New (?) shoe manufacturer on the market (Read 11918 times)

cjsheps · March 03, 2019, 06:20:02 pm

https://shop.epictv.co.uk/en/brand/unparallel?domain_redirected=1

Seems that some of the 5.10 lot have started their own reissue range.

I reckon there could be some interesting internal politics going on within the Adidas / 5.10 behemoth. This could get messy.

teestub · March 03, 2019, 06:41:41 pm

Looking forward to checking them out, look like they’ve got some great shapes, but obviously will be down to rubber, fit and build quality. I think https://darkventures.co.uk are importing them if it doesn’t say in that link.

tkmalibu · April 07, 2019, 04:44:42 am

Apparently some of the people working at the old 5.10 factory didn't approve of Adidas' decision to move manufacturing to Germany so they decided to start their own brand. One of the guys knows all the rubber formulas so they're pretty good shoes

Fultonius · April 07, 2019, 09:18:58 am

Quote from: tkmalibu on April 07, 2019, 04:44:42 am

Apparently some of the people working at the old 5.10 factory didn't approve of Adidas' decision to move manufacturing to Germany so they decided to start their own brand. One of the guys knows all the rubber formulas so they're pretty good shoes

So, same old inconsistent sizing and over-hyped rubber then?

DAVETHOMAS90 · April 07, 2019, 03:37:16 pm

Quote from: teestub on March 03, 2019, 06:41:41 pm

Looking forward to checking them out, look like they’ve got some great shapes, but obviously will be down to rubber, fit and build quality. I think https://darkventures.co.uk are importing them if it doesn’t say in that link.

Thanks for the link there Teestub

Sounds like two ventures worth supporting.

mrjonathanr · April 07, 2019, 04:05:00 pm

I don't like 5.10 personally but epic tv has a load of video reviews of these shoes
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/video/topvideos/new-climbing-shoe-brand-unparallel-climbing-daily-ep1362/vp-BBTW1wa

DAVETHOMAS90 · April 07, 2019, 06:02:48 pm

Quote from: mrjonathanr on April 07, 2019, 04:05:00 pm

I don't like 5.10 personally but epic tv has a load of video reviews of these shoes
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/video/topvideos/new-climbing-shoe-brand-unparallel-climbing-daily-ep1362/vp-BBTW1wa

"Where’s the funny bit? Struggling to find it."

Great, impartial review, and I'd never got the name "Drummond Base" before!

I do however want to try the shoes.

lukeyboy · April 08, 2019, 07:18:06 am

The brand name 'unparallel' definitely sounds like a middle finger to three stripes

I'm guessing it wasn't an amicable split

Nibile · April 08, 2019, 12:02:07 pm

All the top notch models look well like old 5.10 ones, but the Vega is a carbon copy of the Jet7!

Mugabe251 · April 08, 2019, 07:35:48 pm

If the Moccasym equivalent is anything like the 5.10 version but doesn't stretch out to the point of near-uselessness on anything other than grit smearing, then they could well be pretty f-ing marvelous. If it can heel hook without pulling the shoe off your foot then even better!

Nibile · April 09, 2019, 07:37:35 am

Those are two big "if"...

cheque · April 25, 2019, 04:49:49 pm

I got to try on (and buy) some Unparallel shoes today and thought people would be curious to hear what I thought.

I tried the Up Rise and Up Lace which are the shoes that people like me (Five Ten enthusiasts looking to divest from the brand due to Adidas clearly not giving a fuck about the climbing shoe bit of their business) will probably look at on the website and think “they’re the Anasazi equivalents”. The Up Lace in particular is described in the same “precision edging” terms that the white always was.

The main thing to report is that the sizes are bigger- I’m an 8.5 in velcros, pinks and the old (grey & orange trim) whites and a 9 in the more recent (black trim) whites but the equivalent fit is an 8 in both types of the UPs.

In terms of how they compare to the Five Ten shoes (bearing in mind I can only compare how they feel brand new), the fit is like Anasazis- the toe is the same shape and the rough dimensions of everything else felt comfortingly familiar. I did a few moves on a board in each and they felt a lot like climbing in new Anasazis. Not going to try to draw any more conclusions than that as all shoes feel stiff at first and no-one wants flat shoes for 40 degree climbing anyway.

Dissapointingly the UP velcros felt more “solid” than boxfresh Anasazis, but probably only because they have a big rubber toe patch- I’ve never tried the Anasazi Pros on but I imagine they’re more similar to them.

The Lace versions feel more like whites than pinks to me but don’t have the achilles-strangling tension of the heel: it’s kind of the design of the reissue pink heel but feels more aggressive than that. You can tell by looking at the pictures that they have more rubber on the side than Anasazis and this gives them a bricky, solid feel like new whites. The lacing is obviously different too, not sure how that will affect things.

Build quality and materials are extremely Five Ten-like. That’s obviously damning with faint praise but what I mean is that they don’t feel like crappy knock-offs (like the yellow Tenayas do IMO), they feel like they live up to the “ex Five Ten employees who brought their knowledge with them” billing on first impression. The rubber in particular looks and feels like Stealth to me- it doesn’t have that smooth look of Vibram or whatever it is they put on Sportivas. The velcros have the more modern stretchy tongue material with circular holes in but the lace-ups are made completely of old-school non-ventilated material.

