The Pronk, a true crack climbing shoe

Hello everyone! I think it's due time for an update.

The Pronk dream is alive and well. I've spent the fall testing and tweaking the shoes as well as receiving feedback from pairs that I've sent out into the wild. 

I have also been rebuilding my garage into a shoe shop, which has been way more demanding than anticipated. More on that below for those who want to nerd out on the deets.

The important part is this: As my shop nears completion and I start looking at taking orders, I'll be building a numbered list for my builds. I'll be sending out an email and compiling that list based off responses. Watch for this around the first of the year.

Being in the list secures your spot to place an order. I won't treat it like a guarantee. If your turn comes up and you don't feel comfortable about anything sizing/price/quality, I can sort you to the end of the list or remove your name. NBD 

I'm going to start slow and determine how I can progress into a faster production. What this means is I can't give any realistic time estimates, though I may try to give you a window. I also won't be taking any money until your order is in the next batch. (Two week window). I appreciate everyone's patience, take this as an opportunity to do some extra hangboard sessions and get ready to tear it up out there. 

For the nerds

I'm excited to share some of the details that went into designing the shoe and why I believe it'll perform so well. The foundation of the shoe has always been it's midsole structure. My idea was to try and combine my favorite aspects of my offwidth hightop, with my thin crack specialist shoe. This meant making a highly structured shoe from the heel through the big toe, and leaving the outside rand area less structured and more malleable. What this gives you is a shoe that can edge and bridge (inside rand), as well as squeeze into tiny slots or even paste into seams (outside rand). 

My second big design concept was building the shoe based off a last that would reflect an ideal foot shape/position for crack climbing. Sounds techy, but it's really just a foot with flat toes and splay. When it comes time to size yourself to the Pronks, make sure your measuring with flat toes, there wont be room to have them curled (they do stretch 1/4 to 1/2 size for length).

From there, there are a lot of little details that I've thrown in to make them really nice crack shoes. Rand rubber all the way up to the laces that's a full thickness, and butted up to same height leather. This makes for comfortable jamming and no seam to start delaminating. They're a mid top ankle that dips at the Achilles. They also have full rubber coverage on the outside of the heel, for heel toes and deeper jams. I bailed on the internal lacing system, it did a great job of protecting the laces, but also caused some hot spots. Currently the shoe has a standard style punch, but they'll be laced with a waxed lace (like a hockey lace). 

Building a shoe shop has been a fun journey. I've been absolutely blessed by how many people have jumped in to help with advice, machinery, and even labor. so... 

A massive thank you, to everyone who has helped this dream come to life. I've had people within the industry reach out and give me advice, friends donating equipment (3d printers, sewing machines), friends helping design the shoe, and my shop. As well as a big thank you to everyone that has shown interest, sent me private messages, given advice or feedback etc. I can't thank you all enough. 

I'll add some photos below. 

-Danny

Get me on that list brotha 

Danny Parkerwrote:

What rubber do you use for the sole and rands?

Put me on the list as well!

Add me to the LIST!

Danny Parkerwrote:

Looking so good!

Everyone should zoom in on that second photo.  Kind of says it all.  .3s!

The link to the email list is in the first post.  

Stoked that these are coming for real. Any plans to do demos around SLC or other spots in Utah? I got weird feet so I’m always wary of buying shoes online without a chance to try them on.

(And the real question: is there gonna be a hot pink version like the early photos??)

So stoked to read through this forum and the adventure it is 😅 Glad to hear things are still going strong! Love the concept.

Also curious if there’ll be any chance to demo these around Utah at some point, cuz I’m sold aside from fit/feel!

Side note; if this shoe was “unique” in the sense that you could pick from a whole bunch of different color options, I think that would be a huge draw. I agree, a hot pink pair would be awesome 😎 

Danny Parkerwrote:

Hello everyone! I think it's due time for an update.

The Pronk dream is alive and well. I've spent the fall testing and tweaking the shoes as well as receiving feedback from pairs that I've sent out into the wild. 

I have also been rebuilding my garage into a shoe shop, which has been way more demanding than anticipated. More on that below for those who want to nerd out on the deets.

The important part is this: As my shop nears completion and I start looking at taking orders, I'll be building a numbered list for my builds. I'll be sending out an email and compiling that list based off responses. Watch for this around the first of the year.

