Unparallel shoes / Five Ten

I listed them at the top of this page duder.

But to update- every single person I personally know that has tried UP has gone back to something else.

Karl Walters wrote: I am returning the Sirius Blue. There is too much volume on the arch area of the shoe and they have to be cinched super tight. I'd go with the LV or half size down if you don't have a monster foot.

When you returned the shoes you ordered, did Unparallel refund both your order and the return shipping? Basically, if I order from them and want to return their shoes, do I lose anything (other than time)?  Thanks!

Karl Walters wrote: I listed them at the top of this page duder.

But to update- every single person I personally know that has tried UP has gone back to something else.

I live on the East Coast, and have so far I have had a different experience.  All the people I have met definitely support Unparallel, and have nothing bad to say about them.  My impression is that if you fit well in a previous brand, than you may as well stick with that brand, but if you have yet to find a brand that generally fits you, it may be worthwhile trying Unparallel.       

Karl Walters wrote: It used to be if you worked anywhere within 1,000 mi of a gym and had instagram you could get a bro deal if you tagged them once. Almost everyone I knew had Hiangles and/or Teams just because of this.

It didn't end with the Adidas takeover right away, but last Spring Five Ten started having major shortages in shoes, specifically Hiangles. They first cut out the low level bro deal, but kept the gym/routesetter deal, but then cut that too. According to a former sponsored pro, at one point (they dropped all but their big names Kyra Condie recently was quietly dropped) they couldn't even give Jimmy Webb shoes and some pros were buying them where they could and getting reimbursed.  I've also seen Webb wearing Tenayas on IG lately so maybe he finally switched?

J-Webb has officially announced he is with Tenaya...Nearly all of my friends here in Colorado who loved the hiangles have transitioned to UP and loved them. 

Yes, he's been climbing in Tenayas for a month if you see Kevin Takahashi-Smith's stories you can spot em. But before then they were having issues getting him shoes occasionally.

UP seems hit or miss experience wise. Quality wise they look like a big step up from the old Five Ten and I was surprised mine ripped until I had seen other's do the same and the toe rubber delam.

Alek Fredriksson wrote:

When you returned the shoes you ordered, did Unparallel refund both your order and the return shipping? Basically, if I order from them and want to return their shoes, do I lose anything (other than time)?  Thanks!

I had to pay return shipping except when it was a warranty issue.

FWIW the shoes fit me way better than Five Ten ever did. For whatever reason the Regulus seemed harder to get into, but once in were pretty snug. The Sirius was oddly much higher volume than a Dragon in the same size, but when I tightened up the laces the eyelets almost touched. I tried the LV, but it wasn't much lower in volume.

Epic tv finally posted their video

Went to the gym today and they had a demo with these shoes... AWESOME shoes. not gimmicky. 

If anyone is interested, I have written a review on the Regulus LV after months of mostly outdoor climbing. I'm living on the road right now, so the testbeds have been Bishop, Joshua Tree, and Red Rocks for those 3 months.

https://www.reddit.com/r/climbing/comments/b4qc5f/shoe_review_unparallel_sports_regulus_lv/

Jonathan Wong wrote: If anyone is interested, I have written a review on the Regulus LV after months of mostly outdoor climbing. I'm living on the road right now, so the testbeds have been Bishop, Joshua Tree, and Red Rocks for those 3 months.

https://www.reddit.com/r/climbing/comments/b4qc5f/shoe_review_unparallel_sports_regulus_lv/

Solid write up. Glad you mentioned the pull straps. I had a new pair of Regulus HV's at a demo and I blew some stitches quickly AND its attached to the slingshot on the heel which caused it to delam the rubber. I brought it up to the rep to see if a redisgn was in the works. He said it is so I'll be waiting for that before I make a purchase. Other than that, and how hard it is to get into the damn things, I really like the build and performance of em'.

Mike Brady wrote:

Solid write up. Glad you mentioned the pull straps. I had a new pair of Regulus HV's at a demo and I blew some stitches quickly AND its attached to the slingshot on the heel which caused it to delam the rubber. I brought it up to the rep to see if a redisgn was in the works. He said it is so I'll be waiting for that before I make a purchase. Other than that, and how hard it is to get into the damn things, I really like the build and performance of em'.

