Swedish outdoor footwear manufacturers Icebug have been doing pretty well lately in their home country of Sweden, but to be honest, we hadn't even heard of them. That's not surprising, given that their products aren't available in the UK yet but now things are about to change...
Icebug have found an agency to represent them over on this side of the North Sea and they're hoping their footwear will be available in UK stores later this year. Watch this space.
'Stud-tastic' Shoes
The main selling point of Icebug approach shoes is the grip system, which comes in three forms, depending on whether you want to go running, walking, or generally pootling around until a tea shop appears out of the mist.
First, the running sole. The system has two components: the rubber compound on the base of the foot provides traction, as you'd expect of a running sole. Added to this is a set of sixteen carbide-tip studs which protrude from the rubber.
The idea is that these studs will sink into soft or wet surfaces like snow, ice and mud, providing additional grip, but on hard surfaces like asphalt or concrete they'll retract into the sole. The rubber compound will then be the main surface in contact with the ground, providing all the friction.
The walking system is similar except that in place of the single metal studs shown in the picture above, the carbide-tips protrude from the sole in groups of three, to provide better multi-directional grip.
As for the general pootlers' soles, these come in strap-on form, with fixtures a bit like a crampon, so they can be removed when you go inside for your cup of tea. Like the running soles, the studs protrude individually rather than in units of three, but they're generally less aggressive.
The Uppers
As you'd expect, the uppers are waterproof and breathable - we're told they were left in the bath for eight hours and put through 20,000 cycles on a walking simulator during testing. There's also an inbuilt gaiter on one of the models, which is welded to the trail shoe both for waterproofing and to make sure that no rubbish works its way up from the bottom and gets stuck in the gaiter, rubbing against your ankle.
In the picture below, you can see the general purpose shoe, approach shoe, running shoe, and gaitered shoe, in that order.
Here's the running shoe in more detail. The dark green area works as a cage to provide stability for the foot, while the lighter green area is stripped down to reduce weight and improve breathability.
The credentials
Icebug have been working with 'Team Lundhags', who finished third in the 2006 Adventure Racing World Championships, so the gear's all been tried and tested at the top level of outdoor performance.
Interesting stuff. As we said, you can't buy Icebug gear on these green isles as yet, but we reckon the Swedes must know a thing or two about gripping wet and snowy surfaces, so we'll be interested to try them out once they're available. We'll keep you posted.
ptc*
