What Are the Best Skydiving Shoes?

When you’re preparing for your first skydive, it’s completely normal to want the best clothes and the best shoes for skydiving. We get it! This could be your once-in-a-lifetime experience, you’ll want to look and feel your best while also considering safety. So whether this is your first time skydiving experience, or you’re a seasoned skydiver looking for the best skydiving shoes – we’ve got you covered! Here are the best skydiving shoes to wear for skydiving and other freefallin’ footwear facts.

When choosing what footwear to rock for tandem skydiving, try not to overcomplicate it. A good guideline is to pick a shoe that is comfortable, durable, and that you can lace up tightly to your foot. Choose a shoe with safety in mind. Shoes that might snag, jab, or fly off in 120 mph winds, are probably best left at home.

Proper skydiving footwear:

• Lace-up tennis shoes
• Flat-soled shoes
• Sneakers

Lace-up shoes are perfectly fine for skydiving, as long as they’re tied up tight! Lace-ups can come untied while in freefall, and flapping laces whip around in freefall – which can be pretty painful to your legs. Ouch! Some skydivers use elastic laces or lock laces to keep their shoes secure to their feet.

What NOT to wear while skydiving is pretty intuitive once you know the reasons why you shouldn’t wear them. First, let’s talk about that 120 mph wind you’ll encounter during freefall. Can you wear slip-on shoes for skydiving? No! Slip-on shoes will slip right off. Not only does this mean that you’ll lose your shoes and expose your precious piggies to injury – but it also means that a super fast-flying object may become a danger to folks on the ground!

Next, let’s address those snaggy, jabby shoes mentioned above you maybe didn’t even know you had! Strappy shoes and those with openings have the potential to become a snag hazard to important skydiving equipment. The same is true for shoes that have hooks for the laces. Pointy shoes and those with spikes can quickly become a weapon to your poor tandem instructor or anyone else that you’re flying in the sky with.

Lastly, let’s look at the landing. You want flat-soled shoes that fit snugly around your foot so that you have maximum maneuverability when you touch down. No heels, boots, or bulky shoes. Cleats are a no-no for all of the reasons!

What NOT to wear:

• Sandals / flip flops
• Slip-on shoes
• Strappy shoes
• Shoes with openings
• High heels/wedges
• Boots
• Cleats

Unless you are skydiving on the coast and landing on soft beaches – skydiving barefoot is usually not allowed and frankly, not a good idea. Shoes are meant to protect your feet from injury, especially during landing. Landing areas can hide rocks, twigs, and other unexpected objects. Plus, there is a chance that you could land in an area with rougher terrain (and beady-eyed critters), so it’s best to be prepared.

The most popular skydiving shoes amongst skydivers are any kind of skate shoes really. Some skydivers prefer the high-tops for extra ankle support. The most popular skydiving shoe brands are:

• Vans
• Nike SB
• Adidas skate shoes
• Five Tens

More specifically, why do skydivers wear Vans? Skate shoes usually are lightweight, durable, and comfortable. Skate shoes have flat soles which are good for landings because they don’t snag or catch onto anything on the ground while you’re sliding in your landing.

Making a skydive doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to rush out to the store and update your footwear. Any typical athletic shoe that you have laying around the house will likely do just fine!

So lace up your shoes and book a skydive with St. Louis’ closest skydiving center – Skydive STL! Blue skies, friends!