Buying Ice Skates: What to Know Before You Shop in 2024

When you're ready to move on from rental skates and buy your own pair of ice skates, the choices can be overwhelming. Don't let that stop you from purchasing your first pair of skates. I'll cover where to buy your skates fitting tips, breaking in new skates, and how to properly care for them.

My name is Aimée Ricca, and I’m an ISSA Certified Elite Personal Trainer (E-CPT), Nutritionist (CN), and Youth Fitness Coach (CYFC). I'm also a PSA Ranked and Rated Skating Coach/Choreographer. My passion is to inspire and empower you to achieve your healthy living goals – because I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to thrive!

⚠️⚠️ ⚠️ Disclaimers ⚠️ ⚠️ ⚠️

[martynaburchard]

As an adult beginner I bought my first pair of skates last week and the feeling is so much better than rental skates. They're Risport Antares with basic blades. I'm recreational skater and my skating time is one hour per week. I take group lesson and I'm still learning basic skills. I know that my skates are not forever and in next year I want to buy Edea Overture with MK Flight blades. I'm so lucky to have skating shop in my city. I tried Edeas and Risport - both fit me perfectly.

[Kateuno]

When those people say 20 minute drive is too far remember… in whole Russia just 3 pro figure skating shops and each of them placed in big cities and we have to drive 3h there and another 3h back to get fitted
There also no any skating rink near the shops

[flowersindecemberr]

a little over a month ago, i got a pair of new skates because i’d gotten interested in figure skating again (i took classes a few years back but nothing past beginner) and i bought roces paradise ice skates. they feel comfortable and the rink closest to my house provides blade sharpening, so that isn’t a problem. i’m worried that over time, maybe because the skates weren’t as expensive as ‘professional’ skates, they might not provide ankle support and that might lead to damage/ an injury. unfortunately, there aren’t any figure skating stores near me as i bought my skates abroad and because i don’t live in the us. i feel conflicted, because i dont want to sustain any injuries that could be caused by the wrong shoe, but i don’t want to keep making my parents spend money, i need advice

[Lapisphere]

Thank you for this video. My daughter has an appointment with Greg for her first fitting in two days. We're about 40 miles away, but everything closer was hockey-centered and I wasn't convinced that the rink's in-house shop, where she will receive her lessons, was the best option. So, again, thank you for sharing such important information.

[njmtbiker]

Just came across this video. Being from Jersey as well, I’m glad to see that there’s a pro shop that sells skates besides hockey. My 5 year old daughter just started lessons and want to consider getting her own.

[dulcinealee]

There is a lot of useful information in this video. A lot of which I knew already and great tips for skaters.
I have always been a fan of Jacksons but unfortunately have found the moulds of the Jacksons have changed. I have 2 pairs but they are very different because originally I wanted to try on and purchase the exact same pair of Jacksons but found that they were completely different as they were no longer produced in Europe but Canada and now probably made in China. I love my thicker English Sheffield blades leather heel skates rather then the plastic or synthetic heel skates. I don't like thin blades and the size and shape of the toe pick is really important to me. I use soakers but still use skate guards to walk around off rink in as I don't want to kill myself off ice especially on hard surfaces. I do find skate bags sometimes annoying as they are designed sometimes too big - so big they can fit a pair of ski boots in them! In Australia it is very difficult to get a good pair of ice skates so I get mine from Canada but you are right about hockey hockey hockey and less figure skates being sold in sport stores now. Yes first sharpening is included with purchase except if you buy them from Walmart for example. I would not purchase a pair of skates without them being sharpened as to get my skates sharpened in Australia I used to have to drive for kms to a private skate sharpener out in the suburbs just to get my skates sharpened or risk leaving them at the rink for a few days to get them sharpened. One thing that I was told about the difference between "recreational ice skates" and " "figure skates" is recreational ice skate have fixed rivets on the boot so you can't customize the attachment of the blade to the boot. I believe the toe picks on recreational skates are a little different in shape and size as well. This is expected as jumps and spins are not expected by skaters in recreational skates. One other thing I have found is travelling with my skates between Australia and Canada with extreme hot snd cold has caused my skates to deteriorate- mainly peeling and soles coming apart from the boot. Probably because I forget to air them out.

[alix]

I have the special Jackson insoles in a pair of Jackson Freestyle Fusion skates, and I LOVE the insoles and the skates. I'm an adult in low freestyle and the Freestyle Fusions work perfectly for me; also, I intend to study artistic figures in the future and I think they'll be good for that.

Anyway, the guy at the shop was a bit not happy when he saw that I'd changed the insoles, but I am happy. However there's another warning for your viewers: Freestyle Fusions come with the blades already on. They're good blades, but on my pair one was mounted at a weird angle, which led to several nasty falls before I realized I wasn't the entire problem. I had had to order online and didn't know to look at the way the blades were mounted. My advice, for what it's worth: if you order online, the next thing you should do is get to the nearest figure-skating specialty shop (mine's an hour away) and have them look at the skates before you use them. Sometimes you'll even find out you made a mistake in your choice, but that's okay. They'll have the answer.

