Why Are Roller Skates So Expensive?

Roller skating as a hobby or a sport can be a bit of a hit to the hip pocket at times. Anybody who works in a skate shop has heard their fair share of “oh that’s a bit steep” when talking prices and budgets with customers. We get it! You want to make sure you're spending your hard earned money the best way for you.

At RollerFit, we are big advocates for saving up for a set of skates that will last you a long time or finding reputable brands of skates second hand. Yep, even as a skate shop, we've been recommending second hand skates for a long time. Sure, there are cheap skate options you can get from sports stores, good old Kmart, off Amazon or at your local surf shop. But have a think, why do those options cost significantly less than most other roller skates? Most of those complete skates are cheaper than a set of good quality wheels from a reputable roller skate company. The old adage is true when it comes to skating, you get what you pay for.

So, why do you pay what you do for roller skates? We love a bit of transparency, especially in such a niche zone. It really comes down to what it takes to make a roller skate and get it into your local skate shop.

Compared to other wheel sports, roller skates have more individual components that go together to build a complete roller skate. Check out your skate’s anatomy and you will see a bunch of different parts made from different materials. There’s even stuff that you can’t see in the internal construction of your skate boots. Some components may come from in house, but most factories need to source parts from other factories. All these parts, visible or not, add to the total cost of a skate. Whether it be a complete skate or a piece of skate hardware like a plate, quality parts make for a bigger retail price tag.

All those parts need to be assembled for you to receive a complete product. Manufacturing roller skates is a very labour intensive production process. This means people are needed to hand sew, glue, and nail skate boots. Some hardware can be cast moulded and poured but still requires hand finishing and assembling. All of this people power costs. It is only fair that those people doing the work are paid an adequate and fair wage. When thinking of manufacturing, it’s also important to remember that there is a lot of time spent designing, producing prototypes, testing and tweaking that goes into developing skate products. All that hard work is reflected in the final product price.

Once roller skates and skate hardware is manufactured it has make it from the factory to your local skate shop. This is where freight, insurance, import and distribution costs get added to the retail price tag. For us Australian skaters, it’s important to remember that we have no roller skate manufacturers here. Australian owned brands like Bont and Chuffed Skates have their products made overseas (Magic Skates Goods is the exception with all their hardware manufactured locally). By virtue of being Aussie owned they cut out a bunch of freight and distribution costs. Meaning that whilst the quality may be similar or better than some international brands, their price tag can be a bit kinder to your bank account. When it comes to internationally owned brands like Riedell, Moxi, Chaya, Edea, the importing, freight, insurance and distribution costs get baked into the final wholesale and retail price. With an increasingly unpredictable international political, economic and environmental climate, importing and freight costs have been skyrocketing. Many skate brands and distributors have done their best to absorb these costs for some time but there’s only so much they can take on if the business is to continue providing their products and innovating new ones for the skating community.

Next time you’re browsing for roller skates or hardware and get a bit of eye watering from the price tag, take a little pause. We assure you that your local skate shop isn’t doing you dirty. No skate shop is out there making bank. They’re doing their best to supply their community with the best skate products possible. Prices are set by the skate manufacturing companies and their distributors. All the components, time, labour, and freight, insurance and import fees get reflected in the price you pay at the checkout, and you really do get what you pay for.

As always, if you’ve got roller skate related questions, reach out, we’d love to chat!