Starting Five: Product Highlights [Dec 22]
Salewa, Our Legacy, Visvim, Zegna x MRBAILEY & TAKAHIROMIYASHITA TheSoloist.
This month at CONCEPTKICKS® we continue to do what we do best, turning the internet inside out to find our favourite shoes the industry has to offer right now, keeping an eye on rugged models that will help you see out the remainder of the bitter winter chill. Expect chunky winter sole units and luggy Vibram soles. Here are the five footwear offerings we’ve been thinking about...
Salewa Ortles Couloir Boot
Starting in 1935 as a manufacturer of leather goods Salewa has since dedicated itself to creating mountaineering supplies, making a name for itself through the unique ultra-lightweight designs that include the production of the world's lightest climbing helmet, the Helium.
While this boot has been designed specifically for alpine mountaineering and ice climbing, you never know when you might get caught short on the way to the shops and require a pair of crampon-compatible climbing boots. Weighing in at just 725 grams due to Salewa’s use of moulded carbon fibre reinforced with Kevlar® and PU, the Ortles Couloir boot is the lightest boot of its kind but doesn’t compromise on strength or durability. The double boot construction creates a fully waterproof and breathable membrane ensuring comfort and thermal protection in extreme conditions. The weight-saving measures of this alpine boot include the use of the Vibram® Litebase outsole that weighs 30% less than a conventional sole while ensuring optimal grip, traction, and durability.
Available here
Visvim Decoy Duck Leather and Suede Boot
Visvim has made a name for itself based on core design principles that focus on pairing high-quality production techniques with superior materials by utilising time-honoured crafting techniques and contemporary technologies to create products that offer unmatched durability and wearability. Like a fine wine, Visvim gets better with age - as they say: Old Visvim Never Dies. Hiroko Nakamura, the founder of Visvim, regularly uploads dissertations to the brand's website that offer in-depth insights into production techniques and outlines their importance in producing long-lasting and timeless products. The Decoy Duck leather boot will make you want to firm the next puddle you see, not the kind of shoe you want to keep on ice. Constructed from UK-sourced vegetable-tanned cow suede and a Vibram® outsole, these boots will look better with each wear.
Available here
Our Legacy Gabe
For anybody who owned that pair of Total 90s back in the early 2000s, then this trainer from Our Legacy will touch a very sentimental nerve inside you. The contrast panel construction combines two tonal pieces of suede separated by the asymmetrical lacing that acts as the main focal point for the model and harks back to the Nike's that graced the feet of the likes of Wayne Rooney. The streets will never forget. The upper is complete with a polyurethane toe cap and an oversized oval heel pull that adds to the overall sporty silhouette of the Gabe. Our Legacy continues its fruitful partnership with Vibram® by adopting a heavily lugged sole which invites even more comparisons to the studs of a football boot.
Available here
TAKAHIROMIYASHITA TheSoloist. Black Chukka Boots
Known for putting bold and visionary twists on classic wardrobe staples, TAKAHIROMIYASHITA TheSoloist. has taken a slightly more refined approach to these Chukka boots. From a distance, this shoe looks like a sleek and minimal take on a menswear classic which is often produced by heritage brands like Paraboot or Sebago, but the more you look at these shoes, the more you notice the eccentricities in this seemingly minimal silhouette. The ankle-high buffed leather boot has been dipped in rubber as a means of weatherproofing the shoe without compromising the distinguishing sleekness that sets it apart from other chukka boots. The high heel gives the shoe a dress-like quality which is uncharacteristic of the more rugged variations of the chukka boot we’re used to seeing.
Available here
Zegna x MRBAILEY Triple Stitch
As a manufacturer of high-quality wool since 1910, Zegna has a long history of in-house material innovation and development that has seen the brand routinely embrace new technologies and methods of cultivating the finest materials possible. Artistic Director Alessandro Sartori worked closely with MRBAILEY as the traditional Italian house harnessed his bold and unique brand of conceptual footwear design to create something previously unseen by Zegna without sacrificing any of their core design principles. The duo set to work constructing a shoe which has been so precisely handmade it looks as though it was made by machine, showcasing the supreme skill of Zegna’s in-house production techniques. By wrapping the existing Triple Stitch cup sole unit with a single piece of leather, the iconic Zegna model has a chunkier and more contemporary silhouette symptomatic of MRBAILEY’s design ethos.
Available here
