Shandals: Footbag (Hacky Sack) Shoes
I get asked about my shoes all the time, and if you can see the picture below, you can probably guess why:
These are heavily modified Reebok G6 G-Unit shoes. I intentionally purchased them a size too small (9.5’s) when I normally wear size 10.5, so please consider this before you go chopping up an existing pair (and if your parents bought your shoes, ask them before you try anything). When I first tried this with a pair of size 10.5’s, the lip of the shoe stuck out too far and ended up getting caught on everything (including the footbag while doing tricks).
We’re in the process of shopping around for a few hundred pairs of good footbag shoes. We may end up getting the Planet Footbag Quantums when the second version comes out (EDIT, Aug 5th, 2007: Quantum02’s are here, and in stock now: Check them out here!). Due to some technical issues with the first batch, they weren’t able to sell them to us wholesale.
For the record it was Paul Mestas, who invented the Mr. Sandbag, that was the first person I saw do this to a pair of shoes. I personally messed around with modifying probably 10 different pairs of shoes and sandals. After kicking with sandals for a year or two, I moved back to shoes because I wasn’t satisfied with the way sandals were performing. However, after getting used to the freedom of movement with sandals, the shoes simply didn’t feel right with the toes on, and thus the Shandal was born. I believe the actual term was coined by Brad Kaplin.
