20+ best figure skating brands (2022) – boots, blades, accessories

Want to choose your next figure skates, clothes or accessories? Below are some of the best figure skating brands on the market and tips on how to choose the best ones for your needs.

Note: This is for intermediate to advanced figure skaters. if you are an absolute beginner, you might want to head straight to my article about the best ice skate for beginner adults and teens or the best figure skates for girls.

This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase using my link, I get a commission at no extra cost to you (learn more).

Best figure skating brands - selection criteria

Let's me start by saying that there is no absolute best figure skating brand - whatever the product: Boots, blades, clothes, accessories.
It always depends on your personal needs.
You need to find the best brand for you, the best fit to your shape and expectations.
Below are some criteria to consider, before looking into the most popular brands for each type of figure skating equipment.

Most popular brands short answers

I recommend you read the article to learn more about the best brands, but if you are looking for a short answer the most popular brands of figure skates are:

• Boots: Jackson, Riedell and Edea
• Blades: MK, John Wilson and Riedell

Skating level

First-of, a beginner skater does not need custom boots or personally designed costumes.
For figure skates, you start considering buying separate boots and blades at an intermediate level. Before that, the complete stock figure skates are absolutely sufficient. However, as you progress, finding the perfect fit will give you an edge.

Your skating level will impact:

• Customization needs for the boot
• Stiffness level of the boot (more support needed)
• Quality of the blade
• Durability, as you skate more or less often
• Lightness of the boot 
• Special technological advance to absorb shock

If you are a beginner skater, purchasing an advanced boot will NOT make you a better skater!

Shape

For example, the shape of your feet, for the boots:
Each figure skating boot brand is known for different shapes fitting different types of feet. For example:

• Jackson skates have a wide toe-box, but they are the most versatile and tend to fit most feet, which is why they are so popular
• Graf skates have very high arches
• Riedell skates are narrower
• Edea skates work for squarer feet
• ...

But also, your training clothes. Some brands will be a better fit depending on your morphology.

Budget

Another essential criterion is price.
You can find figure skating equipment at all prices - especially for boots, blades and costumes the price variations are huge.
When a child is still growing, you want to be reasonable as the skates will have to be changed frequently.

Having high quality and durable skates is great, but not if it impacts the financial stress level of the skater or the family.

What ice skates do Olympians wear?

You should never base your choice on which famous skater is wearing them because they don't have the same shape of feet.
But if you are curious:

• Jackson - Nathan Chen, Kaetlyn Osmond, Alina Zagitova, Adam Rippon, Guillaume Cizeron...
• Riedell - Alexa Linden, Johnny Weir, Vincent Zhou, Amy Lin...
• Edea - Evgenia Medvedeva, Gabrielle Papadakis, Yuzuru Hanyu, Kaetlyn Osmond... (very popular with the latest generation of high-level figure skaters)
• Risport - Shoma Uno, Wenjing Sui, Alexandra Trusova...
• Graf - Ashley Wagner, Javier Fernandez, Carolina Kostner, Brian Orser, Alexei Yagudin, Evgeny Plushenko, Oksana Baiul.

Next, I will introduce the best figure skating brands for:

• Boots
• Blades
• Training clothes and costumes
• Accessories

BOOTS - Best figure skate brands

First things first, you need boots.
Like for shoes, there are different shapes of boots depending on the manufacturer.

The most popular brands for ice skaters of all levels are Jackson and Riedell because they cover a complete range of products from beginners to Olympians, but for high level, the Edea boots are becoming increasingly popular.
But they all have their specialties.

Let's learn more about all of them

EDEA

• Origin
  Originating in Italy, the first boots hit the ice in 2002, after 2 years of research and development.
  Headquarter - Crocetta del Montello, Italy- website
• Products
  They manufacture boots only. Their boots have become very popular recently with high level skaters.
• Shape specificity
  For squarer feet (heel, arch and toes of the same width).
• Specific Technologies
  The Edea boots are famous for being significantly lighter than other boots, as they are made of synthetic material instead of leather.
  Top models have anti-shock technology to relieve pressure when landing a jump
  Careful, you can't heat them like typical boots, since they are not made of leather.
• Famous customers
  Famous figure skaters wearing Edea skates: Evgenia Medvedeva, Gabrielle Papadakis, Yuzuru Hanyu, Kaetlyn Osmond ...  See the list of Edea Skaters

GAM

• Origin
  Owned by the same company as Jackson
• Products
  Entry to mid-levels skaters - good comfort
• Shape specificity
  Wide toe-box
• Specific Technologies
  Leather with heat molding capabilities

Harlick

• Origin
  In 1935, Louis Harlick, a custom footwear maker, made his first pair of custom skating boots. He joined with the Henderson brothers in 1960. Today, the company is still owned by the Henderson family.
  Headquarter: San Carlos, California, USA - Website
• Products
  Boots only. High quality boots with customization using special padding. Fitting in California - not for beginners
• Specific Technologies
  Handcrafted from traditional leather.
• Famous customers
  Used to be worn by Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, Meryl Davis and Charlie White

SP-Teri

• Origin
  Making skating boots since 1948, Joseph Spiteri launched his own company in 1963 in California. It is now led by Bill Fauver who used to be a competitive ice skater.
  Headquarter in Nashville, Tennessee, USA - wesbite
• Products
  Boots only with customization, famous for its fit, entry level to elite
• Shape specificity
  Customized with material, flexibility, padding, orthotic allowances, tongue options, insoles...
  
