The top of the skateboard is covered with a layer of sandpaper like film called griptape. When a skater does a trick their foot slides or flicks accross the griptape, this causes shoes to wear out and get holes. So, to battle this companies like Vanz, Lakai, Nike, and Addidas make specialized skate shoes. A good skate shoe must be durable, but have good boardfeel. Boardfeel is how much you feel the skateboard and are in sync with it.
A skate shoe consists of 2 main parts that wear, the upper and the outsole. The upper is usaually made of either leather or canvas, leather have less boardfeel but lasts longer and canvas has more boardfeel but wears faster. There are 2 types of soles, vulcanized and cup. A vulcnized sole has a layer of rubber around the side of the shoe. Vulcanized soles wear faster but are more grippy and preform better. A cup sole is like a cup on the bottom of the shoe, it is a hard piece of connected rubber the surrounds the bottom and the sides of the shoe. These soles last way longer, have better shock absorbtion but do not preform as well as vulcanized shoes.
Heelbrusing is very common in skateboarding, this happens when someone's heel takes to much damage from falling repeatedly. Skaters do skate stairs and drops so it is important to protect your feet. Midsole and the insole absorb shock when falling, the midsole is the cusioning built into the shoe and the insole a removable thin layer of cushioning that goes right beneath your feet. Cupsoles tend to have thicker midsoles. In skateboarding it is important to get good insoles and replace them with the stock ones. A study found that stock Nike insoles absorb 51% of the shock while Footprint Insoles(a skate insole brand) absorbed 91%.
Personal prefrence really decides which brands are the best but there are some popular ones and I will provide the genreal benifits of each brand. The 4 main skate shoe brands are Nike, Vanz, Lakai, and Addidas. Nike's skate shoes have great durability, they are not the best preformers but the formula they use for their rubber makes it light but durable. Vanz skate shoes have the least durability and are often made of canvas, this is debatable but I think Vanz preforms the best. Most people don't know Lakai because they only make skate shoes, Lakais are good all around but have more preformance then durability. In contrast, Addidas shoes also are good all around but they have more durability than preformance.
I like to wear Vanz cupsole shoes because I think that they have good cost and preform well but still have decent durability. I don't like vans vulcanized shoes because they wear out in only a week, but still cost nearly as much as other skate shoes. Some other brand shoes do preform well and are grippy but they are not as flexible and light as Vanz.
When I started skateboarding I did not know anything about skate shoes. So, I decided to go skate for the first time in running shoes, after about 16 minutes I stopped because my foot hurt. I went back inside to realize that my shoes were ripped and even my socks. I was very upset. One way to break into skate shoes is by running them over with a car then walking around in them. You can also set preemptive defense to ripping by putting hot glue on rip zones.