Being in the list secures your spot to place an order. I won't treat it like a guarantee. If your turn comes up and you don't feel comfortable about anything sizing/price/quality, I can sort you to the end of the list or remove your name. NBD 

I'm going to start slow and determine how I can progress into a faster production. What this means is I can't give any realistic time estimates, though I may try to give you a window. I also won't be taking any money until your order is in the next batch. (Two week window). I appreciate everyone's patience, take this as an opportunity to do some extra hangboard sessions and get ready to tear it up out there. 

For the nerds

I'm excited to share some of the details that went into designing the shoe and why I believe it'll perform so well. The foundation of the shoe has always been it's midsole structure. My idea was to try and combine my favorite aspects of my offwidth hightop, with my thin crack specialist shoe. This meant making a highly structured shoe from the heel through the big toe, and leaving the outside rand area less structured and more malleable. What this gives you is a shoe that can edge and bridge (inside rand), as well as squeeze into tiny slots or even paste into seams (outside rand). 

My second big design concept was building the shoe based off a last that would reflect an ideal foot shape/position for crack climbing. Sounds techy, but it's really just a foot with flat toes and splay. When it comes time to size yourself to the Pronks, make sure your measuring with flat toes, there wont be room to have them curled (they do stretch 1/4 to 1/2 size for length).

From there, there are a lot of little details that I've thrown in to make them really nice crack shoes. Rand rubber all the way up to the laces that's a full thickness, and butted up to same height leather. This makes for comfortable jamming and no seam to start delaminating. They're a mid top ankle that dips at the Achilles. They also have full rubber coverage on the outside of the heel, for heel toes and deeper jams. I bailed on the internal lacing system, it did a great job of protecting the laces, but also caused some hot spots. Currently the shoe has a standard style punch, but they'll be laced with a waxed lace (like a hockey lace). 

Building a shoe shop has been a fun journey. I've been absolutely blessed by how many people have jumped in to help with advice, machinery, and even labor. so... 

A massive thank you, to everyone who has helped this dream come to life. I've had people within the industry reach out and give me advice, friends donating equipment (3d printers, sewing machines), friends helping design the shoe, and my shop. As well as a big thank you to everyone that has shown interest, sent me private messages, given advice or feedback etc. I can't thank you all enough. 

I'll add some photos below. 

-Danny

Hey Danny, I put myself on the Pronk Pre-order list back in April. Is there anything else I need to do to make sure I am on your list?

Thanks in advance.

Question, is there anything special about the Pronks that would make them not resoleable by a normal resoler?

Put me on the list.

On the list pls :)

I'll just save Danny repeating himself for the Nth time. Don't post in this thread if you want to be added to the list, add yourself to the list with the link at the top of the thread

Jack doin' the good work.

Acopa JB's. . . 

Steve Williamswrote:

Acopa JB's. . . 

You have to go further back than acopa. Maybe to the 70’s when they took mountain boots lasts and grind them to make climbing shoes. The toe and overall shape is not close to acopa shoes  

It looks to me that way he had is more  like a soccer shoe last. Ballet shoe lasts is another option to use for climbing shoes, it worked for the original boreal shoes 

Thank you for all the stoke everyone! 

A few Q's:

I hear you all on the hot pink, I did love the look of those OG Pronks. Issue is the leather I sourced in hot pink was not nearly durable enough for crack climbing. I'm not going to say the hot pink is dead, but sourcing a full grain leather in fluorescent pink isn't as easy as I expected, or where I am stoked to take the look of the shoe. The shoes I posted above still aren't the final color, that's just the stock I've been using for prototypes. Get Stoked

Yes these shoes will be able to be resoled. I developed the cobbling process with my friends at runout resoles. I do have some crack specific finishing I do to the rubber, but once the shoes are out that should be obvious to any resoler, or they can reach out to me. Better yet, send them to Runout and help pay them back for helping me out. 

For the signup list. If you've plugged your email in, thank you. I'll be sending out an email soon to confirm you'd like to be there. I'll also post on here and let you know how to get yourself towards the front of that list. I'm transferring away from the jotform and building a website, so I understand there may be some hiccups between all of this. 

I do hope to start making pairs available for demo once I have inventory. Perhaps I'll hang out at Beef basin for a few mornings and hand some out. I'm also in SLC and hope to start crack night/wide whisky Wednesday's up again.

Have a great day 

Danny

Tried signing up on the list and it says you’ve exceeded the quota.  Any way to sign up otherwise?  Would love these.

It's almost Creek season. Any updates on when you might start selling these?