In a lineup of minimal shoes, the Vertical Ks from La Sportiva are unique. They offer a flexible, lightweight build plus a low heel-to-toe drop spec. But the cushy shoe has more protection underfoot than true “barefoot” stock.
Teva came out with its light-equipped Illum sandals last year. We test a new model, the Illum 2, and give them a try in the Colorado desert during the day as well as the dark of night.
A retro look and a deliberately under-engineered design set Altra Running’s Lone Peak shoes apart. We give the zero-drop running shoes a trail test.
Vibram adds tread to sole and a rock guard to protect on FiveFingers shoe, markets the result to trail runners. We give it a test this spring on hardpack, mud and loose dirt.
A minimal athletic shoe made with goat leather? A $195 price tag? Yep, meet Skora Inc. of Portland, Ore., a startup looking to build a better, different type of running shoe.
Vibram’s ubiquitous FiveFingers “foot gloves” have sold like mad in recent years. This weekend, the company opens its first and flagship store dedicated to FiveFingers and “the benefits of minimalist footwear and training.” We get an early peek inside the front door. . .
Breed a flip-flop sandal with a Vibram FiveFingers shoe and you might get something like the Sazzi. This new line of sandals have straps that segment your toes for “incredible agility and freedom of movement,” as the company markets it.
Footwear for running uphill on snow — that’s the topic of this post, which highlights a GearJunkie editor’s equipment picks and overall experience in a unique mountain-running event earlier this month in Colorado.
To commemorate 100 years in business, L.L. Bean will tour the USA in a boot. Oh, and the Maine brand is running free outdoor programs as well as giving away $1million to the National Park Foundation.
The problem: A boot that can brave the winter elements as well as look good out on the town. The solution: Salomon’s Uma Trois women’s boot. Our writer gives this hybrid footwear a test.
Neoprene and rubber are main ingredients for a new type of winter boot coming to market from multiple brands. Here we look at to-be-released rubber boots from Hi-Tec and Bogs.
This fall a GearJunkie reporter traveled to Herzogenaurach, Germany, and the headquarters of the Adidas Group to gain perspective on the athletics giant’s big move within the U.S. outdoor market. Among the findings, almost all Americans pronounce “Adidas” wrong.
A cinch-on lacing system and an aggressive design identify the S-LAB Fellcross as a distinctly Salomon shoe. But the Fellcross is a new breed for the French brand, a beast with extra-toothy tread that’s advertised as “low profile and ultra-light.”
Did you know that Danish brand ECCO is the fifth largest shoe company in the world? We didn’t either. Today, in Minnesota, the company hits a milestone by opening its 1,000th retail store.
The international athletic juggernaut that is Adidas has acquired Five Ten, a Redlands, Calif., brand known most for its rock climbing shoes. For $25 million, Adidas snapped up the small, core company to bolster its place in the outdoor industry, which it hopes to dominate by 2015.
Equipped with five tiny rubber pads on the sole said to align with the foot’s metatarsal bones, the MV2 from Newton Running is a different beast. The new model, released this month, is also lightweight, flexible, and made to appeal to runners in search of a fast, minimal shoe.
Footwear giant Adidas launched a “toe shoe” this week and subsequently jumped into the ring with Vibram FiveFingers in a weird niche of a market that continues to gain momentum.
So, did you hear the one about the penguin who wears a custom shoe developed by Teva? No joke. See the video here for the story of a custom piece of footwear Teva made for a compromised little water bird named Lucky at the Santa Barbara Zoo.
“It’s not a sock, it’s a foot-cover!” That’s the tagline for Puretoes, a new sock-like product with holes for toes and grip material on the soles.
Vibram has announced a line of “lifestyle” models for spring 2012, including FiveFingers shoes made for daily wear and two small toe-shoe models for kids.
A mesh upper, a split-toe design, and “octopus tentacle”-inspired detailing on the sole make the to-be-released Maliko from OluKai Inc. one of the most unique water shoes we’ve ever seen.
In another example of the main-streaming of the toe-shoe genre, this week Fila USA signed Alex Puccio, a rising bouldering star, to a multi-year endorsement agreement.
It won’t be for sale until 2012. But the just-announced Vertical K shoe from La Sportiva undoubtedly has fanatics of running steep mountain trails drooling already.
This built-for-backpacking shoe offers a zip-in-half option for maximum packability. Gear Junkie takes the modular footwear, which converts to a “shoe pod” during transit, on a trail test.
The phenomenon of shoes with articulated toes is one of the strangest product trends in recent years, if not ever. This article provides a baseline look at the small industry surrounding the growing genre of footwear made with slots for toes.
Five-toed shoes are a strange phenomenon in the outdoors space. But for Vibram, the Italian maker of FiveFingers, articulated “foot gloves” are big business, and, as demonstrated this week with Fila, copycats will be taken to court.
Good-looking and minimal, a new company, Kigo Footwear, makes an attempt to distinguish itself from the myriad barefoot-style options now for sale. Gear Junkie tests the shoe running and gets back only mediocre results.
From minimalist trail shoes to full-leather boots, Gear Junkie offers a roundup of some of this year’s most intriguing footwear makes. Pick out your optimal shoe and lace up to hit the trail!
A thin sole, a footbed, and Velcro straps are the totality of the design. This sandal promises flip-flop weight with “sport sandal” performance and fit. Gear Junkie gives it a wear test.
Last summer, Gear Junkie put a made-for-the-mountains running shoe to the test on the 15-mile Jupiter Peak Steeplechase race in Utah. The shoe, La Sportiva’s Crosslite model, has since proved its worth in a variety of trail-running environments.
Last night, at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, amid dinosaur bones and live stingrays undulating in a shallow pool, Columbia Sportswear previewed its spring 2012 product line. Gear Junkie gives a run-down of the ceremonies and the company’s unique new wares.
No, thanks.
