Thank you Diane, and this just in…
- PHD are having a sale starting on the 1st of August. I’m looking forward to some new test kit from them for autumn.
- Winter is here. It is in the outdoor trade anyway where the change in seasons means having to put anti-theft tags through waterproof jackets in a new colour before you hang them on a rack… So it’s all A/W 08/09 at the moment. There’s a lot of good stuff on the way, and there a lot of bandwagon jumping which we’ll have fun pointing out and ridiculing. I didn’t think a British brand would rip off Haglöfs‘ LIM or Intense colour schemes, but they have.
- An interesting point is that Keen has canned eVent in all its footwear and replaced it with KEEN.DRY, their own-brand waterproof/breathable membrane. Their winter line up looks nice. Some light boots that I’m sure will take a Kahtoola crampon, and a Five.Ten slaying approach shoe. We’ll see some of that nearer winter.
- I’ll have some new brands coming along over the next few weeks, Leki poles (Carbon Makalus coming up in a minute), AKU footwear and more. We’ll also be having a sock war. Sock apocalypse even. Socks made sexy. Maybe not, but still there will be many, too many to mention. But they will be mentioned.
- I had scrambled eggs on toast in the Tiso cafe for breakfast, and then I had a Greggs egg mayo softie for lunch, well part of lunch at any rate. That’s a lot of eggs, I think I forgot about the previous eggs in all the excitment of finding a new Greggs in Rutherglen. Where, inidentally they put the milk and sugar in your cuppa rather than give you wee bag of stuff you apply yourself or keep for camping.
- I’ll be in a tent really soon. How happy am I. Theory is rubbish, practise makes perfect.
Help ma’ Boab, was that a news bulletin?
I can understand why Keen has ditched eVENT, lets just hope KEEN.DRY is as breathable as eVENT! The new trail runners from Keen look good, a bit like Montrails. Will they have the legendary Keen wide forefoot fit?
Bring on the aSockalypse!
The wide forefoot seems to be a constant with Keen. I’ve got about half a dozen pairs of different types here and the fit is pretty consistent. I dunno about the running shoes though?
Too many socks, too many….oh the colours…
Dropped eVent eh? Shame they use a waterproof lining at all in my soggy footed opinion. Bags of arse is what I reckon…
Do you know what the reasoning is there? Better durability perhaps?
No idea I’m afraid. The old version got less complaints than the eVent version though…?
Looking at the Keen website, it looks like the approach shoes you mention are now available, at least in the US. I like the look of the all-leather (unlined) Redmond and Waypoint – they look like they might be good for a bit of scrambling. And for someone who does not like wet feet (as swimming with water is often unavoidable with mesh shoes), all-leather trail shoes have an advantage – sure, even with gaiters they will get a bit damp but I can live with that.
Do you happen to know if the new spring range are/will be available in the UK – from what I’ve seen in the past most retailers only hold a few models in stock and some don’t seem to be available in the UK.
Here’s hoping, though do I really need another pair of approach shoes?
They send me the press bumff a couple of weeks ago and the whole range is available in the UK. The only trouble is tracking down a stockist.
But, if you’re sure of your Keen size and you’re feeling brave, you should be able to mail order anything.
Spring Summer should be available right about now.
I’ll neeed to have a look as well, I fancied some of the new models.
Thanks, thats good news. I am feeling brave based on past experience with Keen – I’ll look out for stockists.