Two Nine 8 "Navy"

The name is a date. Two Nine 8 reads as 1998, the year éS first released the shoe, and the model carries real weight in skate history because of who wore it. It was originally Eric Koston’s second signature shoe for the brand, a follow-up that landed during the late-1990s stretch when Koston was one of the most influential skateboarders alive and éS was at the front of skate footwear design. The silhouette balances a bold, slightly chunky build with the board feel and durability a working pro demanded, the heritage of an era when skate shoes were getting more technical without losing their identity.

éS brought it back under the Two Nine 8 name rather than the original Koston branding, reissuing it with updated cushioning while keeping the OG lines intact, a revival aimed at skaters who remember the first run and a new generation discovering it through Skate Shop Day releases. This navy colorway keeps it classic, the suede-heavy palette that reads as period-correct late-1990s. Skate footwear is one of the most under-documented corners of sneaker history, often treated as separate from the basketball and running canon even though it produced some of the most worn and most loved shoes of its time. For the archive the Two Nine 8 is a way of pulling a Koston-era éS back into the record, a reminder that the skate side has its own grails and its own lineage.