Five Ten ... Adidas

Spoke with a guy at Five Ten today.   Most of the shoes will be in the line-up.  Water and hiking shoes probably not coming back (Adidas has those).

C4 probably not going to resolers unless Adidas can be convinced otherwise...

Same factory, different owner.  Adidas kept 510 afloat when they acquired it 6 years ago.

Five Ten has been a big part of climbing for so long and I hope this will be good for it.

Tim Lutz wrote:

5.10 sold out

It sounded like they had to sell.  Better here than gone!

Out of curiosity, what known rubber blends or compounds have shown promise in climbing?

jg fox wrote:

Out of curiosity, what known rubber blends or compounds have shown promise in climbing?

C4

Kevin Mokracek wrote:

C4

Other than C4 because Adidas' new business strategy is to get people to buy new shoes instead of resoling them.

jg fox wrote:

Out of curiosity, what known rubber blends or compounds have shown promise in climbing?

Climbing shoe rubber

Kevin Mokracek wrote:

Climbing shoe rubber

You are more useless than Aleks...

Honestly, I'm gonna have to say C4 is over rated in my opinion. Feels like hockey pucks I would say its on par with that la sportiva garbage Frixion. I regret trying it on my current resole but I was swayed by all the love for it. I feel like XS Edge has better grip by far. 

ooof. Bad move Adidas. It's not just five ten owners that are getting their shoes resoled with c4; sportiva, evolv owners do it too.

And where are the "new" blancos? Killed them again? They aren't selling well because you charge $200 for them not because they aren't good shoes.

kck wrote:

ooof. Bad move Adidas. It's not just five ten that are getting their shoes resoled with c4; sportiva, evolv owners do it too.

And where are the "new" blancos? Killed them again? They aren't selling well because you charge $200 for them not because they aren't good shoes.

I think you are missing the forest for the trees.  People are spending most of their money on a shoe that isn't made by Five Ten and then spend a little extra to get them resoled.  Adidas doesn't want a slice, they want the whole thing.  Their only issue is they aren't making enough shoes to suit all types of climbers.

jg fox wrote:

I think you are missing the forest for the trees.  People are spending most of their money on a shoe that isn't made by Five Ten and then spend a little extra to get them resoled.  Adidas doesn't want a slice, they want the whole thing.  Their only issue is they aren't making enough shoes to suit all types of climbers.

They can "want" to have the entire shoe market but they can't, and when they do things like eliminate their rubber from resolers they aren't helping really. There might just be a few people who switch to five ten if they resolve with c4 and finding out they like it. And in either case, their competition sportiva will be the only supplier of rubber to resolers now, and why give that market away?

caughtinside wrote:

Maybe the market sucks and doesn't make enough money to be worth it. 

I have to imagine the profits made by selling to resolers is pretty minimal. C4 is certainly my preferred rubber for getting shoes resoled but if Adidas wants to gut 5.10 completely then so be it. I'll switch to Sportiva/Vibram if neccesary.

Garret Nuzzo-Jones wrote:

I have to imagine the profits made by selling to resolers is pretty minimal. C4 is certainly my preferred rubber for getting shoes resoled but if Adidas wants to gut 5.10 completely then so be it. I'll switch to Sportiva/Vibram if neccesary.

Yeah, I am sure whoever is making the decisions at Adidas has not made the decisions without looking at costs and pros and cons of their decision.

It sucks in the short term for people who have their favorites, but in the end, this is no different than all the other times people had their favorite shoes, and the shoes got discontinued. There is grumbling and whining, and then everything settled down. I'm yet to find someone who quit climbing because the shoes they liked were no longer available. :)

I used to be love the 5.10s, and C4. Then they changed the design of my favorite shoes, and I found alternatives. I haven't worn a 5.10 in about 3.5-4 years. And turns out the La Sportiva rubber is quite good, too. 

