Eric Koston的@NikeSB新鞋子The Hyperfeel Koston 3明天发布, 据说有好多地方和篮球明星Kobe Bryant的签名款类似，鞋子的“袜领”和NIKE的Mercurial 、 Hypervenom足球鞋款相似，但是，说到底它还是@NikeSB的鞋子，所以，它还是一双滑板鞋子。鞋子的“袜领”是最显眼的部分，这个部分也是大家反应最激烈的，大家对此褒贬不一，看一看文章，了解一下Eric的初衷。

 

 

 

 

Eric Koston和Guy Mariano在2015年11月同时离开了GIRL SKATEBOARDS，随后网上传出了“stove”板子的照片，板子上赫然印着“Koston”（原文）。这也让大家纷纷猜测的他们要成立的新公司，文章中就这个问题Eric也爆了非常足的料，够让粉丝们精神振奋一两天了！

 

 

Eric Koston对滑板鞋的发展有着长期并且深刻的影响。1997年，他发布了自己的第一双éS签名款鞋子，说是首次把“air bag（气垫包）”用到了滑板鞋上。在他2006年离开éS加入Lakai时，他已经发布了6双签名款鞋子。在为Lakai效力的三年中，他又发布了四双签名款鞋子。2009年，他离开Lakai，加入NikeSB.

 

到现在为止，7年已经过去了，Koston的这双 Koston 3是他的第三双nikeSB 签名鞋子。配备了Flyknit collar和 Hyperfeel 技术（Koston说这个构造可以保证鞋子可以完美地和脚底贴合），这双鞋和之前所有的滑板鞋都不一样。

 

这双鞋子在3月1日发布，我们和Koston聊了聊他的新鞋和两年的制作和测试过程，还有他目前的板子赞助（去年11月他和GUY一起离开GIRL SKATEBOARDS，目前仍没有板面赞助）。

 

问：据说The Koston 3设计的初衷之一是帮助滑手热身，你可以谈一谈这个吗？

Koston:是的，这是我想要达到的目标。当滑手热身之后，他们就会觉得有感觉了，可以玩了。鞋子合不合脚；鞋子做动作时的反馈对这个感觉影响很大。每个人的情况都是不同的，对我来说，我的热身动作基本上都是平地动作，这些可以帮助血液流动起来。我就是想把热身变得简单，变得“无脑”，这就是这个初衷的意义：你穿上鞋子之后就不需要再考虑鞋子的事情了，接下来本能地做动作就行了。

 

问：Flyknit collar在滑板中感觉怎么样？从来没有其他的滑板鞋用这个东西。

Koston:它很好，它未必是发挥支撑的作用，它最主要的功能是让你本能地、轻松地感受脚（和鞋子）的运动。它在上面包裹住脚腕，下面一直延伸到脚尖，你不怎么能感受到它，但你却可以下意识地感受到鞋子的运动，这也是应用它的原因。有些人可能喜欢柔软、暖和的东西包住自己的脚，我也注意到这一点了。这些东西可以让关节暖和起来，关键是那种鞋子和脚紧紧贴合在一起的感觉，这让你觉得脚正在做的就是你脑子里想的。

 

问：你可以介绍一下Hyperfeel吗？新鞋里加入这个技术是为了提高鞋子踩在板面上的感觉吗？这个是鞋子的一个亮点吗？

Koston:是的，绝对是一个亮点。网状包底很薄，整个鞋底夹层就是鞋垫。它靠近脚尖的部分薄，靠近脚跟的部分厚一点，可以支撑足弓。波形的表面可以塑造和包裹你的脚，同时又让你感觉到很舒适。脚跟部分有保护——（鞋跟部分包含Zoom air）。鞋子的各个部分组合起来就是Hyperfeel，它甚至包括鞋中部的缝线。你的脚不会在鞋子里前后滑动。

 

