6 Best Ice Skates Brands in 2023 [For All Types of Ice Skating]

If you are looking for a new pair of ice skates, it can be helpful to have a clear view of the best ice skates brands in the market right now. 

Literally most of us know a few good names like Jackson, Riedell and Bauer when we think of buying ice skates to roll on, but there are other top-quality options you may have missed. The background, stories and great features of these companies may change your perspective a lot.

In this article, we have rounded up the 7 best brands of ice skates along with their background, history and some noticeable features that illustrate why they are the best, so you don’t need to hassle and also let you know which brands are worth checking out.

Top Ice Skates Brands

• Jackson Ultima Ice Skate
• Riedell Skate
• Bauer Ice Skate
• Lake Placid
• American Athletic
• John Wilson Ice Skate

Ice Skates Brands	Features
Jackson Ultima Ice Skate Recommendation: Jackson Ultima Excel Women’s/Girls Figure Skate	-Provides the Excel with a high polished blade. -PVS outsole makes it Stylish. -Synthetic liner and Quality foam provide comfort. -Lightweight & flexible: best for beginners.
Riedell Ice Skate Recommendation: Riedell Adult Recreational Soft Figure Ice Skate	-Modern and stylish -Simple lacing system and comfortable design -Velvet lining with foam-backed help in hassle-free skating -3M Thinsulate insulation keeps you dry and warm. -Versatile & cute: Best for recreational skating.
Bauer Ice Skate Recommendation: Bauer Men’s Skate Ice Hockey	-Strong construction & superior fit -Power transmission is efficient. -Rib construction ensures lateral stability -Great insulation & cushioning, perfect for hockey guys.
Lake Placid Skate Recommendation: Lake Placid Alpine 900 Women’s Traditional Figure Ice Skate	-Stainless steel blade makes it strong and durable. -Long-lasting waterproof sole. -Premium leather lining. -Super ankle support and extended heel stability. -Adjustable sizing, optimal comfort, best for recreation and for beginner ice skaters
American Athletic Skate Recommendation: American Athletic Shoe Women’s Tricot Lined Ice Skates	-Durable, comfortable, good for the price. -Supportive padded liner & higher ankle support -For both outdoor and indoor skating -4 available sizes, Perfect for fun skating.

Read also: 7 Most Comfortable Ice Skates [For Better Skating & Dancing]

Jackson Ultima Ice Skates Brand

Jackson skate has been leading the skate industry for many years. They design great figure skates, blades and complete ice skates. To fulfill the need for pleasure and enjoyment, they make recreational and leisure skates for men, women and kids.

Historical Background:

• Founder: Don Jackson
• Headquarter: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
• In 1966: Founded Don Jackson Skate Products with his brother
• In 1978: Jackson brothers owned Bauer Skates
• In 1986: Tournament Sports Marketing Inc. acquired Don Jackson Skate Products

What about the quality?

Well, Jackson Ultima makes solid skates for figure skaters at a reasonable price. All levels of skaters from beginners to advanced can skate comfortably with these skates. 

With light stiffness level, added flexibility, and padding, Jackson skates are much user-friendly for beginner skaters. Besides, these are designed with a softer topline that ensures the right amount of control and comfort. 

Riedell Skates Brand for Ice Skating

Riedell is one of the most popular brands for the Olympians. Founded in 1945, Riedell gave birth to a new era of making premium roller skates and ice skates for all levels of skaters.

Read also: Roller Skating vs Ice Skating Explained!

Historical Background:

• Founder: Paul Riedell and Sofie
• Founding Base:   Riedell Shoe Inc., founded in Red Wing, MN in 1947, by a former Red Wing Shoes employee

All thanks to great skaters, skilled and professional employees who continuously make Riedell products innovative, flexible and easily maneuverable.

Some of the best features of Riedell Skates are as follows:

• Riedell assembles the market’s best complete and sophisticated figure skates in the industry
• It offers budget recreational skates designed with standard heat-activated reinforcements.
• Riedell also ensures high-end competitive skating and superior fit.
• If you demand a custom boot mentioning your specifications for better performance and style, Riedell can serve you the best.
• You can order according to your color choice as well, and you get the perfect one.
• To ensure the quality, look and precision, Riedell makes their skates with Eclipse blades that are equal to the quality of Riedell boots.

