Etnies Taps Michelin To Make New Marana Outsole

The Michelin Marana is the result of a tire company responding to Etnies’ “You won’t” comment at a party.

We can neither confirm or deny whether or not Etnies parties with the Michelin Man, but we can say with some confidence that they are in business together. The Michelin Marana is not a collab. Michelin just makes outsoles for the Marana now. They’re that good. And the first official Etnies to have a Michelin outsole designe d specifically for skating by Michelin is the Etnies Michelin Marana.

The challenge of making an outsole last using rubber and tread from a tire is fairly simple - "tougher than tire rubber" is a tired example we're all familiar with. Surely, the biggest challenge was making the sole durable without losing boardfeel or drastically changing how the shoe looked. Etnies asked that the new rubber compound be “lightweight, flexible, grippy, and most importantly, more durable than ever.” The rubber Michelin came up with was developed from a specialized outdoor tire compound, and the tread pattern comes from a race rally tire.

Designing a completely new outsole for a shoe is risky - let alone using tire rubber to do it, but it looks like the gamble is paying off. But don't take our word for it, check out our 100 kickflip Wear Test Chris Joslin did in his Joslin Maranas.

The Michelin Marana are live on CCS.com.

Marana Michelin Joslin