How To Approach Shoes
Going gorpcore mode by gearing up with some protective footwear that's built for it all.
This newsletter is long overdue. I’m not entirely sure why I’ve been putting it off exactly, but we’re here and I’m ready to explore the world of approach shoes. Let’s get one thing clear before we dive into it — approach shoes are a style of footwear intended for climbers to hike across different terrains, not for fashion enthusiasts to get a fit off. With that being said, having a pair of approach shoes for their intended purpose might be a solid addition to your rotation, so why not grab a pair that looks great too?
The shoe style is making very light movement within the gorpcore-explore-page-warriors space, but they haven’t really picked up in a way where the style already feels tired due to the oversaturation online. So let’s explore it a little bit further.
The hiking aspect of the shoe can be recognized by looking at the upper, typically made using some sort of mesh material to maximize durability and breathability. Sometimes they also come with water-resistant elements, which is great when you need that full protection during a rainy day. The climbing aspect of the shoe can be found at the bottom, the midsole is typically crafted using some form of sticky rubber material, which ends up working as an added form of protection and gives you crazy grip — after all, the entire point of this shoe is for you to stick your feet in awkward places when you’re trying to climb — and the rubber upper just looks cool.
Let’s take a look at the Mojito Wrap by Scarpa. I originally discovered them online through some editorial, but I can’t remember off the top of my head now. Luckily I ended up saving one of the photos from the shoot because the way they looked on foot is what drew me in originally.
The top view shots made me a believer that I can make these pop off in a fit. A lot of choices for the colors, and all look really good when you see them from the top view. The way the laces run all the way down to the toe box is honestly clean too. It’s different, and might not be for everyone but the color options are so good I’m willing to take a risk.
I need to track down a pair, but doing so might be a bit difficult. Finding these in North America seems tricky, but they are available in pretty much every other European outdoor equipment store. So, if you’re looking to pay a little extra for shipping you can get them that way.
You can check out their full catalog on their website here.
This next one might feel like a meme, but it’s going to be hard to skip Arteryx when we are discussing outdoor-related footwear. The shape of this next approach shoe is looking good, and I’ve heard they are comfortable, equipped with GORE-TEX, and are pretty lightweight. Sounds like a pretty solid shoe when the rain is pouring outside. The back of the midsole somewhat reminds me of the Nike Flyknit Racer — which might be a reach, but that’s just what I thought of first.
Not sure how I really feel about the current colorway lineup of the Arcteryx’s Konseal FL 2, but I guess we can say that the grey one is pretty good, of course the all-black is a classic too.
There are a bunch of past styles that honestly should get re-released. The women’s lineup has a lot of colorful options that are way better than the men's. Would love for them to lean into that some more in their next collection. Here are some past colorways that I think are hot:
The world of fashion has already been getting its hands dirty by giving approach shoes their own makeover to make them more fun. The Broken Arm, a clothing store from Paris, has been keeping busy by pumping out a bunch of different collaborations with Salomon. Their most recent one just actually dropped and it’s a fun one.
Both colorways of the Salomon X-Desalpes are honestly solid, but the pink has to be the winner of the two. Both are currently available on The Broken Arm website here. I think that the details on the blue versions are a bit more fun, with different flower embroidery and various eyelet colors, this particular shoe feels a bit more fashion-forward while still maintaining that technological ability for hiking and climbing at its core.
If you’re looking for more durability, while still having good breathability and water resistance then I think this is going to be the right choice for you. It’s a well crafted shoe that will seriously be able to take a beating. I did hear that US sizing runs true to size while the UK salomon sizes run a half a size too small — need confirmation for this though.
Let’s switch things up by taking a look at a pair of approach shoes from my own personal rotation. I have a hate relationship with the ROA Cingino on the low, mostly because I ended up grabbing them at full price, and then not even a week later they went on sale for over 50% off — L’s happen sometimes though we just need to keep our heads up and move forward with it.
My personal pair above — I was surprised by how comfortable they were right out of the box. No need to break them in which was great. They also add an inch to your height so you already know what’s up. Fun to wear with some really baggy pants I found, but what isn’t these days? They are definitely not the lightest shoe I own, but their construction gives a pretty crazy form of protection, you could definitely do anything in them. They do feel more like boots than they do shoes, so don’t expect insane levels of flexibility here, but it’s still decent.
I’m definitely excited to give this a proper beating during the fall and maybe the beginning of snow season.
Anyway, I originally wanted a pair of the shaggy suede versions but those are part of their next years collection, but I couldn’t wait so I decided to pull the trigger on the ones I have now.
I think it’s a solid shoe, if you could grab these during a sale again then I would definitely recommend them.
A common thing that I’ve noticed is that brands have way better colorways for womens sizing of approach shoes. Let’s take the Crag Stepper from Montbell as an example. Ok, this one is straight up just your classic approach shoe that you would see in the mountains and not in soho, but they are kind of sick. Trying to secure a pair of the Crag Stepper is going to be a mission though, which might even involve going into the depths of overseas auction websites.
Not that they are much different but I think I prefer the Crag Stepper over their second variation, which I’ll show you down below. There are two really nice colorways that I found from a recent drop that you might be able to find a bit easier. I’m trying to decide which version I like better, but they kind of have their own thing going on that doesn’t need to be compared. Let them both cook!
I did find the green one below on the Montbell Swiss website here.
I have a few other styles worth sharing, but I’m already running out of space for this newsletter so I have to cut it short… TX4 by La Sportiva, it’s low, thin, light, and easy to wear. They have a few colorways available currently, but the one that’s speaking to me has to be the beige with the neon green detailing.
What draws me to this particular shoe is the low profile characteristics. It might be one of the lightest options, in terms of weight, that we looked at today, and has a more of a foot fitting upper that doesn’t feel as chunky as the other suggestions. La Sportiva runs a size larger typically, so I suggest sizing down half a size to make sure you can get the closest fit possible.