In honest terms, Riedell performs as per its cost and survives for a long time. For women, It’s a really good deal that offers optimum support, freedom of movement, ankle support and versatile blading. Watch out for a video:

Bauer Ice Skates Brand (Best for Ice Hockey)

Bauer is one of the best ice hockey skates brands. It uses high-quality carbon coating in making the blades. For that reason, the blade becomes much more durable and flexible and smoother compared to other skate brands.

Historical Background:

• Founder: Roy Charles Bauer
• Founded In: 1927
• Headquarters: Exeter, New Hampshire, United States
• Products: Inline Skates, Hockey Equipment
• In 1980: Introduced Bauer Turbo plastic skate
• In 1990: Bauer introduced Tuuk plus shape
• In 1994: Became a subsidiary of Nike.

Regarding the materials used, Bauer uses soft microfiber for ankle support and maximum comfort. Again, Medium density foam makes it lightweight and maneuverable. The blade is featured with Tuuk stainless steel making it strong and durable.

Overall, Bauer skates are true to size skates for all levels of players, especially for beginners.

Lake Placid Ice Skates

Lake Placid makes ice skating easy and comfortable for beginners and kids. Most lake placid skates come with a push-button which helps adjust the size of the skates. For recreational and beginner ice skating lessons, lake placid is more preferable to many other common brands.

Historical Background:

• Lake Placid is actually a famous ice skating club. 
• Sno-Birds: First formal group skating in Lake Placid
• Origin: In 30’s, Lake placid skates were sold under “Aerflyte Shoe Company”
• Part of: Roller Derby family of brands
• In 1932: Sno Birds hosted the first indoor skating competition
• Products: Ice Skates, Figure Skates, Recreational Hockey Skates
• Other Brands: 360 Inc, Pacer SKates, Roller Derby Elite, Roller Derby, Tour Hockey

Out of different types of ice skates brands, Lake Placid is a one-stop place for skaters. They design not only figure skates, but also bring quality skates for Roller Derby and hockey players. Eventually, they have stood out to be a full-fledged ice skating brand.

Advanced technology and top-quality materials are used in making lake placid skates. Specifically, the inclusion of the EZ push button, woven lining and deluxe padding make the skate just perfect for recreational skaters. 

Plus the lever buckle, power strap and laces ensure the secure fit, flexibility and comfort.

To sum up, mid-price level and unbeatable attributes keep Lake Placid far ahead of other skates in the race of being the best ice skates brands.

American Athletic Skate

American Athletic is relatively new to the ice skating world compared to other longer established brands out there. Nevertheless, American offers the most innovative and quality skates for ice skates lovers.

Especially beginner boys and girls and recreational skaters can choose these skates for their first skate brand. The skates look stylish and provide the appropriate padding and ankle support that most beginners want. 

However, we will have more features below after looking at its founding background:

Historical Background:

• Full Name: American Athletic Shoe Company
• Founder: Edward J. Urban
• Founded in: 1959
• Headquarter: 15 South St. Ware, MA
• Product Variety: Sneakers, Athletic shoes, ice skates, figure skates, hockey skates, bowling shoes.

This top-selling boot has given ice skating a new era of rolling. With a relatively softer boot, thick foam padding, S.S. Blade, Multi-layered boot, you can develop your recreational skating in a much better way. 

To grab the trend and new customers, American Athlete always comes out with new models and styles. Not only in the USA, but also they are meeting the demand for ice skates in Europe and beyond.

Overall, American Athlete designs fashionable boots for ladies, kids, and newcomers. They are long-lasting, warm in the cold and comfortable as well.

John Wilson Ice Skates (Best for Figure Skating)

John Wilson is a famous name around the world in making ice skates, especially figure skates. Toolmaker John Wilson made the first figure skating blade for King William III in 1969. 

