Skating Into The Past

When I was a little girl, there was a big fashion trend among children that gave you an unspoken bond between your peers. You would be rolling around the streets with jealous eyes of onlooking children burning into the back of your head. You had the wind in your hair and would be high fiving the other kids strolling past. These shoes were every kid’s dream in the 2000’s. I’m, of course, talking about Heelys. The craze took over children and eventually every single one of my friends had a pair. We would be wearing them as our school shoes and skating to our lessons. I remember a time we had a race in the school playground to see who was the Heely champion. I didn’t win. Most of my happy childhood memories involved a pair of Heelys.

Heelys are a pair of shoes with a removable wheel in the base to replicate roller-skates. Regrettably, they didn’t breakthrough into the adult world and the inevitable downfall came to the world of youths. In the year’s 2000 to 2005, every parent was gifting their children Heelys carefree. This was until a study from the journal of the American Academy of Paediatrics came out with the statistics of injuries resulting from the use of Heelys. The results of a 10-week study were as follows:

An injury rate of 51 per 100,000 children which required orthopaedic attention (the results for lesser injuries are unknown)

34% were first time users of the product and 66% had used them 5 or less times

The injuries made up 8% of the workload for the paediatric/orthopaedic department

12% of injured children were familiar with the instructions for use of the product.

And with this the dream had ended. The manufacturer was quoted to say “We highly recommend the use of protective gear when the wheels are in the shoes.”

This was ignored by a lot of people as the shoes were designed for everyday use. I personally think the market for young adults was missed and shouldn’t have been directed towards kids in the first place. How I would love to be skating around incognito to my destination with these shoes as a 21-year-old. Unfortunately, the study resulted in a lot of fear among people. In 2006, a ban was put into place where Heelys are not allowed in supermarkets/malls or anywhere with slick surfaces. In 2007, a town in Somerset, UK banned Heelys outright and put in place a fine of up to £500 for anybody caught wearing them.

Although this ban hasn’t been implemented nationwide, the fear and stigma of Heelys is still a very real thing among people and emanated into the downfall of Heelys. You can still buy Heelys today but I miss seeing the joy in children's faces when they would be showing off their cool new shoes to their friends and I miss having that joy. With personal light vehicles like e-scooters coming into play, I pray for the return of the original two-wheeler transport of Heelys.

Heelys weren’t only used by children as a fashion statement. The skaters, eventually, got hold of them and started inventing tricks and made it into a sport called “Heeling.” There are five main categories in the world of Heeling Tricks:

Ground Tricks. This is the main category for Heeling.

Grinding Tricks. This trick could only be performed if you have a nylon pad in the shoe, it involves jumping off a surface, landing on the nylon pad and sliding across the surface with the wheel.

Stalling Tricks. Jumping onto a raised surface, pausing and then jumping off and heeling.

Vert Tricks. This is any trick using a vert ramp.

Flip Tricks. Usually performed on a trampoline.

I think this is where they missed the market. With Heelys being advertised towards children, the downfall of Heelys was inevitable.