@bloftin2 If you may remember, I railed SO HARD against the "skate" line when they first came out. I hated them. I firmly believe that their were some production issues with the first ones that were released. My subsequent pairs have not had the same issue as the first ones. That said, I still think it was lame that Vans suddenly changed a shoe most people loved. They should have added the "skate" version as an additional option, rather than a replacement.