"Last Resort AB VM003" Skate Shoes Review - Part #1 (Photos/Video)

Yo Skatehive fam, what's up?

When it’s time to buy skate gear, I’d rather spend my hard-earned money on skater-owned companies than on multi-billion-dollar giants like Nike or Adidas. Why? Because back in the early 2000s, skater-owned companies were the ones building skateboarding. Their riders were getting paid, going on tours, and keeping the culture alive with contests, full-length videos, flow/am/pro teams, and more. They could do all that because a lot of companies were getting a piece of the skate-economy pie. But once the huge corporations jumped into skateboarding, everything changed! With their power, influence, and money, they grabbed all the attention and customers, which funneled most of the money into a handful of corporates and left skater-owned companies struggling to keep up.

I’ve been skating eS shoes for years now for this reason! Because I want to support a core skate shoe brand (plus, eS Accel Slims are dope). But after the eS/Emerica/Etnies corporate takeover and massive team firing, I decided not to support eS anymore and started looking for an alternative!

In a recent Skatehive Discord call, me and @web-gnar were discussing skate shoe brands, and he suggested I try out Last Resort AB! So I did some digging. Turns out they’re skater-owned, have great shoe designs, are affordable, and get great reviews! I ordered a pair, and after just a few days, they were here!

Here are the VM003 Suede straight out of their (very cool) box.

I was surprised by how much better they looked in person than in the photos, so I was stoked! The reviews said they’re true to size, and after trying them on, I can confirm! The shoes hugged my feet the moment I put them on! But the real test was going to happen later this afternoon at the "dojo".

The Real Test

There’s only one real test for a skate shoe: to skate it! Met up with the homies at our lil secret spot, flexed my new shoes, and started warming up. At first, they felt kinda weird since I’ve been skating the same eS shoes for years, but after 15–20 minutes, I swear I couldn’t tell the difference! The shoes hugged my feet, the board control was great, and their flick was on point! I almost forgot I wasn’t wearing my classic eS Accels lol!

Skated them for a couple of hours and stacked a bunch of clips in them! Enjoy watching!

The Aftermath

After the sesh, my feet were feeling super fresh thanks to the vulcanized VM003 insole, and I was expecting that! You can tell at first glance that this insole isn’t meant for big stairs or gaps, but it’s perfect for low-impact skating like the kind I do! Plus, it looks really cool, doesn’t it?

When it comes to durability, it’s still too early for me to judge, but there are already some obvious skate scars on the shoe. Makes sense, of course, but I was expecting the toe cap plastic to hold up a bit better, to be honest. Looks like it took a decent hit lol!

Time will tell how durable they really are. I’ll keep you updated in a future post with a more concrete view on all aspects of the shoe. But if I had to give it a “first-impression score,” I’d go with an 8/10! Super comfy, great flick, and you can skate them straight out of the box!

If you enjoyed this review, stay tuned for Part #2! And let me know in the comments if you’ve ever skated Last Resorts—I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Much love and #SKATEHIVE4LIFE