问：Shawn Carboy（鞋子的设计者）说在设计的某一阶段中，你对鞋子设计不满意，可以聊一聊这个吗？

Koston:鞋子的设计过程经历了好多个阶段。我们会先制作模型，如果不合适的话，我们甚至会从设计画图重新开始，这也是它花费了这么长时间的原因。我的观点、我和他的合作、鞋子的参数都关系到模型的设计，我们需要找到一个完美的平衡来决定最终的模型。这相当不容易，我觉得上一双签名鞋子简单多了，这一双鞋子里包括了更多的技术和工程技术。兼顾外观和舒适性是很困难的工作，特别是舒适性，这个基本上是这两年里最主要的问题了，因为我们要确保鞋子可以“像我想象的那样舒适合脚”。为此，我们无数次试验，错误，修改… 在最关键的时刻，我们成功了。

 

问：你在拍摄Chronicles 3 part的同时也在测试这些鞋子对吧？很明显你并没有在视频里“透露”新鞋，你是怎么做到的呢？

Koston:没当样品鞋子寄过来之后，我就会测试它们。要不就是设计团队过来找我，要不就是我去波特兰找他们，在他们的板场里测试，做完所有测试鞋子的动作。在视频拍摄快结束的时候，我确实有一些样品，但是最终的样品还没确定。我本来想拿一双样品为Chronicles拍一个动作呢，但是样品太简单了，甚至还没有商标，如果我穿了你可能根本注意不到。

 

问：你方便谈一下你的板面赞助吗？

Koston:现在我没有太多的东西可以透露给你。情况就是“正在施工”。我现在正在寻找赞助商度过这一小段时间。我和WKND的Grant Yansura聊过了，看看他能不能帮我，同时，我也和Skate Mental的Brad Staba聊过。在我开始做自己的事情之前，我可能同时为他们两家效力哦。

 

问：Brad一直在挑弄“stove”板面的事情，这只是个玩笑嘛？

Koston:这绝对是一个玩笑。Group texts（像群聊一样发短信的应用）中玩笑太多了。一次Scuba Steve把一个牌子的名字说错成是stove了，然后Brad就说：stove,你可以成立一个公司叫stove！会很火的！事情就是这样的。Brad瞎画了图案，还做出了样板，Tony Vitello还把它放到了thrasher上，我不会成立stove的.

 

问：你已经在GIRL 20多年了，你本可以在任何时候离开的，但你没有，为什么现在要离开？你会离开GIRL去做自己的牌子吗？

Koston:公司里有一些突然的变化。我相信你听说过一些了。有公司想要收购GIRL，这和我想象的公司的未来不一样。

 

问：你和GUY会一起加入下一个板面赞助吗？还是会分开？

Koston:我们会呆在一起的。

 

转译自ridechannel

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Eric Koston has a long history of pushing skate footwear forward. His debut signature model with éS, from 1997, boasted what the company says was the first air pocket ever seen on a skate shoe. He released six more models on éS before leaving for Lakai in 2006. While that run only lasted three years, by 2009, when he left, he had released four models with the brand. He was announced as a Nike SB rider that June.

Now, nearly seven years later, Koston is releasing his third shoe with Nike, the Koston 3. Equipped with a Flyknit collar and sock liner, and made with Hyperfeel technology (a construction Koston says ensures it fits perfectly), it’s unlike any design skateboarding has seen.

With the model dropping on March 1, we spoke to Koston about his new shoe and the two-year process of creating it, as well as his current board sponsor status, which has been a question mark since he and Guy Mariano left Girl in November.

The Koston 3 was designed to help with warm-ups in skating. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Yeah, that’s what I was trying to achieve. Once you’re warmed up, you’re ready to go. You’re not thinking, “I’m not warm.” It’s about how the shoe fits, and going through the motions, whatever they may be. Everyone is different. A lot of the time for me, it’s flatground tricks. That’s the one thing that gets the blood flowing. I wanted that to be easier—really just a non-thought. That’s the concept of the shoe. You’re just strapped into this thing, and you’re not necessarily thinking about it, either. You’re just doing things instinctively.

