UKC

What does the adidas - Five Ten buyout mean for climbers?

Stealth rubber on adidas' Terrex Fast approach shoes?

Article at Outside magazine

"We're not cheapening the brand, it's going to stay a high-end specialty brand," he says. According to Cole, Five Ten will continue to manufacture its rock and approach shoes, like the Guide Tennie, in its U.S. factory in Redlands, California. In an email, adidas spokesperson Katja Schreiber confirmed that it planned to keep the Five Ten brand intact. Cole will remain in charge, but will now report to adidas Outdoor's Senior Vice President Rolf Reinschmidt.

Five Ten will, however, likely cut the number of models of climbing shoes it offers. "[Adidas] didn't think we had enough bike shoes, maybe too many of certain kinds of rock shoes. So we're going to even out the product line," Cole says, though he adds that the company probably would have made similar changes anyway, had the buyout not occurred.

One change climbers can look forward to is increased availability of popular shoes like the Guide Tennie. "When we get in an order of Guide Tennies, they're usually sold out within a week to two weeks," says Nancy Prichard Bouchard, Five Ten's director of communication and sponsorship. She and Cole believe that the buyout will let them increase production and avoid shortages.

http://www.outsideonline.com/blog/what-does-the-adidas-five-ten-buyout-mean...

In reply to Mick Ryan - Senior Editor - UKC:
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.
In terms of rockshoes, the 5.10 range has spiralled out of control recently with lots of 'esoteric' additions (Team, Hornet etc) and their pricing is getting out of step too.
Not quite sure why they can't relate their Guide Tennie philosophy into rokshoes - the 'classics' here are Pinks, VCS, Dragons and Newtons yet they seem to overlook them for horrible new lines like the Arrowhead. A re-issued Pink would sell out - I have no doubt of that.

In reply to Hay:

Pink with a proper heel and a tad more curved toe = Quantum. And atleast for me feet, it is much better than the pink anazasi.

In reply to Hay: The current anasazi whites are an updated version of the pinks I think?

On topic - If they slimmed the range down to Velcros, Dragons and Whites I reckon this would cover just about every rock climbing style, for me at least. Actually, just the velcro is different stages of wear and fit would cover all situations for me.

In reply to GuyVG: In theory, yes they are. But Whites are a bit stiffer than the pinks which are a sort of perfect midway between greens and whites.

I think they would also need to include moccasyms for the crack climbers and maybe a few others like including entry level shoes.

Dunc

In reply to Hay:

The Team are in no way an esoteric shoe being a replacment for the V10 with a velcro strap to keep the heel tight.

I'd agree they could narrow the range down somewhat though and hopefully improve build quality (better glue and pull tabs for example)

It was when they released a shoe called the 'Cool Hwip' that 5.10 finally jumped the shark.

Don't get me wrong. Family Guy is among my favourite post-pub entertainment. And I own three pairs of their shoes.

But really.

In reply to Mick Ryan - Senior Editor - UKC:
Was talking to a guy in an outdoor shop the other day, Adidas are trying to branch out into high quality kit. Their new waterproofs looked top notch (though with a price to match).

In reply to Richard Alderton:

Love it!

youtube.com/watch?v=lich59xsjik&

In reply to Toreador:


Their GORE active shell is reasonably priced comparably, sub £200

In reply to Richard Alderton:

No way, that's 5.10's sense of humour, they can't change that. Daftness helps make the world a nicer place.

In reply to Richard Alderton:

I have the Cool Hwip bit going through my head now.

Thank you 5.10...

()

In reply to Toreador:

They've been around the outdoor market for years in europe. and their old stuff is just as good as anyone elses.

In reply to Hay:

Agreed. Their marketing team must have their head up their arse to not realise that.

In reply to hexcentric:

yeah. beat kammerlander was the adidas man in the 90s, and in south africa - where alpine gear can be hard to get - adidas gore stuff is popular (you can always tell the SA climbers in pakistan by their adidas gear).

what im wondering is if this somehow means the exotic rubber mixs 5.10 use will free up - theyve been some of the closest guarded secrets in the tactical rubber scene for years, very hard to track down.
in some ways 5.10 was an interface for these rubber companies, so maybe now we will see more interesting soles appearing on other footwear. surely hybrid soles are the next thing.

In reply to ice.solo:


Could you explain that in plain English?

In reply to ice.solo:

I'm not so sure about the hybrid soles, but, apparently, Adidas are already responding to demands from chav looters for a pair of trainers that will feature stealth rubber to assist with kicking shop windows in. They are to be marketed as Adidas R-Soles.

In reply to Mick Ryan - Senior Editor - UKC:

5.10 have near-exclusive rights to the rubber mixs they use. maybe with the change of hands to adidas, those rubber mixs will be used on other shoes as well, including maybe new types of soles with different rubber combinations.

In reply to Clauso:

very good

In reply to ice.solo:

Not heard of anyone else using Stealth etc... although I do believe they did employ someone for a while to sell the license to use their rubbers.



Hopefully on a decent fell 'trail' running shoe, either adidas or five ten, it matters not.

In reply to Mick Ryan - Senior Editor - UKC:
>

Presumably the flaw in this plan was that the other big rubber market favours less friction?

In reply to Mick Ryan - Senior Editor - UKC:

Puma, cava and other companies have licensed stealth rubber for climbing shoes.