UKC

Unparallel has taken the climbing world by storm as one of the most exciting new climbing shoes brands in the past few years. Straight out of California, their attention to detail, rubber innovation and performance remains a total obsession for the product team. Unparallel have over 20+ years of specialist manufacturing experience designing shoes for climbing, MTB and other outdoor sports. 

I really like my Unparalleled lace ups - comfortable for long days and great on edges and smears. However why do they have to say the LV is for "female climbers". After trying them on in V12 the pink LV version was a perfect fit for my slim but definitely male feet. They are far to narrow for my wife... Why dont they just market it as slim-fit? 

I wear the pinks too. I think I've come to realise over time that most (if not all) the "LV" or female versions of shoes would fit me better than the standard version.

As an aside I got these because I was sick of the new adidas fiveten changing things and the recent huge size change was the last straw.

Am unaware of this, please explain.

(When my old 5.10 Blancos wear out I thought I'd replace with 5.10 pinks - sounds like it may not be so straightforward)

Also, I'd be likely to benefit from LV shoes but they tend to not go up to size 12.

5.10 of old had pretty consistent sizing. I could order size 6 moccasyms and know they would be perfect. At some point, I think after addidas took over, sizing went crazy (my new size 6 was more like a size 5), and now they appear to be a full size larger than what they say on the box.  I now have a size 7 moccasyms, but tbh I'm not convinces the fit is the same as old. 

Edit to add: I now think it would be more useful for manufacturers and traders to publish foot length (and width!) measures as part of the sizing guides. Saying Uk size 6 or 7 is pretty meaningless!

Adidas seem to have essentially brought the sizing of  5.10 in line with the rest of their footwear, so if you’re a 8 street shoe for example then you’ll likely want an 8 climbing shoe now, rather than the 7 you might have worn previously.

I think you're right there. I currently have a pair of Crawes in for review in size 10, which is my street size. They're a comfortable fit. If they manage to get this consistency across all their climbing shoes it would make choosing your size in a new pair of shoes a lot easier, rather than keeping an internal spreadsheet of: well, I'm a 41.5 in Miuras but a size 8 in Anasazis and a 42.5 in Instinct VS... (these are all true btw!).

From my experience Sportiva sizing, out of all the main brands, seems to be most removed from street shoe size, my Katanas are EU38.5 and my 5.10 are EU42!

Pinks aren't even close to Blancos. If you want a Five Ten shoe then the 'Crawe' seems to be the new edging weapon, but personally I'd recommend the La Sportiva Miura VS which is excellent at edging and has a better toe for pockets plus smears better to boot. 

I had a couple of pairs of the original pinks. When they wore out I got a pair of the original whites (the pinks having been discontinued).

With size 12 feet there's probably less difference in the stiffness than with smaller sizes.

Because my climbing was then so poor (fat punter), and because they were tight and a faff to put on, the whites spent most of the time in the cupboard and I used cheaper comfier shoes.

Now that I'm merely climbing as a punter, the whites have come out again (easier to put on with less fat 😁).

5.10 lace up anasazis seem to fit my foot shape nicely (or at least they used to) so the new pinks are the obvious ones to use as a starting point. If they "still" fit then fine, otherwise it'll be that long laborious search to find the perfect fit.

What's the verdict on the new pinks compared with the original pinks and the original whites. I presume they're less stiff, but as I implied above, nothing is super stiff in a size 12.

The Ocun Pearl might be worth a try from what you are describing. Plus they are cheaper.

Others have got the jist of it. I recently took my old pinks to the shop to compare them with the new model. Size 8 vs Size 8. There was about 1 full centimetre difference in size which must be at least one full size if not 1.5.

If I have to make the effort to find the new "right" size for me, I might as well switch to a brand that isn't a huge faceless corporation and includes the original fiveten guys to boot.

one UK size is a third of an inch, so 1 cm is 1.18 UK sizes - so your guestimate is about right