gripping onto boards also destroys sneaker soles. Grip tape causes friction between sneakers and itself, while making a grip and facilitating control of the board. Pedaling wears out sneakers like walking, but at more accelerated rates; much higher than walking. Becoming more circwnspect, there is the factor of increased movement on the board such as turning your lead foot (generally for most people the left foot, unless they skate goofy foot) back and forth in between pedaling. With the grip tape being very granular and necessary for skateboarding, it constantly and easily scrapes away at rubber soles, making sneakers wear out faster than in any other sports or hobbies. With this problem of sneakers wearing out fast and being discarded, the skateboarder with limited financial resources suffers additionally from the losses.
WHY IS GRIP TAPE NECESSARY
The grip tape is needed for a skater to maintain control over the board by the means and the uses of friction, Unforttmately grip tape helps wear at the ollie area (an area of the shoe that is just behind a person's smallest toe on the outer side of the foot) and the sole rapidly. Grip tape is necessary for street skating tricks (examples: ollies, kick flips, nose grinds and nollies) and ramp skating. If there was no grip tape vert skaters (skateboaders who skate on ramps) would lose control over their board easily, there by raising the risk of danger and serious accidents. Vert skating is already rather risky. Who needs more broken bones? Street skaters depend on their grip tape for special moves lik...
... middle of paper ...
...ue to the factors of cost and little improvement in durability. Fortunately, my other tests were original. The Wearforce went from 15,000 to 20,000 cycles in the Wyzenbek test compared to sneaker leather's 1,000 to 1,500 cycles, and boot leathees 2,000 to 5,000 cycles. In the Taber test, Wearforce passed with over 100,000 cycles. Lastly, from skateboarding with the Wearforce on my sneakers, it was learned that Wearforce is much more durable when compared to leather, and does not give off an unwanted grippy feel.
CONCLUSION
With the acquired results of Kevlar's failure and Wearforce's success, my hypothesis is simultaneously rejected and supported. Kevlar failed due to high cost and poor performance testing; where as, Wearforce succeeded in protecting the ollie area of a skate-boarding shoe at an economical cost without any drawbacks to the manufacturer.
Biomechanics allows the study of ice hockey to occur. In terms of ice hockey, biomechanics can be used to study a players shot, a goaltenders movement, line changes where players jump over the boards to get on and off the ice, and impacts. Multiple options are available in regards to recording biomechanical values during ice hockey play. These options often include instruments with the player’s helmet, which do not disrupt the player’s movement. Other options being used are accelerometers attached to the players extremities. Currently studies in ice hockey are looking at head impacts and the injuries connected to those impacts. These impacts are often categorized between event type, impact location, and impact object. These categories are helpful in determining what happened to cause the impact, once the impact is determined biomechanics is used to determine liner and rotational accelerations. The values that are calculated for the linear and rotational accelerations can be used to determine if head injury is likely for similar events or if a head injury occurred during the event
The first skateboards were made in the 1950’s being used as an exciting activity to take part in when the waves were down. From then and now the sport has changed tremendously, thanks to a group of young skaters from a slum area of Venice Beach or Dog-town, as the locals called it, known as the z-boys in the 1970’s. Even though skateboarding was already known and invented, the z-boys are the ones who made skating famous and took it to new heights in popularity. But how did they do this? The Z-boys made this sport what it is today, and played a very important part in the history and evolution of skateboard style and quality.
Such tapes were invented to turn almost any surface into a safer surface. There are many reasons why any given surface could prove to be unsafe, some of those reasons are: improper housekeeping or obstructions in the area, a smooth floor being too smooth that doesn't allow proper gripping to the floor when walking, a floor that was improperly put down and now has bumps in it.
The blueprint of a Nike Shoe originates from the Nike Research Lab located at the Nike World Headquarters in Oregon. At the Nike Research Lab, researchers carry out various tests in biomechanics, physiology, sensory in order to customise the product to suit the best interest of the clients. In addition, various factors such as geography, age, gender are also taken into account in order to cater to appeal to the preferences and needs of different segments of the market. For example, according to the Lab, runners in the United States prefer hard surfaces while those in Europe prefer trails and thus this will affect the compositions of the footwear sold in different regions. The latest innovation of the Research Lab, the NikeFree Shoe enhanced overall athletic performance by stimulating the effect of running barefoot with added features which enabled the strengthening of muscles and lowering the risk of injuries.
An extensive research study will be initiated determining what the male customers want in an athletic shoe. These studies will take place online, by ground mail, and by telephone. Once the information is gathered the various types of men's shoes will then be developed focusing on the most popular needs determined by the survey results, which will include a question regarding price. L.A. Gear will then compare the needs of the customers to the industry leaders and determine how the leaders achieved the needs of the male customers and what opportunities L.A. Gear could use to "one up" the competition. L.A. Gear's shoes already focus on comfort, style, and fashion and will now include high performance.
