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Dc Shoes Josh Kalis 7 SE model. Very resistant but my feet suffered

Categories: DCSHOECOUSA, Test boards

1 comment ::

Author: sideasoundlab ::

Date: 3/12/2008 ::

2 years ago I was presenting my DC Shoes Josh Kalis 6 Camo, 8 months ago we were presenting you the DC collection 2008, 1 month ago Dam's was testing his DC shoes Match, and today I'm doing my own DC test as I've been riding daily my DC Josh Kalis 7 for 2 months now... and I must say that I am fairly satisfied on the whole .... But back to the early days of the test and my bleeding feet ....

WHAT?
But how did this happen? What kind of shoes are these ? And what about the qualities and defects of this model?

josh red kalis7 SE model skateboard shoe

The product:
Dc Shoes Josh Kalis 7 SE Black / Red

Here are the shoes when they came out of the box. Front / behind 3 / 4.
Classy

The outsole:

The sole is not vulcanized but has a DCSHOESCOUSA technology known as the DGT: Dynamic Grip Technology. It is supposed to improve the solidity of the shoe on a deck and especially the contact with the grip. (See below for details).
It has striations in the sole to improve bending the toes in the beginning (which hasn't worked for me because I even had blisters !!)... . Despite this detail- wich all skate shoes should offer, we still have to wait for the shoe to soften slightly in order to have fun.
A mini air bubble acts as heels protection.

Air cushioning before / after 2 months of ride: slightly pushed down into the heel but still functional

Here the sole , before / after 2 months.
I am impressed to see how it lasted! As I often say, in addition to the 2 / 3 sessions per week, I do at least 5 km of ride per day ( most of the time by pushing with the right foot ). Such a solidity is quite a change compared to the Globe Taj Burrow from Adam

Focus on the front of the sole where there is the DGT logo / on the right, the infos that you find behind the tongue.

The insole:
Very well designed because it follows the shape of the foot. Once you wear it, you feel like you have a cushion under your feet... like another sock but only for down under
+
It's customized / colorway sole with the rider's name and a small drawing , Alien Workshop's style ( wich you find on the sticker that comes with the box ... see bottom of article). Most shoes brands draw on the insoles these days, therefore it becomes quite rare to see white insoles on both sides.

Here the sole after 2 months
You can see the mark of my toes / and on the right picture below you see that most small squares were flatten ... therefore the cushioning effect last only for some time before being useless on this part of the after a while.

The sole has also flatten the air bubble

The tab:
Rather short and I like it ... it is an extension of the heel part.
There are of course elastics to maintain the foot so that the shoe mold and tighten your foot very well. There is no gap between the foot and your shoe.

The materials:
On top , some "super suede" all over the shoe. It is a huge density suede making it more resistant to the grip.
DC has been using this material for the past few years and is generalizing it on these models.

Otherwise, the tab and certain parts of the shoe are made of very dense leather.
See the macro here. Black leather, DC logo and ultra dense gum.

The shoe is unfortunately not really aerated.... No holes in the material. Your foot quickly gets warm and you need a little break every hour for removing your shoes during at least 2 minutes (drink a 40 at the same time)

The particularities :
The DGT which I was referring to earlier

Here are the infos found in the box.

more dynamic grip technology dcshoescousa

grip dynamic grip technology dcshoes JK7

The price :
90 euros at Street Machine Skateshop
or 89 euros at Nozbone Skateshop
or 95 euros at Bud skateshop
I think it's a reasonable price regarding the quality - the sole and the"flip pad" have no hole ... barely used.

Available colors:
I've got the black and red model but there is another stylish one (I think it's even more classy ):
The red, black and white model with "spray" effect

The JK7 models in green / grey and green / black

JK7 black red Armor on the right and below

Black / Purple and Black /Blue

JK7 white /blue/ red and White / grey/ red JK7

Dc Shoes Josh Kalis 7 black / grey and brown / cream

The test:
The DC shoes Super Suede is incredibly resistant.
It quickly becomes dirty but can be easily cleaned as well. If it goes under water, the inside of the shoe does not get wet.
With its perforations, the foot is not supposed to get too hot but we don't feel any freshness either.

The underside of the sole still looks fine after incredible downhills and around 20 sessions.
20 sessions and a small hole starts to appear. That means this suede really impresses me

1st day of session: 2008-09-19 / Creteil
Blister after 1 hour of ride ... I'm telling you the shoe is damn strong but to what point ?! 3 backtails, some tres, 1 switch heel and my bloody feet !!! Bad !

Well, for the second session the shoe was much softer and therefore ridable, so this problem didn't come back, but it's been at least 4 years since the last time I had blisters while riding!

September 2008 / Creteil with my homies Alex and Vince, here on the right

October 2008 - Aix en Provence: Switch heel flip and switch nose slide

alice switch heelflip aix provence skatepark08

alice switch nose aix provence skatepark08

Oct. 08: Marseille's Bowl with a five 0 to fakie

Here with my Bro after the session in Marseille

Photos of November 22nd 2008 / Dome + Creteil
The heel pad of the right foot (therefore the one for my switch heel)

Here we see that the 2-months of ride has slightly damaged the edges of the shoe

The "flip pad" has no hole and as the seams are hidden and protected by huge red plastic ptotections, we can see that it makes the shoes more solid and that it lasts longer than other models

left foot dynamic grip technology dcshoescousa

dynamic grip technology dcshoes necks 2months

On the photo below it is clear that the shoe has lived but it still has no hole which is usually the major problem with skateboard shoes (and wich limit the lifetime of the shoe)

The pic of the pretty sticker that came with the box + infos inside the shoe

To resume:
A fairly high price but for high quality footwear: the super suede and DGT are damn too effective. Recommanded if you want shoes that lasts.

On the photos:

Board Street Machine Serie Spot Le Dome

The team DC shoes:
---> Pro : Colin Mc Kay, Danny Way, Rob Dyrdek, Josh Kalis, Pj Ladd, Ryan SMith, Lindsey Robertson, Devine Calloway --->
---> Amateur : Greg Myers et Wes Kremer
---> Europe : Anthony Lopez, Jani Laitiala, Ruben Garcia, Laurent Gehin, Manuel Margreiter, Jody Smith, Petr Horvat, Henning Braaten

Access to DC shoes official website:
http://www.dcshoes.com/home/
DC skateboard website: http://skate.dcshoes.com/

DC RSS feed : http://skate.dcshoes.com/news/feeds/latest/

Other DC shoes tests on le site du skate:

DC shoes Video test from le site du skate:

DC commercials for the Josh Kalis 7:

JK videos:

Josh Kalis Light Leak

Josh Kalis part in the DC video

Some dude took the time to do The Kalis File: a video which includes every footage of the DC rider from 1995 to 2005

Info / PS:
After Lakai and the Koston, Emerica and Marc Johnson, DC relaunched the manufacturing of several legendary shoes: First, the Rick Howard renamed Biltmore with a slightly different sole that looks like the Wenning sole...
DC biltmore on the right and the old DC howard

Mais DC (re)sort aussi la Danny Way 1 à gauche et la Colin MC Kay 1 à droite But DC also (re) releases the Danny Way 1 on the left and the Colin Mc Kay 1 on the right