Thanks! I reached out to one of the designers and hope to get some more information on upcoming design iterations. I'm pretty happy with the performance too, but minor quality issues deter me from making a purchase before improvements surface.  I'll be updating the post with new information I receive (hopefully).

I've asked before.... but has anyone tried the Up-Lace yet?  I'm looking for (and having trouble finding) a good shoe that has low heel tension on where the Achilles meets the heel.  Hoping for a re-release of the Galileo from unparallel, but the lace looks close.  Noone carries the's near me yet to try on.

Larry S wrote: I've asked before.... but has anyone tried the Up-Lace yet?  I'm looking for (and having trouble finding) a good shoe that has low heel tension on where the Achilles meets the heel.  Hoping for a re-release of the Galileo from unparallel, but the lace looks close.  Noone carries the's near me yet to try on.

Aint the Up-Lace

NorCalNomad wrote:

Aint the Up-Lace

Yeah, didn't think so.  Thanks.

Not sure who its owned/ran by, but they make shoes that are great. I was a 5.10 only type of show wearer, but if the price stays lower I may have just converted to unparallel. The rubber is great and the fit is perfect on me. 

Kevin Wabo wrote: but they make shoes that are great. 

I would argue that they make shoes with the potential to be great. I have no doubt that if they manage to stay in the game they will succeed in that.

Kevin Wabo wrote:  owned/ran by...the guy who use to make....5.10 

bold was added Kevin 

My Sirius lace actually ripped the side/collar of the shoe, but the pull straps didn't break.

Does anyone know how the Up Rise VCS LV compares to the Woman's Anasazi VCS in terms of fit amd sizing? I know my size in the Women's Anasazi VCS, but I dont know what size to get in the Up Rise VCS LV. Thanks!

When I started climbing, I bought a pair of Anasazi blancos and purple quantums when 5.10 got bought by Adidas and was selling all of their old stock for 50$ a pair.  I couldn't feel what I was stepping on with the Blancos, like they had wooden soles or something.  The heel was also so big and saggy that heel hooks were usually shoe and rock without my foot even feeling the hold, which was kind of nicely painless, but definitely not how is supposed to be.  The quantums were a little better on the heel (but far from getting a thumbs up), but the thick cowdura was always thick and stuffy, making it feel cheap and crude.  They also made my ankles feel strained because of the way my foot would fit into them.  Pretty much, my opinions on 5.10 were, they're cheap, crude, and don't fit well.

I then went on to discover the amazing skwamas, solutions, futura, and genius, with my only complaint being their toebox wasn't wide enough, causing tightness on the pinky toes.  Then I decided to try the evolv Oracle and aggro, they fit perfectly, but had that cheap clunky thick material feel that reminded me of 5.10.  I read about Heinz Mariacher and decided to try the Drago's, and they didn't fit my wide toebox at all.  The instinct vs felt amazing, but they really bit the top of my toes when climbing, and the rand cut into my lateral malleolus.  I then tried on the tenaya mundaka and it was this crazy situation where I could tell the shoe was designed for narrow feet, but somehow it was able to mold to my foot without any pain despite it looking all deformed on my foot. 

The other day, I showed up to the gym and I saw a demo table.  It was UP.  They said they were spawned from 5.10 designers and I started telling them about how bad the fit was for my foot.  They told me they fixed everything I didn't like, so I decided to give it a go, despite my skepticism.  I was blown away.  The shoes felt like foot condoms, they fit my wide toebox like the tenayas did (slight pressure on the Pinky toes, but no pain), the heel formed to my tiny heel perfectly.  The shoes were soft and sensitive, just like the tenaya mundaka and futura (with less pain on the pinky toe).  I tried climbing with their version of the hi angle (felt like the futura with an edge), their version of the team xvi (felt pretty much the same as the shoe I just talked about, but more sensitive since there's only 2mm of rubber), and their version of the dragon, which felt like a more supple version of the testarossa.  I was super impressed, the only problem was, I ripped the stitching on a pull tab putting one of the shoes on.

So all in all, I give them a big thumbs up for fit improvement from 5.10, sensitivity and softness, and build quality is iffy (just be more gentle with putting them on I guess?).  I'm definitely open to buying a few pairs in the future when my sportivas die.