Last Resort AB’s brand motto is ‘Break Free’ and they truly stuck to their word with their CM002-Lo model. It’s the brand’s second cupsole release, following up on their CM001, and it decidedly takes a major departure from the look of the brand’s former cupsole model, advancing from it to present a much more modern-looking silhouette.
We were interested to find out what makes the CM002 different and to see how they skate. So when we got a pair, we got rolling in them right away. If you are thinking of getting them, we’ve got all the info you need to know to figure out if they are worth it for yourself.
Read our Last Resort CM002-Lo review below and watch our wear test to find out all of that and more.
(1.) – Design: “Grippy and Slippy but Firm and Solid”
The CM002’s double-layered suede and pebbled leather upper complement each other in looks, and board feel. They are both smooth and strong, making the toe slippy enough for solid flick on flip tricks but also more than grippy enough to stick to your feet for Ollies.
Looking across the Last Resort AB range, it’s clear the CM002 is a relatively tech shoe in comparison with their other offerings. There’s a lot of suede, leather, and rubber, the top eyelet is reinforced with plastic, and there’s tech in the insoles and seamless stitching in all of the right places that it should be.
There are lots of well-considered decisions integrated into the shoe to increase its performance for skating and to accentuate its style for a unique look on your feet in essentially every situation.
The CM002 is well padded, and the Terry cloth-lined inner is comfy. The shoe is wide but it’s not bulky. It’s not thin but it’s slim and flexible, so it has the look of a beefier cupsole but the feel of a vulcanised shoe.
The reinforced, padded leather heel cup on the back of the collar of the CM002 is firm enough to constantly stay in place and keep shape to support your feet but durable enough to react to weight and pressure. It will protect your ankle from incoming boards and also keep your feet hugged inside the shoes at all times.
(2.) – Design: “Tongues of Fun”
The tongue is not overly puffy which adds to the overall flexibility of the shoe, giving you more room to adjust lace tightness. However, the CM002 is very well padded in every other area but flexible and grippy enough in all of the places where your feet are usually in the most contact with the board.
(3.) – Design: “Truly Out of Sight Low Key Branding”
The shoe’s intentionally low-key branding makes it easy to wear them with multiple outfits giving you greater choice for your own personal customisation. Although there is a woven Last Resort Logo Tab on the tongue, it can only be seen from really close-up and is basically invisible if you wear baggy jeans.
There’s also a very subtle embossed Last Resort logo graphic on the heel and a wordmark logo on the back of the outsole, so there are a few bits of Last Resort branding present but they’re very low-key. Less is more in these.
(4.) – Design: “All Round Reliable Flexibility”
The shoe’s solid but flexible outsole construction means it’s got that classic vulcanised grippiness, that gives you great contact with the board but the firmness of a hardwearing cupsole that is more durable to the constant high impact of skating. Especially in high wear and tear areas zones prone to rips and tears like the toe where you do Kickflips and the side of the shoe where your foot hits for Ollies.
The CM002’s wide rounded toe is as equally good for Kickflips as it is for heelflips. With a wider shoe, your foot is covering more of the board making it easier to flick every type of flip trick you can think of.
(5.) – Design: “Let Your Feet Breath with Ease and Steez”
One of the standout features of this shoe is the breathable mesh on the tongue that keeps your feet very cool and ventilated while skating.
The silky mesh spans across the side of the shoe and over the back of the heel, further extending its capacity to circulate air around every part of your feet that get the hottest.
(6.) – Design: “Water We Got Here”
But although the CM002, is clearly a shoe made for skating everything, all day, every day, it’s not made for wet weather conditions. The breathable mesh is not as waterproof as other cupsole models out there, so if it is a rainy day, there is a high chance water will seep through them. So they are not the best shoes to keep your feet from getting soaked by water or a dropped drink but chances are you’re probably not going to skate in a torrential downpour any time soon but it’s something to bear in mind.
(7.) – Design: Laces: “Tight or Loose, They Always Stay in the Right Place”
The CM002’s chunky laces are positioned well into the middle of the shoe, placing them far from your griptape.
The laces are strong and the pair that are in the shoe out of the box, blend seamlessly into the upper but they come with an alternative pair in bolder colours if you want the option to have them to stand out.