How does the Flyknit collar skate? That’s something that hasn’t been incorporated into a skate shoe in the past.
It’s good. It’s not necessarily there for support. It’s more about the perception of knowing where your foot is moving and not thinking about it so it is instinctive. The actual connection of it being wrapped around your ankle, it starts from there and it goes down to the tip of your toes. You’re not thinking about it, but you’re aware of how the shoe is moving, subconsciously. That’s what it’s there for. Some people probably just like the feel of something snug wrapped around their foot. I started to notice that. It feels like it warms up the joint. It’s that feeling that the shoe is not slipping out or going anywhere. This thing is on you, and it’s doing what your brain is telling your foot to do.

Image via Nike SB

Can you tell us a little bit about Hyperfeel, which was incorporated into the shoe to enhance board feel? Is that something that’s really noticeable?
Yeah, it’s very noticeable because of the sock liner and the thin web cup sole. It’s really thin, and the sock liner is the entire midsole. It’s thinner towards the toe and a little thicker towards the heel. It’s got arch support; it’s definitely very contoured to kind of mold and cup your foot, but also to make sure you have that feeling. There’s protection in the heel—there’s Zoom air there. It’s a combination of the entire shoe—that’s what Hyperfeel is. Everything about it, even the cables that are around the mid-foot as well—your foot is locked in. There’s no front-to-back movement.

Shawn Carboy, the designer, said you were uncomfortable with the design at points during the process. Can you talk a little bit about that?
We went through a lot of stages of the shoe. We’d sample it up and completely blow it apart and almost start over from scratch. That’s why it took so long. It was just a matter of my vision and working with him and the parameters that he had to work with. We had to just sort of find that happy place in order to get the final product. It was definitely not easy. I feel like my previous shoes were a lot easier to do. This one has a lot more technology and engineering. To achieve the proper look and fit—the fit was huge. That was probably the biggest struggle over the two years. We had to make sure it fit the way I wanted it to. It had to be very form-fitting and glove-like. It’s a lot of trial and error, sampling, stuff like that—that’s what was hard. Literally in the 11th hour, with our last sample, we nailed it.

“I feel like my previous shoes were a lot easier to do. This one has a lot more technology and engineering.”

So you were testing this shoe while you were filming your Chronicles 3 part. How did you go about that? Obviously you weren’t trying to show this shoe to the public before it was released.
I would test it when samples would come in. Either the design team would come down here or I would go up there to Portland and skate at the park there and go through the motions of all of the things to test it. I did have some samples towards the end, but the final samples didn’t come until way later. I had one pair that I was going to try to get a clip for Chronicles in, but the sample I had didn’t even have the swoosh on it. It was just sort of blacked out with this placeholder thing. You wouldn’t have even noticed what it was.

Are you comfortable with talking about your board sponsor status?
There’s not much that I’m going to give you on that end right now. There’s an “under construction” sign hanging on it. Right now I’m just trying to find some other sponsors to tide me over for a little while. I’ve talked to Grant Yansura over at WKND to see if he can do something for me in the meantime, then Brad Staba over at Skate Mental. I might two-time both of those guys and ride for both of them just to supplement me until I get this thing off the ground.

Brad’s been teasing that Stove thing. Is that just a joke?
It’s totally a joke, and that’s Brad—there’s so many inside jokes from group texts. That comes from the mistaken name of a company that Scuba Steve [Chalme, Nike SB team manager] had said by accident. Then it sort of became this thing, like, “Stove! You should start a company called Stove! It’s coming in hot!” That’s the joke. Brad mocked up the graphic, then he sampled it. It didn’t help that Tony Vitello posted it on Thrasher.

Why, after 20-plus years, when you could have left at any point, would you leave Girl to go do something else?
There happened to be a sudden change in the company. I’m sure you’re aware of it. There was an acquisition from a venture capital firm. It didn’t really fit my plan for the future the way that I think that they thought it would.

Are you and Guy going to stay together on your next board sponsor, or go separately?
We’re staying together.