Last Resort AB VM004

Ironically, Last Resort AB started roughly two years ago, in a time when the world was burning down with the Covid pandemic. But since then, the company and visionary team behind the scenes has been carefully detailing and tweaking their staple shoe models for untimely batch releases. Now, Last Resort AB’s tenth drop marks the first time they’ve released a pro model, specifically for their team rider, Chris Milic. If you’re around the same age/generation as us, you may have remembered Chris Milic as “Mango” from the early days of Slap Magazine’s One in a Million reality tv show; a show that garnered in as much praise as it did backlash. One positive thing from the show is that it truly gave no-name skaters a platform to be recognized among the industry, with many of the contestants picked up by some of the biggest shoe/board brands out now. With his unique selection of tricks and laissez-fair approach to skateboarding mixed with technical prowess, Chris Milic was undoubtedly one of the more exciting skaters to watch. And while many skaters from that show faded away, Chris was one of the very few that blossomed into a pro skateboarder with legit sponsors. When Pontus revealed Last Resort AB with “These shoes are made by and for Skateboarders around the world, girls and boys out on the streets having fun, being creative. We don’t have any corporate backing, no one telling us what to do. And neither should you,” and added Chris to the roster, it was a perfect storm. A Chris Milic pro model only solidifies Last Resort’s testament to back the original spirit of skateboarding and the commitment to celebrate creativity in skateboarding. We got our hands on a pair and put the shoe to the test, read on below.

SIZING

The shoe fits slightly bigger so we recommend going half a size down.

DURABILITY

The most dominant features of the new Last Resort AB VM004 model are both the T-shape toe cap and the sole’s foxing tape. Both features uphold the clean-cut design of the silhouette, and highlight the shoe’s overall durability. If you take a look at the critical-wear areas, you can see that the shoe performed excellent after ten hours of skating. The seams connecting the main upper piece with the eyelet reinforcement and toe piece did not rip during the wear test. This is a huge benefit because when seams do rip, a shoe tends to lose their shape and structure. The VM004 kept its shape and protected the seams due to the stable vulcanized construction with a high foxing tape. The sole is really protecting the upper from abrasion and is actually the most noticeable area with signs of wear. The eyelets for the laces are also positioned higher up and closer to each other. This minimizes the surface area of contact, which helped protect the laces extremely well. The areas which showed most signs of wear was the top of the eyelet reinforcement where the stitching ripped actually already after the first session. Also, the sole’s profile started to run down in the forefoot area after 10 hours of skating. Nevertheless, the overall durability of the VM004 is good.

CUSHIONING

The cushioning abilities of the VM004 model have improved, compared to previous Last Resort AB models. The reason is the newly introduced and removable insole called Cloudy Cush. The picture of the shoe’s profile shows that the yellow insole is higher in the heel and lower in the toe area, which offers more cushioning in the critical heel area. The sole itself is still very thin and the foam insole does its job of creating a good step-in feeling while providing decent cushioning abilities. Overall, Last Resort AB stands true to their direction of creating boardfeel orientated shoes by taking advantage of their start-up mentality to listen to consumer feedback and offering relevant improvements with every drop.

SHAPE

Shape is an important element of the VM004. The shoe is slim, tight and functionally designed for high durability (as you can see from the raised eyelets intended for lace protection). The shape also felt like a impactful improvement. Previous models tended to feel a bit loose on the foot when first worn and needed time to wear in, but not the VM004. The shoe felt like it had an improved upper and from the first session, the shoe felt close to the feet and quite stable. An advantage of the T-shape toe cap was to also increase structure and overall stiffness. The heel and midfoot area run parallel and the shape starts narrowing in the toe area to end in a nice pointy toebox. 

BOARDFEELI&IGRIP

Creating a new insole to improve cushioning could lead to reducing boardfeel. However, in the case of the VM004, the boardfeel was still excellent. Last Resort AB emphasized a lot on the sole pattern design, with the pattern running rather wide to avoid small stones getting stuck in the sole, which is also complemented by a finer sole pattern in the area where grip is most needed. The sole throughout the whole toebox and frontal area is really thin, which lead to great contact with the board. Grip did not decrease throughout our 10-hour weartest and it performed very well. Boardfeel of the shoe was good; the insole flattens out much more in the first third of the shoe and the midsole itself is fairly thin, which provided for a responsive board feel for the feet.

COMFORTI&ISTABILITY

As a vulcanized model, the VM004 features adequate stability, but still can’t be compared to the stability of a cupsole model. The heel is soft, but the brown leather material chosen for the heel construction grips the ankle really well, preventing a slippage feeling. The inner construction is very simple, with almost no overlaying materials, which helps reduces the risk of pressure points.

SUMMARY

The Last Resort AB VM004 features premium quality materials and stands out with its impressive durability, boardfeel and grip, solidifying its status as one of the top vulcanized skateboard shoes on the market. The previously mentioned flaws of Last Resort AB’s cushioning has definitely improved, however the shoe’s stability is still not meant to jump down big sets of stairs.