Blog

Evolv Vegan Shoes

• September 2015
• Climb Gear Vegan Gear Reviews

As you may know, I joined Evolv in 2012 and part of our vision was to make a synthetic slipper that would work well for splitter crack climbing as well as face climbing. I’ve worked with many companies in the outdoor industry over the last 18 years, and Evolv really stands out for their motivation to endlessly create and modify prototype shoes for the different athletes on their team, according to everyone’s very particular style and taste. Being able to ask for and test out new shoe ideas leads to a lot of innovation, and is really fun for the team climbers.

The vegan slipper was a very long and cruxy project which we approached in stages, making a regular slipper first while continuing to search for a good synthetic option that would work for an unlined shoe. Along the way, the shoe designers and owner of Evolv decided that there should be more vegan options in the line. Now Evolv is releasing not just the vegan Addict (which will be called the Mantra), but a whole selection of vegan approach shoes and climbing shoes!

And for all of you who’ve read this far 🙂 here’s a coupon code for 10% off any shoes: lovevolv which you can use at the Evolv website.

So the vegan lineup is full on:
Cruzers for both men and women, laceups and slip ons, all vegan friendly and in lots of colors:

And there are a lot of vegan climbing shoes all of a sudden…

Rasta Shaman limited edition and quantity, available until they’re sold out. I love these for limestone, steep sport climbing and gym climbing.

Vegan Addict (Mantra) limited edition and quantity, available starting December 1 until they’re sold out. My splitter crack shoes! And also for climbing on the woody and general sandstone climbing.

a redesign of the original Shaman, making it fully synthetic (the old one had leather in the footbed which made a lot of vegan climbers cuckoo for cocoapuffs) Excited to try these out at Rifle…

the Agro, a sensitive, steep climbing shoe. I can’t wait to try these for gym and steep climbing too.

the Kronos, a men’s performance, flat soled, all-around shoe

and the Kira, the women’s version of the Kronos. I’ve been waiting impatiently for a low volume flat shoe with a good toe point that I can use for super technical face climbing and granite 🙂

So the Mantras have been a long time in the making, and just like that, there’s suddenly a whole lineup of synthetic options for all the different types of climbing…!