Anyway, I got a pair of the Lace-ups and I’ll report back once I’ve climbed in them properly for a bit. Unless these turn out to be shit then I’ll probably try velcros too at some point.

teestub · April 25, 2019, 05:26:40 pm

Thanks for the report! Look forward to some feedback once you’ve got them broken in.

jstrongman · April 26, 2019, 02:52:53 pm

Quote from: cheque on April 25, 2019, 04:49:49 pm

I got to try on (and buy) some Unparallel shoes today and thought people would be curious to hear what I thought.

I tried the Up Rise and Up Lace which are the shoes that people like me (Five Ten enthusiasts looking to divest from the brand due to Adidas clearly not giving a fuck about the climbing shoe bit of their business) will probably look at on the website and think “they’re the Anasazi equivalents”. The Up Lace in particular is described in the same “precision edging” terms that the white always was.

The main thing to report is that the sizes are bigger- I’m an 8.5 in velcros, pinks and the old (grey & orange trim) whites and a 9 in the more recent (black trim) whites but the equivalent fit is an 8 in both types of the UPs.

In terms of how they compare to the Five Ten shoes (bearing in mind I can only compare how they feel brand new), the fit is like Anasazis- the toe is the same shape and the rough dimensions of everything else felt comfortingly familiar. I did a few moves on a board in each and they felt a lot like climbing in new Anasazis. Not going to try to draw any more conclusions than that as all shoes feel stiff at first and no-one wants flat shoes for 40 degree climbing anyway.

Dissapointingly the UP velcros felt more “solid” than boxfresh Anasazis, but probably only because they have a big rubber toe patch- I’ve never tried the Anasazi Pros on but I imagine they’re more similar to them.

My experience is pretty much the same so far, I am 9.5uk in 5:10 VCS and 9uk UP velcro. The toe box does definitely makes them feel stiffer than the 5:10 vcs and also around the ankle the fits seems a bit higher. They are definitely bedding in a bit now and feeling less clunky after a few sessions at the wall and on rock. Will update with more use, at the moment if I had the straight choice again out the box, I would still go with the 5:10 vcs.

tkmalibu · April 27, 2019, 08:05:43 pm

I recently tried out the Unparallel Up Moccs, basically their version of the 5.10 Moccasyms and they're holding their own. The heel is in fact more tight fitting than the Moccasyms, which that alone I think makes them superior already. Other than that, everything feels the same, although the leather quality is a lot better than what 5.10 uses on their Moccasyms now since the move to Germany. Same rubber stickiness, shoe volume, and same size fitting. The rubber toe cap is a nice addition for using in the gym

cheque · May 10, 2019, 03:19:28 pm

Just seen that they now have them at Outside so you won’t have to just turn up at the distributors warehouse unannounced to try them on like I did.

Haven’t climbed in mine yet but I did compare them to my box of assorted used Five Tens and find that the heel of the Up Laces are the same as Quantums- they’re almost a cut & shut of the Quantum heel and the White toe which is an improvement on both IMO.

I also found a pair of Anasazi Velcros in my box that I’d completely forgotten about- just had those resoled so won’t be able to give an opinion on the Up Rises any time soon.

Doylo · June 06, 2019, 01:31:24 pm

Anyone got the UP Regulus and know about sizing compared to 5.10? MonkeyBoy told me he’s the same size in them as Teams/Dragons. Just wanted a 2nd opinion. Pain you can only try them on in Hathersage.

Andy B · June 06, 2019, 03:19:15 pm

Nick B has got a pair and reckoned the sizing was different, but I can't remember in what direction.

jstrongman · June 06, 2019, 03:56:48 pm

My experience is pretty much the same so far, I am 9.5uk in 5:10 VCS and 9uk UP velcro. The toe box does definitely makes them feel stiffer than the 5:10 vcs and also around the ankle the fits seems a bit higher. They are definitely bedding in a bit now and feeling less clunky after a few sessions at the wall and on rock. Will update with more use, at the moment if I had the straight choice again out the box, I would still go with the 5:10 vcs.
[/quote]

Quick update, I am now totally sold on the UP VCS, they have bedded in really well, friction is great, toe box provides a really nice extra bit of grip and protection when wedged in cracks or toe hooking, plus they are holding up well to the Cornish granite. Long and short,

good replacement of 5:10 VCS

Doylo · June 07, 2019, 11:48:05 am

Cheers

Andy B · June 07, 2019, 02:59:24 pm

My better half has just got a pair sirius to test and says that the sizing is similar, possibly very slightly tighter.
They look like brilliant boots.

Doylo · June 07, 2019, 03:32:02 pm

I’ve had correspondence from a Mr M.Donnelley of Merseyside who said he’s the same size in Dragons/Sirius confirming that the MonkeyBoy said.

mr chaz · October 04, 2019, 09:51:38 am

Got myself a pair of the Up Rise VCS. Would definitely say these feel very close to anasazis, heel and toe feel identical to me. Agree with others though, I went with the same size as my anasazis but they feel ever so slightly larger, should've gone for half a size down. Build quality seems good, rubber feels just like stealth, they look decent

andy_e · October 01, 2020, 10:15:33 am

Anyone know what these are that Tom's wearing?

https://youtu.be/nvPNHLc37PE?t=840

cheque · October 01, 2020, 10:31:41 am

They seem to be a blue version of these. Tom’s had a few pictures of them on his Instagram stories saying they’re really good for cracks.

As far as I can tell they’re a synthetic version of the yellow Up Moccs without the rubber toe patch. I love the yellow ones and I can see that synthetic leather would be an improvement in some ways but the best bit about them is the way that that toe patch gives them an extra bit of stiffness lengthwise that the 5.10 ones never had.

Those fucking bridge crack videos though.