Freshly baked Keen

Gareth    Footwear     brice, Keen, klamath

It’s that time of year when the brands come a calling and we get a sneak peak in to what they have coming up for Autumn / Winter 2012. Today it was the turn of the lovely Jilly from Keen who usually brings us cake, but in true new year style brought apples. For the record Jilly, it’s cake all the way please for the Webtogs crew…..

Two things caught our eye, first up, the Brice, an urban trekking boot and shoe. It looks different with no heel break giving you whole sole traction. It’s got the traditional Keen dry waterproof layer but with an additional perforated foam section around the membrane to pump out hot air.

 

These are pretty multipurpose, we can see ourselves heading out and about in town and straight on to some tracks in these, and the colours are fab. We’re loving the green in particular.  £110 for the boots £105 for the shoes

Next up the return of a favourite with the KeenKlamath coming back on the scene.  Good torsion control, external heel support, quality leather on the outside, it looks traditional but with a modern twist. Great for hills in the UK where keeping the elements out is the all important part.

Attack of the Chacos.

Gareth    Footwear     chacos, sandals, USA

We’re pretty chuffed to have lined up a new brand for next summer which will need no introduction for our US fans, it’s Chaco sandals.

So whats the deal I here you ask? well, these are seriously bombproof sandals, and having seen them today, they aren’t wrong! They have Vibram sole units on most of the range, and their Luvseat platform gives amazing support for your arches, which controls pronation. The quality of the sole is the best we have ever seen. Premium grade PU that is guaranteed for life means that you have a sandal that is just going to last and last.

Roll on Summer 2012, we can’t wait to sport some funky tan lines with these bad boys!

The North Face Hedgehog III’s have arrived

Keith    Footwear     hedgehog, north face

Everyone here at Webtogs loved the old Hedghogs so we were nervous when we heard they were changing. I set off to see the North Face range with thoughts of “If its not broken don’t fix it”. Well we should not have been worried as they have done a fantastic job updating the Hedgehog.

The new Hedgehog III is dripping with technology and oozing style. The all new Northotic footbed has been updated with Poron ReSourse for forefoot and heel cushioning giving a whole new level of comfort allowing you to move faster for longer.

The Hedgehog III inherits the proven Gore Tex XCR membrane which keeps your feet cool and dry even in the toughest conditions. Add this to the redesigned mesh upper and breathability is better than ever.

Traction and support is taken care of with the use of an injection molded TPU shank coupled with a North Face exclusive Vibram out sole.

beautiful boots

sian    Footwear, Planning     boots review, cheap winter boots, fair isle boots, keen boots, outdoor boots, sian, webtogs

I’m a little bit in love with these gorgeous Keen Auburn boots – they somehow manage to be both pretty, functional, warm and durable, which doesn’t happen a lot in the world of women’s outdoor gear. They are perfect for country pubs now and they’ll still be going strong in the summer as brilliant festival footwear.

The fair isle print is really current and will brighten up jeans and a woolly jumper (which, to be honest, is pretty much my uniform when it’s cold). You might want to invest in some suede-saving spray though, given that we don’t live in the sunniest climate in the world. Sigh.

The Girl Outdoors

New Keen for Winter

Gareth    Footwear     Keen, winter

We were super chuffed to get the lovely Gillian in from Keen recently, firstly because she is so cool she brings us cake to eat each visit (yum yum), but also because this time she brought in loads of lovely new Keen for us to look at for Winter 2011!

Keen have always been associated as a summer brand but we were seriously impressed by the attention to detail they have made on their Winter products this year. We’re not going to go through everything, but there are a couple of items that have really tweaked our interest. First up, the return of a favourite we have not seen for a couple of years, the Summit County. When the weather outside makes the UK look like a scene from a winter wonderland, these boots are going to keep your toes rather warm.

We really like the 350g of insulation just for the toes with the rest spread elsewhere, as it’s the toes that usually get the coldest. The insulation features Keen’s legendary attention to the environment, being made from charcoal and babmboo. The Summits use Keen’s Dual Climate Rubber on the soles, this is a technology where the sole of the shoes or boots harden in the cold weather to get better grip in the snow and ice, and soften when you go inside or get warmer weather for improved stickiness.

Next up are the Gypsum’s, some rather impressive shoes and boots that are designed as winter Targhee replacements. The main difference is that the sides of the soles are not rounded, giving a larger surface area for grip and more oomph when digging in to mud, snow or ice. You also have a moulded heel cup which gives a more positive action gripping the back of your foot. Below you can see men’s and women’s versions of the mid boots.

The Gypsum’s also feature the Keen Zorb Strobel, an addition to the footbed that gives an extra spring, the zorb referring to the yellow bouncy patch you see below, and the strobel to the type of stitching you see around it.

Keen have also addressed some of the feedback that their shoes can run a little hot, and you now have ventilation holes that run up through the tongue, that pump out the hot air from the bottom of the boot.

If the Gypsum isn’t winter orientated enough for you though, then the Revels definitely will be. Starting at the bottom, they have a sole with a unique patent pending on them. What Keen have done is to mould their soles on the treads you find on snow tyres to give fantastic grip in snow, slush and mud. They have also nabbed their own technology that they use for their waterproof sandals, with razor siping added to the tread on the bottom, this gives improved grip by displacing water.

If this wasn’t enough technology, they then went and re-designed the mid sole unit with a new footbed called the Trapelator. Ignore the fact it sounds like an 80′s action movie hero, The Trapelator gives you a serious blast of warmth in your feet with some cool use of technology. You have a reflective heat shield that faces down to the ground bouncing the cold away, a honeycomb loft layer to trap air, insulate and a wool felt layer for comfort and to build up instant warmth as soon as you put the boots on.

So far we have just looked at the Trailhead offerings from Keen, but Lucy also made me take photos of the Clara as well……. can’t really think of much to say on it except that Lucy loves the look of them!

Pilgrims progress

Gareth    Footwear    

Helen Lloyd, our ‘takeonafrica’ adventurer is well on her way through europe and is currently enjoying the perils of paella in Spain where the weather has just got to be better than here! look her up on the link