Etnies Aurelian Giraud Shoe Review

 Got these when they were first released. The grey version looked good to me, not too excited about the other options. They broke in super quick and they felt really great right out of the box. Somehow Etnies managed to find a way to have good board feel but without sacrificing good impact control. For the kind of skating that Aurelian does, you can only expect that this combination would be appealing. Surprisingly, the side of the the shoe where I ollie the most blew out after the third session (see below). I was kind of shocked as usually this part of a skate shoe will last me a while. I contemplated using some Shoe-Goo to repair them, but ended up just continuing to skate them and it didn't impact the performance of the shoe at all. As this was the first iteration of the shoe, I noticed that they updated the material from the rubber/vinyl kind of material to (what looks like) all suede so it might not be an issue any longer due to the different material being used. 

Note: This is the shoe after many sessions, but the seam at the bottom came apart quickly. 

One thing that was a bit surprising is the length of the shoelaces. They are extremely long. I can't quite figure out the benefit or purpose for this. I mean, they are like pretty ridiculous, I have to tie them three times or else they are just in the way constantly. Aside from that, the grip on the bottom isn't the Michelin outsole but I really like the tread pattern and they seem to be lasting a long time. I guess what I really like about them is that they are just the kind of shoe/sneaker that you can throw on and not think twice about and they look really good.

As I mentioned earlier, I wasn't too excited about the other colorways (just personal preference) but would consider the blue version that's on the website currently. Another bonus is that these shoes aren't as expensive as a lot of other skate shoes currently on the market. 

Overall, a really good offering from Etnies. Check 'em out!