Blog · 2026-08-14

A short history of grip tape

Before it was a sheet in a box, it was whatever you could find that stopped your feet sliding off.

The first boards did not have grip. Riders stood on varnished wood and simply accepted that their feet would go where physics wanted them to go. The earliest fixes were improvised: sand thrown onto wet paint, strips of stair tread pulled off a fire escape, industrial anti-slip tape meant for factory floors.

What changed things was the arrival of a purpose-made adhesive-backed silicon carbide sheet in the mid-seventies. It stuck to a curved surface without lifting, it kept its bite when wet, and it could be cut to shape with a blade. Once grip stopped being a problem to solve, riders stopped thinking about their feet and started thinking about what their feet could do.

The modern sheet is a compromise between three things that pull against each other. Coarse grit holds a shoe better but destroys the sole faster. A strong adhesive stays down through a winter but tears veneer when you strip it. A perforated backing lays flat without bubbles but leaves a faint pattern visible through a clear sheet.

Our Vice sheet sits deliberately in the middle of all three. It is coarse enough to hold through a wet session, gentle enough that a pair of shoes lasts a month rather than a week, and perforated so you can lay it down without a squeegee and without swearing.