Did you know that Alan Gelfand was the one who invented or created the ollie. “The ‘Secret History’ Of Skateboarding’s Most Fundamental Trick” Alan really didn’t even mean to create the ollie in the first place. He was actually trying to do a lipslide with his friend Jeff but instead he did what his friend called an “ollie pop”. Soon after that word got around that Alan created the new trick called the ollie. After that, Alan was asked to be photographed doing his brand new trick the ollie. And then not long
In 1950, the recreational activity that involves riding and performing tricks was started, skateboarding. It could be seen as a form of art, a job, or just transportation. Skateboarding has changed throughout the years, giving people the opportunity to do it their own way. Beginning with the surfing craze.
Skates used to be more like skis. Players glided on the ice rather than actually skated. Artifacts also show the use of animal bones as skate blades as well. Currently, steal blades are used. There is a small arc groove on the blade that provides the friction needed to counteract the slipperiness of the ice (Haché 37). The boot of the skate is hard enough to protect the foot from puck impact but also flexible enough “to allow the calf muscle to push forward and to ease knee bending when the player crouches” (Haché 35).
Like any other sport, ice-skating is obliged to creative people who bring something new to it. These people are known to everyone as the inventors of particular jumps, splits, spins. They are given credit for their work and, sometimes, the skating moves they invented carry their names. For instance, the Lutz jump was invented by Alois Lutz before World War II; the Walley jump was attributed to Bruce Mapes who performed with the Ice Follies in the 1930s. With Mabel Fairbanks that was never the case. The spins she invented never have been officially admitted to be exclusively her creation.
Nike’s goal is to remain unique and different from others in terms of the items offered on the market. Arguably, Nike belongs to a monopolistically competitive market as there only a few organizations with the ability to regulate the amount charged for their product which means they cannot make their prices high as this is likely to make customers move on to other available choices (Nike, Inc., 2012). However, Nike can find a balance between the prices to charge for their products and remaining competitive with other companies in the industry. Nike has formed a distinction between the appearance and performance of their footwear and that of their competitors. Although products are differentiated from other companies, they still influence each other because they are items of the same
Not only does the fact of not stretching cause injuries but also the safety of the sports gear that athletes have to wear while playing sports. The gear that athletes wear is often old, used, and is not protective to the players. There are many different types of gear that can be used to protect athletes from getting injured while participating in a sport event. The ankle brace is one of the most commonly used piece of gear because most injuries are mainly rolled, t...
Main drivers for US profitability has been within women shoes, broken down in sub categories of casual (17%), dress (13%), and athletic (10%) shoes, composing roughly a 40% demand of the market. However, domestically men’s athletic shoes represent 20% of the market and show signs of increase, globally men’s athletic shoes make up 30% of the market. This increase in sales within the athletic sub-category can be lead by the increase in demand for shoes that allow easy, fast movement. Studies show that ages within 18 and 45 in the U.S. have increased physical fitness by 17% since 2006. According to the Outdoor Industry Association, outdoor footwear grew...
This project concentrates on the Nike Sports shoe; Nike is one of most significant shoe manufacturing company worldwide. Sportswear manufactured by Nike is known for quality and is most liked brand of athletes. (Daniel, 2011)
The first impression one might have about Crocs' products are that they are basically plastic looking shoes that are comfortable and readily available. Customers familiar with this product boast, like on the company website, about "the company’s proprietary closed-cell resin, Croslite™, a technology that gives each pair of shoes the soft, comfortable, lightweight, non-marking and odor-resistant qualities"(Company.crocs.com, 2011). There are also various comments about how the material does not slip when exposed to water and of the popularity of the shoes since their "first sale in 2003"(Hoyt & Silverman, 2008, p.13). Over the last few years, the popularity of the shoes have dropped off and the purpose of this study is to present an analysis of the company's value chain and determine what changes I would incorporate and why.
Skechers is a global leader in the lifestyle footwear industry. They offer one of the largest selection of lifestyle footwear that appeals to trend savvy men, women and children. Consumers are always considered about various type , unique design, colour, attractive, fashionable and so on. Skechers' early products were just only utility-style boots and skate shoes. In order to satisfy needs of consumer, the company has since diversified to include thousands of athletic, casual and dress styles for men, women, and children. So that, Skechers' produce several brands that included Skechers Sport, Skechers USA, Active, Cali, Shape-ups, Tone-ups, Skechers Resistance, Skechers Work and Skechers Kids. We consider about the womens those are care about their height especially model and don’t want wear gorgeous high heels. Thus, Skechers produce the SKCH+3 which are the footwear that hidden wedge then adds height and attained fashion effect. Not just only the features, the company also emphasized about comfortable cushion of the shoes such as the Skechers Memory Form which built in memory foam insoles provide a gentle, comfortable cushion with every step. It's like a bed for your feet! Thus, marketer want to satisfy needs of consumer so they would not missed out any features. Skechers sport is the best choice for those are athletic and sport lovers because it provided light weight and flexible footwear for them. Consumer would not worry about easy get injury when doing exercise or any sports. Furthermore, Skechers also considered about the family who have kids, Skechers Kids provided the shoes which are colourful and twinkle. This also satisfy the needs of consumer are always worry about their kid’s shoes. Comparing with oth...