I had a surprising amount of people ask me to tell them how Warsaw shoes were after I got some, so I decided I’d post a little review.
First, the specific shoes I’ve been skating are the Ed Templeton vegan Stranger slip-ons. Typically, I skate Hours, Lakai, and Emerica, and shoes usually last me around three weeks, this includes shoe gooing holes in the upper leather of the shoe. I skate them until I go through the bottom sole. To be more precise in tracking these WarSaw’s durability, I kept track of the hours I skated in them (rounding to the nearest 5 minutes), and these have lasted me 74 hours of skating, or roughly six and a half weeks (including various shoe goo applications). Easily double what I usually get out of shoes.
Performance-wise, I’ve been happy with them. I was expecting a long break-in period on the toe rubber where you flick. The construction looks similar to Vans and I anticipated that I’d have to deal with that weird sharp-edged sole feeling until it rounded off. Nope, the first day they skated like broken-in shoes. They had a good board feel immediately and strangely, even as I’ve worn through the bottoms, they haven’t started to feel too thin. I landed primo in them on my last session and felt just as much padding as before. Further, the outside hasn’t started to feel slick on the flick like often happens as shoes wear down. They grab a flick pretty much the same now, even as I’ve worn through the synthetic upper leather (under the leather and a layer a cavas-like material is the inner lining, which is also surprisingly durable). The insoles are soft and comfortable, and they haven’t changed or deflated, the shoes feel like they did the first day. I’ve been impressed by the consistency; they skated good in the beginning and they still skate good now.
My complaints: first, standard slip-on complaints, low ankle, and zero padding on the top of the foot. I chopped both my ankle and foot multiple times with no defense. Second, whatever the synthetic suede is, it does not like shoe goo. I have added multiple patches and they just won’t stick. They start falling off when I skate the shoes again. Finally, the price could be a complaint, these are $100 slip-ons, but considering how well they’ve skated and how long they’ve lasted, the price seems justified.
Ultimate ruling: I’m going to buy another pair, a different model for my ankles and tops of my feet though.