There aren't many in pro skating that have accomplished what Nyjah Huston has done at 20-years old. He's not even legally allowed to buy himself a drink, but he's already on another signature sneaker with DC Shoes. Here, the skater talks working with the brand on the Nyjah Vulc, which launched today on DCShoes.com To see how the sneakers skate, check out the video above where Nyjah shares his five go-to flatground tricks.
There was a period of time where you were without a shoe sponsorship, so why was DC the brand that you wanted to attach your name to?
Yea, there was definitely a point in my career where I didn’t have a shoe sponsor. I think like a year or two, and I was kind of just waiting for the right opportunity. I didn’t want to rush into anything and regret it, and obviously I wanted to ride for a shoe company that I was really stoked on and had an awesome team. I think DC was number one on my list. I always looked up to a lot of their riders. As soon as the opportunity came where I found out I might have a spot on the team, I was so stoked. And a couple months before that happened, I had already been skating in the shoes in contests and stuff, and I’m really happy that it all worked out.
So before you actually had a DC contract, were you buying shoes on your own?
Yeah. I would straight up go to the skate shop, and buy them myself. Actually, I might’ve got sent a couple boxes first, but I was always really stoked on the shoes and really stoked on the team and really the whole company in general.
You’re a pretty young guy, how does it feel to be at an age where you’re not even 21-years old yet, but you have a signature shoe?
It's an awesome feeling to have a signature shoe at such a young age. It’s really just a fun process, too, you know? This is my second shoe with DC. The first one came out really good, and I was super stoked on it. It was awesome. I’m looking forward to making plenty more shoes for them down the road. It's cool to be able to go in there to DC and talk to the designers and really pick out how you want your shoe to look, and the specifics about how you want it to skate.
If you want it to have certain technology, like my first one had “Impact G’ technology in the heel of the shoe to prevent heel abusing, because I’m the type of skateboarder that skates a lot of big stuff. And you don’t want to be out there hurting your feet.
What are the main differences between this shoe and the last one?
The main difference between the second shoe and the first shoe is the second has a vulcanized sole. A vulcanized sole allows for better board feel, and it is more of a low impact skating shoe. Me and DC wanted to cover both grounds. With my first shoe really being a heavy impact skating “big-stuff” shoe. This one is more of a chill-looking shoe, but also skates great at the same time. I’ve skated it myself, and I’m really hyped on it. It's actually the first vulcanized shoe I’ve ever skated, and I’m really happy with the way it came out. I also think it looks great. That’s what I’m most stoked about. Normally when I go skate on a session, I wear chill shoes which are a vulcanized sole, just because I think they’re a little more comfortable to wear around in general. I’ll always bring my skate shoes and just switch them out. But with this shoe, I’m stoked because you can wear it for chilling, wear it for skating, and it works for whatever.
How much input do you have when they’re putting your shoe together?
I definitely have a lot of input. I’m in DC every couple weeks, or every month talking to the designers, and picking out all the specific things and trying them on and seeing how they fit, skating the samples, picking out the colorways, and it’s a really fun process.
