Snazzy looking women's-specific shoe from burgeoning US brand.
Timberland may be best known for its traditional beige leather 'work boots', but the brand's starting to produce some interesting-looking outdoors footwear too with a lot of women's-specific models in there.
Among them is this new Timberland Trail Wave shoe - there's also a mid version, which interestingly is listed as being £10 cheaper presumably as it feaures Ion Mask rather than a Gore-Tex membrane. Anyway, the new shoe's a lightweight walking all-rounder with something called 'Trail Wave Technology', hence the name.
Apparently this features 'a wave pattern that allows each compression point to independently absorb shock for greater stability and cushioning on the trail' giving what Timberland calls 'the smoothest ride of any Timberland® product to date.' We kind of like that description, it conjures up images of floating effortlessly above the trail, though in real life, we doubt it's quite that pronounced...
More prosaically, the shoe features uppers Premium full grain leather from Silver Rated Tanneries and Bionic® ripstop canvas made from organic and recycled materials - yes, Bionic® ripstop canvas... Underfoot there's dual-density EVA with a softer layer closer to the ground teamed with a firmer section directly underfoot.
Then there's the Gripstick rubber outsole in that wavy pattern that makes you float effortless above the ground. And just so there's no doubt about it, a massive Gore-Tex log makes the point that it has a branded waterproof and breathable liner.
It looks distinctive all right, but at £125 at SRP it's a tad expensive. For summer use, we'd be inclined to look at the cheaper mid version with Ion Mash, sorry, Ion Mask, which should be cooler in hot weather.
More info at www.timberland.com.
