Rollerblades Make A Style Comeback

The land of second chances and repetitive trends is giving rollerblades, yet another fifteen minutes. Rollerblades are gliding back into our lives like they never left.

The subtext was clear as day when slapstick comedy had made rollerbladers the butt of the joke in the late 90s. Rollerblades had officially fallen off and were relegated to the so last season.

Fast-forward to the weirdest year, 2020, and the comeback kid just did that thing that the comeback kids do. Rollerblades are back, baby.

Rollerblading Before It Left Last Time

By the year 2000, it had become evident that rollerblading was massive. Every neighborhood had at least one household with a pair of those five wheeled shoes. In that year, twenty-two million Americans were strapping on rollerblades at least once a year; by contrast, only seventeen million Americans reported playing baseball in that same year.

Soonafter, sales started to decline and the five wheeled shoes that had taken America by storm turned into a drizzle. Rollerblading had become the subject of ridicule and even homophobic insult.

Why is Rollerblading Back?

If there's one thing you can trust a millennial to do, is to get bitten in the bums by nostalgia. During the period of the lockdown, Bauer reported a seven hundred and twenty-three percent, year-over-year traffic increase on customers searching for inline skates.

National Hockey League players have scrambled to acquire pairs, and those who were successful are letting everyone know pon the socials.

The Growing Demand

Not only are professional athletes getting into them, but there's also a growing group of really cool people on Tik Tok making the inlines hip. The resurgence in interest is translating to sales as

Moxi Skates and Impala, two roller skate companies famous for their trendy colors and patterns, told BuzzFeed News they've both experienced a recent uptick in sales.

First Time Rollerbladers

Before you start whizzing away, ensure that your ankles feel supported if not, try a smaller size or lace your rollerblades tighter. Same goes for your helmet. A properly-fitted helmet sits squarely on the head, without moving back and forth or side to side.

How Long Should We Expect It To Last?

How long will this moderate-intensity bit of cardio wave in rollerblading last before people realize that unless you have a safe place to rock out, it might not be all that safe? I suppose we'll have to wait and see. But for now, I, for one, am thoroughly influenced.