GET FAMILIAR: Eric Koston

Eric Koston has been leading the campaign for Nike SB’s Air Max 95 remix. If you’ve ever stepped foot on a skateboard, you almost certainly know who Koston is. If you haven’t, well, you’re about to watch some amazing skateboarding for the very first time, and for that, I’m kinda jealous.

With the Koston-designed blue, yellow, and white SB Air Max 95 dropping at skate shops around the globe this month, we figured everyone could use a crash course on one of the world’s best skaters.

Who is Eric Koston?

Eric Koston is a 50-year-old pro skater who has been pro for over 30 years. A pioneer of street skating, Koston is a tech god who is known for making impossible tricks look easy. Growing up in Southern California, Koston was sponsored as a teenager by the superteam of the era, H-Street, before moving on to the brand 101 under the mighty World Industries parent company. Koston has spent his entire adult life in LA and is probably best known as one of the founding members of Girl Skateboards.

Koston’s legacy of video parts is legendary, but he’s also been featured in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video games, been sponsored by Oakley for decades, won X-Games medals, opened The Berrics with Steve Berra, a private skatepark and content channel, and has generally seen the kind of mainstream success and fame that is simply out of reach to most skaters. Koston’s mix of insane skill and goofy trick selection, exemplified in the homie video Chomp On This, has kept him relevant across decades.

What’s Koston’s History with Nike SB?

Koston released his first signature sneaker with skate shoe brand eS in 1997. Over the next eight years, Koston released seven signature shoes with eS, taking inspiration from Jordans, Air Maxes, and other shoes outside of skating, creating one of the industry’s most successful pro lines.

In 2006, Koston shocked the skate world by leaving eS for Lakai, the independent skate footwear brand owned by Crailtap, the same parent company that owns Girl Skateboards, Koston’s board sponsor at the time. After dropping a full part in Lakai’s Fully Flared, the skate industry’s most anticipated video ever, Koston’s Lakai tenure was pretty lackluster on the shoe side, with a handful of pro shoes that either replicated his eS silhouettes or phoned in generic shapes to match the trends of the time.

In 2009, Koston made another radical shift, leaving the skater-owned shoe industry behind for Nike SB, launching a new signature line that restarted with the Koston 1 in the heart of Nike’s 2011’s Lunarlon craze. The Koston 2 would follow in 2013, and in 2016, the Koston 3 Hyperfeel with its high ankle bootie. Koston designed slim, streamlined cupsoles with one-piece toecaps, and used Nike’s immense resources to lean into his personal interests, collaborating with Kobe Bryant, producing retooled golf versions of his shoes before Nike started giving every model a links-ready remix, and before the new Air Max 95 initiative, designing an Air Max 90-inspired heritage version of his Koston 1 model.

What Happened with Stevie Williams and the SB Air Max 95 Rollout?

Alright, let’s get to the beef. Okay, it was kind of a one-sided beef, but still.

When Nike SB debuted the skate-ready retool of the Air Max 95, they tapped Koston to be the face of the campaign. Koston was seen skating and partying in samples before it was officially announced; he starred in the commercial talking about the 95’s skate history, and he collaborated on the second colorway of the silhouette. In the initial SB 95 video, there were a few clips of Philly skate legend Stevie Williams skating Neon 95s in the mid-90s, an iconic image connecting the model to skating. In an Instagram ad for the first colorway of the model, Nike SB used a quote from Williams in the Transworld Skaterboards video The Reason, where he describes his days avoiding the cops at Love Park as “Run, skate chill.”

The line was a clear reference to Williams’ influence, but Williams, who isn’t sponsored by Nike SB, was not featured in the campaign. Williams still owns DGK, but outside of that, Instagram suggests that he spends more time in the gym these days than he does on a board. Nonetheless, Williams was upset that he was referenced in the campaign without any explicit credit or paycheck. Instead of reaching out to Nike SB marketing honchos, though, Williams took to Instagram to lash out at Koston, and in today’s aggregation-heavy content climate, Williams’ frustration became a story in skating, sneakers, and beyond. For his part, Koston never responded or retaliated, despite his long history of kicking hornet nests.

Despite Williams’ contention, Koston does have a long history with the Air Max 95, and in his Epicly Later’d documentary series, Koston recalls a drunken night in the mid-90s where fellow pro skater Mike York pissed inside a pair of Koston’s OG Air Max 95 Comets…at the filming of the doc in 2012, Koston still had the pair of soiled 95s in his collection.

At ComplexCon in October, Williams, who lives in Vegas, stopped by the event to see Koston and pick up an early pair of the Nike SB Air Max 95 Koston colorway, squashing his one-sided beef for good, once again showing up at Koston’s work to create nostalgia-laced content for his own Instagram page.

Watch Koston Skate

Thank god that’s over with. Now, back to what really counts, Koston skating. Check out some of our favorite Koton footage from over the years, and look out for the Nike SB Air Max 95 Koston dropping through Nike November 7, 2025 for $190.

Zach Harris

Zach Harris is a writer based in Philadelphia. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vice, Complex, High Times, and more. He is obsessed with skateboarding and bowling. He is still looking for his first 300. For tips, reviews, and anything in size 10.5 - zach.h@soleretriever.com