Jake Jones wrote:

Bingo.  If you don't have wide/and or bulky, high volume feet, you're not going to fit in these shoes or rather, your feet will be swimming in them.  In my experience, the brands that cater to narrow, low volume feet go like this:

Tenaya > Scarpa > Butora > La Sportiva > Evolv > Five Ten

You realize that a lot of 5.10's lasts are actually narrower than their Sportiva or Scarpa counterparts? FiveTen's lasts philosophy some could say is actually lagging behind more modern ideas of last creation.

Ex. "TC Pro's are narrow"...actually the 5.10 Pinkie's (the Anasazi last) is narrower than the TC Pro last. The reason TC pros have a narrow FEEL is because of the pressure that is applied at the base of the tongue from the padding, and the toe box has less height. 

Jake Jones wrote:

Bingo.  If you don't have wide/and or bulky, high volume feet, you're not going to fit in these shoes or rather, your feet will be swimming in them.  In my experience, the brands that cater to narrow, low volume feet go like this:

Tenaya > Scarpa > Butora > La Sportiva > Evolv > Five Ten

My experience is very different...honestly, it depends on the shoe.  I can’t wear 5.10’s Aggressive models because they are way too narrow, but I “swim” in most Sportivas (only reason I don’t in Solutions is because I downsized 2 full sizes).  Anasazis are a great fit, but if I go any lower than 1 full size down, my toes fold on top of each other and commit seppuku.  Size 12 (46) Anasazis are narrower than 45 Miuras (I own both).  Five Tens are almost always narrower than La Sportiva or Scarps, they’re just not as pointy.

Jake Jones wrote:

In my experience, the brands that cater to narrow, low volume feet go like this:

Tenaya > Scarpa > Butora > La Sportiva > Evolv > Five Ten

Narrow and low volume are separate attributes, although they are sometimes substitutable. FWIW, while most shoe models within Scarpa or Sportiva have similar width (other than between men and women models), they each have specific low volume/high volume models.

Just emailed them about the verdon lace version, only got this as a response:

"Hello,

I am sorry but it looks like we are only moving forward with the Velcro.

Best

Daniel"

Justin Barrett wrote:

Just emailed them about the verdon lace version, only got this as a response:

"Hello,

I am sorry but it looks like we are only moving forward with the Velcro.

Best

Daniel"

Damn, Verdon Lace were some of my favorite shoes   

Here is the email I sent them:

“Good Morning,

I was recently informed by Rock and Resole (a very popular climbing shoe resole business) that Five Ten rubber is no longer available for resole companies to purchase. Is this correct?

I, along with many other climbers, will be very disappointed if this is the case. Resoling climbing shoes is the most eco friendly way to keep your climbing shoes going for as long as possible. Eliminating the option to resole Five Ten shoes with original rubber reflects poorly on Five Ten and Adidas Outdoor. It portrays that you are not an environmentally conscious company.

I have been a dedicated supporter of Five Ten shoes but this decision to eliminate resoling rubber will sway me to look elsewhere for my next shoe purchase.

Thank you for your time.”

Here is the response I received:

“Hello,
 
Thank you for your email and your interest in adidas Outdoor and FiveTen products.
 
Unfortunately the sale of replacement rubber for resoling has been discontinued.
 
We apologize for the inconvenience.
 
Thank You,
adidas Terrex Team”

Pretty disappointing. I will look elsewhere after my Dragons wear out...

Upthread someone said most climbers don't resole their shoes. Is this true? Shoes are so expensive; every single climber I know resoles several times before buying new shoes. One pair of shoes @ $140 dollars = 3.5 resoles at Rock and Resole. So you can get the equivalent of 4.5 pairs of shoes for the cost of two new pairs. 

I don't understand how any climber would want to do business with a brand that just made all of their shoes one time use (if you want the same rubber). If they are offering in-house resoles for a similar price point to the external market, then sure. The responses posted in this thread give no such indication though, they come across as very corporate and tone-deaf.