There is also a well-placed leather lace hole cover on the bottom row and a tiny but tough plastic lace hole on the top that do a great job of giving you protection from ripped laces on your flip tricks and Ollies and keep your laces firmly tied.
(8.) – Design: Insole: ‘Holey Shit – Comfort, Protection and Style”
The tech inside the CM002’s insole gives the shoe some of the most protective sole padding out of the box we’ve skated. The Cloudy Cush insole is branded with a Last Resort Logo on the outer heel area, punctured with a series of breathable micro-perforated ventilation holes across the top side near your toe side and the middle, adding even greater airflow circulation to stop your feet from getting too hot.
The insole’s thick at the back, slim at the front design, reinforces the strength of padding already underneath your heels, which in combination with the ventilation holes, gives your feet the support and additional cushioning that a skate shoe should do. You will most likely never need to use an alternative insole for this shoe.
Adding to that, the insole’s base has grooved cloudy shapes and the Last Resort logo grid embossed onto it, across the bottom that acts as a gripping pattern, ensuring that the insoles don’t shuffle from side to side or from back to front, by locking into the shoe’s inner and keeping your feet stable in the shoe.
(9.) – Skateabilty: Fit: “True to Size, Fit Like A Glove”
The CM002-Lo is true to size and definitely spacious and flexible enough for skaters who have either normal, narrow or wide feet. This model even has a handy extra lace hole on the side for further broadening out the fit.
(10.) – Skateabilty: Out of the Box: “Always Ready to Rock”
The CM002’s break in straight out of the box and within the first few hours, you should be able to nail all the tricks that you would do normally while wearing these. Not a lot of shoes can officially hold that title but these definitely have that.
Pushing and cruising over pretty much every skateable surface feels solid and your flips will have that snappy, resistant feeling you want yet you can still move your feet with enough speed to make your flick feel really responsive with great board feel.
(11.) – Skateabilty: Over Time: “Resistant to Casual Wear and Tear”
After a few months of skating the CM002, the shoes will soften up quite a bit which could become overly flexible for skaters who are looking for a traditionally standard, tough cupsole feel.
But having a flexible shoe that moves more closely with your feet’s natural movements makes sense and is always a good thing to have, not just for your skateboarding but for staying active in life in general. If you need to throw your board down and take a few steps to get speed for a trick, bail a trick and need to run out, a good song comes and you want to cut a rug or you’re on foot and you need to hit the jets, its style of limber cupsole will always be better in the long run.
(12.) – Skateabilty: Sole: “Very Well-Designed but Wears Down Steadily
The CM002’s rubber sole is patterned with spaciously placed gridded grip zones, that are larger in some spots and concentrated and smaller in areas where you make the most contact with the board. They are big enough so they don’t collect dirt or grit, grip your board well, and give your feet great contact with your board and great support while pushing.
However, that flexibility means they wear down slightly more quickly than firmer cupsoles, especially the sole, which will begin to fade in grippiness over the first 2-3 months of constant use – based on skating 3 times a week and wearing them daily. But the premium materials on the upper are so strong and reinforced, that the shoe overall keeps it shape in that timeframe and you most likely would not make a tear on the upper until about 4-6 months of skating them at around that pace.
(13.) – Colorways
The CM002 comes in six different colours. We skated the sleek Triple Black ones. But it does come in a more eye-catching Tactile Green/White and Dark Navy Blue/White, a dope all-white suede-white leather-white rubber-soled, White/White version, earthy-toned Pine Cone Brown/White and a super-lowkey Ultimate Grey/White model.
(14.) – Price
UK – £85
USA- $105
(15.) – Rating: 8/10
The CM002 is a well-constructed, functionally-considered cupsole, that utilises the best features of classic shoes in the category. It strips away the bulky padding and tech excess that let other cupsole models down in the past and updates them for a new generation to offer a shoe that is stylish, and comfortable to wear but constructed with enough care to protect your feet when you need to go for it.
If you want the protective features and look of a traditional cupsole with the flexible skateability and board feel of a vulcanised shoe, the CM002-Lo is definitely one of the best options out there for you.