• Famous customers
  Mirai Nagasu, Dorothy Hamill

Other figure skate brands

On Amazon, you will also notice other brands. They offer some good entry level skates for reasonable prices. They often started with other products such as roller skates or hockey skates and are branching out into ice skates.

• Bladerunner (Italy)
• Botas (Czech Republic)
• Lake Placid (USA)

Now let's talk about blades...

BLADES - Top figure skate brands

Another essential for creating the perfect figure skate for you is the blade.

The most popular brands at high level are MK and John Wilson.

Specific attributes to look at for your blades (depending on your level)

• Material - Carbon steel (most common to start with), nickel, aluminium, carbon fiber, stainless steel, titanium - different materials offer different advantages: corrosion resistance, strength, elasticity, weight...
• Blade types - Parallel (most of the blades, easier to sharpen) and parabolic (help center your weight) are the most common but new shapes are appearing such as the Revolution, and other traditional such as side-honed or tapered.
• Rocker - 7 foot or 8 foot (more or less curved)  - 7' is more mobile and easier for spins while the 8' is better for speed, edge control and jump landing.
• Toe rake (a.k.a Toe pick or Teeth) - several shapes available: straight-cut are great for beginners to intermediates (low profile to avoid tripping over them), then cross-cut is common. For advanced skater the K-pick is preferred as it is more aggressive.
• Tail length and lift angle - Tails are shorter for ice dancer and longer for figure skaters. Blades also have different lift angles (how high the tail is from the ice) - this has an impact on the time for the toe pick to come into contact with the ice (larger lift, longer time).

Want to understand more? - check out my complete article about figure skate blades.

MK Blades

• Origin
  MK means Mitchel & King
  Headquarter - Sheffield, United Kingdom - website
• Famous products:
  The Dance Blades, Phantom Blades, Gold Star Blades
• Shapes and materials
  Competition level blades are available in various profiles
  Materials are carbon fiber composite and steel
• Famous customers
  Many famous figure skaters use MK blades, especially ice dancers: Tessa Virtue, Gabrielle Papadakis, Patrick Chan...  See their Hall of fame

John Wilson

• Origin
  Historical blade maker, John Wilson was commissioned to make blades for King William III in 1696
  Headquarter - Sheffield, United Kingdom - website
• Famous products:
  The Pattern 99 Revolution blades, the Gold Seal Blades...
• Shapes and materials
  Competition level blades are available in various profiles
  Materials are carbon fiber composite and steel
• Famous customers
  Many famous figure skaters use John Wilson blades: Yuzuru Hanyu, Shuman Uno, Nathan Chen, Adam Tippon...  See their Hall of fame

Both John Wilson and MK have similar websites and the same address. They are both owned by the parent company HD sports.

Paramout SK8s

• Origin
  Headquarter - Gurnee, Chicago area, IL, USA - website
• Famous products:
  Customization possible
• Shapes and materials
  Carbon steel
• Famous customers
  Many famous figure skaters use John Wilson blades: Javier Fernandez, Nicole Rajico...  See their Skaters list

Jackson and Riedell

We already saw these 2 companies in the Boot section. They both make blades to go with them.

• Jackson Ultima - various profiles in aluminium and stainless steel 
• Riedell Eclipse - various profiles in stainless steel, carbon steel, aluminum and titanium

CLOTHES & COSTUMES - Good figure skating brands

Best figure skating dress brands

For competitions, it is often best to have your own design and a seamstress to create the perfect costumes for your morphology and your programs.
However, this has a cost.

Some brands are offering a variety of pre-made figure skating dresses:

• Mondor
• Chloe Noel
• Jerry's Skating World
• Elite Expression
• Liuhuo
• ...

Best figure skating training clothes brands

Jacket, leggings, leotard, tops, skirts... There are many ways to dress for figure skating practice.
There is no one brand that really stands out. They include:

• Chloe Noel
• Elite Expression
• Jerry's Skating World
• IceDress Thermal apparel
• Mondor
• ...

But you don't have to choose clothes that are specific for figure skating. As long as they are thin, warm, breathable and not soaking up water, most sport clothes will be fine.

You can find here my suggestion for 5 looks to enjoy at practice.

ACCESSORIES - Best ice skating brands

Figure skating laces brands

Figure skating laces are made by a combination of figure skate manufacturers,  figure skating clothes manufacturers and accessory manufacturers:

• Edea
• Riedell
• Jackson
• Jerry's
• A&R

Other accessories with figure skating designs

And if you are looking for everyday life accessories with figure skating designs check out my collection on Zazzle with:

• Notebooks
• Mirrors
• Leggings
• Tank tops
• Yoga mats
• Jewelry
• Bedroom decors
• and much more...

You might also be interested in: