Nike Skateboarding is the Nike brand for its line of shoes, clothing, and equipment for the skateboarding market. These are skate shoes designed for skateboarders. SB stands for skateboarding.
In the 1980s, skateboard companies started to pop up around the globe. However, skateboarding still had a relatively small community—not enough to attract serious interests from major shoe companies, who were battling it out for precious basketball shoe territory. This gave smaller companies a chance to gain ground in the skateboarding market. Skateboarders mainly used Converese and other types of basketball shoes such as original Nike Blazer. Although Nike never officially entered the skateboarding market in the 1980s, many of its shoes gained a following in the skateboarding community because skateboarding shoes and basketball shoes share many similarities. Strong grips, durable ankle support, and relative comfort were some of the offerings that attracted skaters to Nike shoes. However, they were not considered the most desirable skate shoes due to the "underground" nature of skateboarding at that time, and many skateboarders rejected Nike because they believed the brand was too commercial.
The 1990s saw the rise of skateboarding into prominence and the vast improvement of skate shoe technology, with DC Shoes making major advances in shoe design. The company added stronger fabrics, multidensity rubber, gel pockets, plastic eyelets that encased exposed shoelaces, and soles with a gumlike grip that improved foot-to-board traction.
In the mid-1990s, skate shoes went mainstream. Their evolution was influenced as strongly by popular culture as by the demands of skateboarding. The loud, blocky skate shoe fell from favor as the hip-hop culture of the 1990s eventually died out. The current trend reflects the punk-rock look of the 1970s[citation needed]. Nike started to experiment with the market by reissuing many of its older models in the late-1990s.
In 2002, after failing to enter the skateboard market, Nike SB had released Nike SB Dunk Lows with padded tongues and collars with the "Zoom Air" in soles to attract skateboarders to shoes similar to the padding in DC Shoes and Vans. After not selling the Dunks well, they released four other models. The Nike SB Angus, Nike SB FC, Nike SB Delta Force and Nike SB URL. Just like the Dunks these didn't sell well either.
In 2004, Nike SB tried hard to stay in the skateboarding industry so they decided to sign Paul Rodriguez. to give more fame to the Nike SB name.
In 2005, Nike SB gave Paul Rodriguez his own pro model shoe named the Nike SB P-Rod. After selling Nike SB's star shoe, it gave Nike SB some recognition to the skateboarding market. That same year one of Nike SB's spokes person, Lance Mountain, decided to release the Nike Blazer basketball shoe, that was used for skateboarding in the 1980's because of its high top shoe and strong grip on the sole. They named it the Nike SB Blazer and added a few new features such as the padded collar and "Zoom Air" in soles.
Ever since signing Paul Rodriguez, it gave Nike SB a whole new look by selling more shoes and making other shoe models successful such as the Nike SB Tre and P-Rod II. Besides the ordinary Nike SB line. There are many Nike SB shoes that have collectible value or limited release such as the Nike SB "What The Dunk" Dunks and the Nike SB "Tiffany" Dunks that were being bought by non-skaters and being resold at their own price that the ordinary skater could not afford. This problem was being resolved by only selling Nike SB at skate shops and selling them at retail price.
After gathering a whole new team since the first attempts to the skateboarding industry Nike SB released their first video entitled "Nothing But The Truth". The video consisted all the Nike SB Pros, Ams and some of the Flow riders.