[ruin]

I recognize the Polar Skate Shop when I see it! ❤

[funnivalentine]

Hi amiée not sure if you’ll see this comment or not but if you do, I just wanted to ask a question. I live an hour away from the polar skate shop and thanks to this video I plan to go there to buy my new pair of skates. My first question would be, when I go into the website and make an appointment, can I be sure that the day of the appointment I’ll be able to get my blades and boot from there, and also pay upfront as well. I’ve never gone there before so I really don’t know what to expect and I don’t want to waste time. Not that I don’t trust the shop but I know things come up and sometimes things just don’t work out but if you could give me any pointers it would be greatly appreciated thankyou! ❤❤❤

[SerenaGonzalez]

I asked my Learn to Skate director but he just directed me to an online jackson website. What should I do? I also want to be able to use my first pair of skates to at least start learning jumps but good enough for the basics 1-6 and a beginner...

[jskonstakningskanalen]

Unfortunately we don’t have good skate shops in Sweden.. and as and adult skater I was new to the figureskating and I got to a skate shop close to where I live and I lost a lot of money on that’s because I bought wrong brand and wrong width and they sharpened actually wrong as well.. so I ordered a custom Riedell boots and they have served me well in more than five years of skating, competitive and the first boots was too light support and I got too light blade, it was the worst blade ever!! So I bought custom made boots, that was amazing!! Now I ordered new custom made boots from Belati in Italy, and can’t wait to go on the ice with them!! And I have blades for triples and quads but they actually fit me and my skating.

[giu.as.in.giulia]

Hey, Aimee! I got a question. I want to get into adult figure skating and I need skates. I d want something to learn spins, waltz, practice edges, kinda the basics. Is Edea Tempo or Risport Antares a good choice? If yes, which one is better or what skates do u recommend? I’d appreciate your advice🥰

[jruiz]

I'm already at a loss with the first tip, I live in FL so no kind of figure skate shops here 😭

[prae_k]

Hi Amiée!, I’m currently planing to upgrade from Jackson to Eden skates, Although I’m quite worry about fitting in and how long it would take for me to be used to the edea skates. I’m 14 years old, free style 1. I’ve been using Jackson beginner skates for 1 year now and it’s overused. I’m planning to buy ice fly in the future, can I have any recommendations if I should buy one or are the shoes too advanced for me? Thank you :)

[elifnazzzzz]

Hello, I bought a second hand Jackson mystique. It fits my feet well, but there are slight scratches on the ankle part of the skate. This is in my mind, "I wonder if the ankles of these skates are broken?" I started to think. How can we find out that a skate has a problem in the ankle part?

[westsideskatestick]

Aimée - You've hit all the essential information for beginner figure skaters. Have you produced a video for adults or kids choosing between their first pair of hockey and figure skates? Keep up all the excellent content. We're a figure and hockey shop at City Ice Pavilion in LIC and soon at WIA in Flushing. Would you be able to willing to do any content for specific shops? Love to chat with you. LMN TY - David - Owner

[AbeNoSeirei]

Just yesterday I asked my pro shop, if they have the Jackson Supreme insoles (as they have some Jackson skates), but they are not available in Europe! They are US only. You can only get them if you know a private seller with US contacts, add then shipping cost and customs duty. It's just not worth it. We only have Edea insoles, but they don't help with pronation, only with shock-absorption. The options are a) to ignore the issue and just compensate or b) get the boot to an orthopedic technician for custom insoles (and I don't know how much they know about the skating motion).

[shannenchan]

Hello, I'm planning to upgrade from Jackson Artiste to Jackson freestyles. I'm at isiasia Freestyle 1 now and was wondering if the support in Jackson freestyles would be enough to last me through around freestyle 3 or 4 . Any opinions?

[urlocalweirdo]

Hi Aimee! I’ve recently learned that my last 2 pairs of skates have broken down within 5 months but my mom never agreed that I need a stiffer boot, she has finally agreed but will not let me get new boots but she says I have to wait but at this point the skates I have are a hazard to skate in. I’m wondering which boot I should use. I’m currently in the Edea overture and working on axel and novice moves pending test results, I’m 13 and 111 lbs and 5’ 0” tall. My last 2 pair of overture have broken down on only my right skate and the Part where the ankle meets the foot but only in the right skate my left is completely fine, idk if this is normal or if I’m not tying then tight enough. They won’t tie any tighter so I don’t think that’s the issue, I’m just wondering, is it me, or do I need stiffer skates?

[selenaslayla]

As for sizing, im a size 81/2 in shoes. Should i go up to size 9 for ice skates?