The outdoor industry's dirty secret is that unlike normal people,
anyone who works in the business spends around 99 per-cent of their
time wearing outdoors gear of various degrees of seriousness. And
yes, that includes pjamas - merino wool at bedtime anyone?
The irony of course though, is that casual outdoor gear is widely
regarded as simply, well, wrong really. Even an approach shoe that's
about as likely to approach anything worth actually climbing as I am
to date Jessica Alba, must have a sticky sole, toe-down lacing and
rock boot fit. Or hello, you're just a wannabe.
But what's the big deal? Why can't you have outdoor styling, but
casual, comfy performance? What brought it all on was the
realisation that my fave casual day to day shoe of choice, a pair of
Salomon Vertigo Softshell shoes - try saying shoft shell shoes
quickly - are actually near useless for any serious outdoor
activity.
Sure, they've done the odd dry weather Peak District amble - and I
do mean amble - and yes, they have a Contragrip sole, but the
inescapable truth is that the comfy softshell upper isn't tough
enough to hack it on rocky terrain, the EVA midole unit gets scragged
by passing boulders and the sole unit has about as much stiffness as
a freshly landed dover sole.
They're really not that good as outdoor shoes, but they're
absolutely brilliant for just schelpping around campsites, pubs,
shops and, well, wearing. The softshell upper is breathable, as soft
and comfy as a pair of slippers and just about water resistant enough
that you don't worry about a bit of rain. They dry fast too. And hey,
Salomon's uber-technical Quicklace lacing gubbins from their race
shoe, makes them a cinch to take on and off.
It's all sort of crossover without the pretence. And the thing is,
of course, that their predecessors - also a Salomon approach shoe -
which were much more technical with a stiffer sole unit, Gore-Tex
liner and tougher materials all round, were also a lot less
comfortable for day to day use.
And now my Vertigos are nigh on dead. My heel's worn through the
lining of the heel cup exposing shiny polythene innards, they smell,
well, frankly quite nasty and the EVA is, as EVA it does, losing its
bounce and being chewed up by the world at large.
So what do I replace them with? To my horror the Vertigo - scared
of heights eh? - is no more. Instead there's the Fury - 'it's
softshell and it's comfortable' - the Fusion Aero ('breathable') and
the Fusion Dry (waterproof). They all look a bit, erm, technical...
they might even work.
And then, salvation. In the lifestyle section of the Salomon site,
the XA
Softshell, a sort of combination of Salomon's race running
shoes and the softshell uppers. 'The perfect shoe for summer in the
city'.
And yes, it's dirty and probably not even remotely functional, but
hey it looks comfortable and, erm, sort of cool and hey, I can stand
up and shout it from the valley tops - 'I wear outdoors crossover kit
and I'm proud of it!'
Peter Clinch
