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Wild Country Shoes with Michelin Rubber... (Read 13168 times)

sxrxg

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https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10154699570458595&id=97486098594

The above video popped up on my Facebook today. Two new shoes from Wild Country (a lace up and a velcro) both with Michelin rubber. Amazed that such a large rubber manufacturer are getting involved in climbing shoes. Am really interested to see how they turn out as I'm sure with Michelins huge resources they would not put there name to a poor product.

Does anyone know anything more about these?


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webbo

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Don't Red Chilli use the same rubber as Continental tyres or have I just made that up.

sxrxg

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All the red chilli shoes I have ever owned seem to have own brand Rx rubber. Not sure who makes this though, certainly never seen it branded as continental.

Seems like we are going to be spoilt for choice for shoes in 2018 though with black diamond also releasing a full range -

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jwi

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À propos Black Diamond climbing shoes:

I'm really confused why Black Diamond are making and selling premium climbing shoes. (Prices seems to be around $160-180). La Sportiva and 5.10 have a bunch of shoes in that segment,  Scarpa and Evolv have a quite a few and there are even offerings from Tenaya and a few other brands. To make it worse: La Sportiva and 5.10 have very strong brand-names and a strong reputation for high performance.

Standard business theory would suggest that to positioning yourself in this crowded segment is a sure way to lose money.

Moo

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Climbing walls are booming and climbing is going to be in the olympics. I'm surprised there aren't more shoe brands popping up.

Muenchener

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BD have been doing clothing for a couple of years now too; I'm seeing quite a lot of it about, and I have one of their softshell jackets that I use for alpine stuff & it's excellent. But I suppose clothing is less performance critical and doesn't attract such ferocious brand loyalty as shoes.

Otoh some new entrants seem to be doing ok in the shoe market. Tenaya have establshed a good reputation rather quickly. Probably helped by some smart sponsorship deals: Alex Megos, the Anderson brothers - but from what one hears the shoes are genuinely good. And there's a Korean brand called Butora that seems to be well liked in the US, although I have yet to see them anywhere in Europe.

jwi

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The margins must be ridiculously high.

dave

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Tenaya have establshed a good reputation rather quickly. Probably helped by some smart sponsorship deals: Alex Megos, the Anderson brothers - but from what one hears the shoes are genuinely good. And there's a Korean brand called Butora that seems to be well liked in the US, although I have yet to see them anywhere in Europe.

The flipside is I can't think of a single person I know who wears Tenaya shoes, with the possible exception of Dolph who is I assume sponsored by them. I would say they had a non-existent reputation. I have no idea who the Anderston brothers are, and I burnt Megos off.

The main three as far as I can tell from what I see are still 5:10, Sportiva and Scarpa (i.e. lots of folk buying their own boots wear them, which tells you a lot), with Boreal, Evolve and Red Chili these days being relegated to the second tier (I.e. you can name one sponsored wad who wears each one), and the likes of Tenaya being very much a Vauxhall Conference shoe. And then you've got Andrea Boldrini for those folk who think Sportivas are just too cheap.
« Last Edit: June 18, 2017, 08:50:02 pm by dave »

jwi

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There's a reason why there are only two-and-a-half brands of athletic shoes: nike, adidas and puma

mrjonathanr

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Aren't Puma a fraternal offshoot from Adidas (or something along those lines...?).

I think Tenaya have been around a while, the Pou brothers have been ticking with them on their feet for a few years I think, it's only recently I guess they have become established outside of Spain.

dave

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Puma was started by Adi Dassler's brother after a family bust up I think.

webbo

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Back in the day Sean Kelly( Irish cyclist in case you don't know) was sponsored by Puma. On his Cycling shoes underneath the painted on Puma stripe you could see 3 blacked out Adidas stripes.

moose

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And as a counterpoint, Cruyff had a personal sponsorship deal with Puma, so when he played for the Dutch national team, which was sponsorred by Adidas, he had to have a custom kit with 2 stripes, rather than 3.

dave

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Back in the day Sean Kelly( Irish cyclist in case you don't know) was sponsored by Puma. On his Cycling shoes underneath the painted on Puma stripe you could see 3 blacked out Adidas stripes.

Similarly there are numerous rumours around, at last some which are true, of Boreal sponsored climbers shipping their brand new boots off to get resoled in Stealth.

Andy F

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There's a reason why there are only two-and-a-half brands of athletic shoes: nike, adidas and puma

Erm, Asics....

Fultonius

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I had a pair of Tenaya Masai's way back maybe 10 years ago. Terrible rubber back then.

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Mike Tyson

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I might get my Doc Martens resolved by Dr Oetker. I want a pizza this action.

Nibile

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If the Michelin rubber behaves like he MotoGP one, with one pair you're climbing Meshuga and with another one you're falling off S grade routes.

SA Chris

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There's a reason why there are only two-and-a-half brands of athletic shoes: nike, adidas and puma

Erm, Asics....

Erm and Reebok and Brooks if you are looking at proper running shoes, not fashion trainers.

jfdm

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There's a reason why there are only two-and-a-half brands of athletic shoes: nike, adidas and puma

Erm, Asics....

Erm and Reebok and Brooks if you are looking at proper running shoes, not fashion trainers.
Erm, Saucony if you are looking for a great pair of trainers, flat laces that never come undone - brilliant.

andy_e

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Erm, Walsh too, the original trainers.

cheque

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In the races that my girlfriend runs everybody has Asics, New Balance, Brooks or Saucony. Anyone wearing Nike or Adidas looks suspiciously like a punter.

I had a pair of Tenayas. They were, if anything, better made than Five Tens, but out of some slightly cheaper-seeming materials, which didn't affect their longevity. The only thing I disliked was the rubber but it was the same stuff that Scarpas (which I don't get on with either) have so I'd put that down more to my personal preference than it being rubbish.

Indoor climbing (and it's spritual cousins top-roping in quarries and grit bouldering in sweltering heat) is becoming more and more popular so it's probably a no-brainer for companies to get shoes out there given that they're; a) one of the few pieces of gear that every climber needs and b) the only piece of gear that beginners go through quicker than more experienced climbers.

I'd guess that Michelin's involvement in the WC shoes is just licensing their brand name to them to give them a bit of cachet. I can't imagine they're worried about losing tyre sales if the shoes are crap- 99.9% of their customers will surely never find out about the shoes and will probably just think it's cool if they do.

dave

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I hear these new Michelin shoes are really comfy, so you'll never tyre of wearing them.

duncan

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BD have been doing clothing for a couple of years now too; I'm seeing quite a lot of it about, and I have one of their softshell jackets that I use for alpine stuff & it's excellent. But I suppose clothing is less performance critical and doesn't attract such ferocious brand loyalty as shoes.

<snip>

And there's a Korean brand called Butora that seems to be well liked in the US, although I have yet to see them anywhere in Europe.

Bultora will be making the forthcoming BD shoes.

andy_e

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I hear these new Michelin shoes are really comfy, so you'll never tyre of wearing them.

Aren't they in danger of treading on competitors' toes?

 

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