Cool Hunting

While skateboarding's history has been well-documented, we've yet to see a published dedication to the sport's most essential piece of apparel, the skate shoe. "Made for Skate," a hefty archive of skateboard footwear, changes that with nearly 400 lavishly illustrated pages.

The joint product of Fauxami and The Skateboard Museum of Stuttgart, Germany, "Made for Skate" features articles from the museum's extensive collection, along with rare finds and one-of-a-kinds lent by generous collectors and professionals.

Even if you don't skate, this book will please most anyone with an eye for fashion. Still, those who've spent time on a board are sure to get misty looking at old Vision Street Wear high tops, Airwalk Prototypes and Vans Caballeros. From the introduction of the first signature shoe with Natas Kaupas to limited edition collaborations and futuristic, lab-tested designs, this book covers every single development of the skate shoe.

Duct tap. Goo Gone. Honeycomb soles. Lace savers. Fat tongues. Puffy laces. Everything.

Organized chronologically, "Made for Skate" reveals an astonishing pace of development and, not surprisingly, the glut of opportunistic ventures that appeared during the sport's more commercially fashionable days. Earlier chapters capture the spirit of innovation inherent to skateboarding as a counterculture, while later chapters lay bare the less inspiring trends of a full-fledged industry. Filled with old advertisements, skate footage and pictures of busted up shoes, "Made for Skate" covers nearly five decades in the evolution of skateboarding. In the end, it's an emphatic testament to the endurance of skating as both sport and culture.

Purchase it from Turntable Lab, Powell's Books or Amazon, and check out several more images from the book after the jump.