Basically, The tool-making engineer was renowned for his tools. Later, in the same way, he became famous for his blades in a very short time. 

And, if you might don’t know:

Olympic, national and world-famous skaters choose this blade for their very special skating competition. For instance, Olympian Yuzuru Hanyu got his first gold medal wearing this skate in 2014. Well, let’s look at some more information below:

Historical Background:

• Founded by: Tool maker John Wilson
• Owned by: HD Sports.
• Headquarter: Sheffield, England.

John Wilson blades are made of carbon composite which makes them lightweight, technologically advanced, durable and maneuverable. They are famous for cushioned landings and unbeatable control as well.

Other Famous Ice Skates Brands

• Edea
• Harlick
• Risport
• Botas

In the article of Live About, you find other skates like GAM, MK, SP-TERI are also listed on their favorite ice skates brands suggestion.

Best Ice Skate Brands Buying Guide in 2022

When choosing an ice skate brand, you must look for your foot shape and match it up with the skate boot. Then check out the stiffness level of the skate and then match it up again with your skill level. Price is also an important issue if you might not spend a lot in the beginning level. To learn more, read the below guide:

Stiffness

Stiffness refers to better motion movement and control. Stiffer skates allow you to break in within a very short time. Normally the stiffer your skate is, the pricier, durable and long-lasting it is. 

But, If you are a beginner, don’t go for stiffer skates as you can’t control the skate initially, and you would feel pain due to the stiffness of the skate. Rather go for softer skates which can allow you proper time to learn and provide you comfort.

Skill Level

Your skating level is important when choosing ice skates. 

At the beginning level:

• Don’t go for highly rated stiffness level
• Don’t go for much costlier skates
• Go for a complete ice skate (which you would not need to assemble)

At the intermediate and advanced level:

• Check out the stiffness level (higher is better)
• A Higher price would be better for better materials used, control and comfortability.

Sizing and Foot Shape

If your ice skate does not fit well, you can’t skate even for a minute! So, you need to be careful while choosing the size of your board. For instance, if your foot length is 9 in inches, pick the 4.5 of skate size. If you want to learn more about ice skate sizing, check this out. You can also follow a few steps below:

• Get the length of your foot.
• Measure the length (from heel to toe) of the bottom of the foot.
• Measure both of your feet and check out whether they are different in measurement and select the longer one.

Price of Skate

My ultimate suggestion is don’t go for the cheapest skates. If you are starting out recently, go for ice skates ranging from around $50-$60. These skates will meet your expectations at the learning stage. But, as an advanced player, you should choose skates for around $80 and above. The costlier the skates, the stiffer, durable, and more flexible they would be.

Perfect Clothing and Wear

Since we have a complete guide on ice skate clothing here, we are not talking much about this. Still, I can just mention, wear anything comfortable, and the outfit should match with the weather outside and protect you from any probable injury.

FAQs

What brand of ice skates do Olympians wear?

John Wilson, Jackson, and Riedell. These brands design a variety of ice skates for different skill levels. However, one of the top figure skaters like Anna Shcherbakova prefers to wear Risport Royal Elite Artistic boots for her recent skating competitions.

Which ice skates are better for beginners?

Since most hockey skates are designed with high-quality materials and are more sturdy, maneuverable, supportive and controllable, these are perfect for beginner ice skaters. 

Hybrid ice skates also offer good support with their relatively softer boots.

Read also: Hockey Outfit to Wear

Final Words

So, the best ice skates brands ensure the right amount of stiffness based on the skater’s skill level, perfect size & great fit, well cushioning, ankle support, proper blade length, flexibility, and eventually the right amount of comfort any skater wants. 

It’s fact, some best ice skate companies may always stay at the top, like Jackson Ultima, Bauer. Lake Placid, Riedell. They will always be the first priorities for the pros. While other brands like American Athlete or Risport Skate may take the lead anytime because of their continuous work towards new innovations and the use of advanced technologies in making skating boots.

In a nutshell, no matter which skates brand you choose, make sure the design, material, size and price match your skill level which is crucial for your ice skating journey.