Shoe fad has shops on a roll
By Katherine Nichols
Advertiser Staff Writer
It's skateboarding without a skateboard on shoes that cruise. And Heelys, which look like regular athletic shoes but have a single wheel embedded in each heel, may become even hotter than the Razor scooters were when they hit.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
One local dealer, the Bikefactory Sportshop, has more than 200 names on a waiting list for Heelys and sold more than 70 percent of its first shipment in the first 24 hours.
Brenner Wai, 16, models Heelys, a shoe with a wheel embedded in the heels.
And O'ahu consumers lit the fire.
A Heelys team of boys and girls, some as young as 8, was formed to demonstrate how to alternate between running and rolling with a mere tilt of the foot.
Heelys combine sport shoes with a high-quality urethane wheel inserted into what surfers might call a "fin box" sunk into the heel. They sell for $89.95 to $99.95, and the sport is called — what else? — "heeling."
"It's such a visual thing that people are stopping and are in awe," said Wally Parcels, owner of Bikefactory Sportshop. Like Turbo Surf and Koa Boardsports, he can't keep Heelys in stock.
"It's gigantic," said Parcels, who, with other trend watchers, expects a mid-summer explosion of Heelys in California. "So we're ahead."
Heelys are heavier than a typical athletic shoe, with more padding. Versatility is another bonus: the wheel pops out, enabling users to arrive at their destination and return, however briefly, to conventionality.
The urethane wheels make rides smooth and long. Replacement wheels cost $29.95 to $39.95.
Parcels predicts that by fall, Heelys fans will be able to combine sliding (down railings on the arch) with gliding and jumping.
A hard plastic sole (grind plate) might replace the rubber in the center of the shoe. The result? Every obstacle provides a potential adventure.
