ACG FEATURE - PART TWO

What would they know! Can you deconstruct the shoe a little bit?
Sure. Visually the shoe was inspired by skeletons and one image of a batwing which looked really lightweight and fascinated me. That inspired the upper with all the fingers and the support arm that gives the shoe some structure.

I wanted the upper super-light but also supportive, ‘cause we definitely wanted it to be a boot, not a sneaker. This webbing that goes around the heel was meant to give your feet a little more security. If you wanted to tighten that up you could cinch (pull) it here a little bit. The protective areas were kept to a minimum to again reduce the weight, so it’s rubberized in the toe area and the heel. We fabric-wrapped the forefoot just to give the midsole some protection from rocks and then on the outsole, the lugs are only where you need them in the edging zone, the heel crash-pad and the rest is pretty minimal. It has a full-length shank for stability and in the end I felt like I only needed the support on the lateral side...

Do you ever want to go back and fiddle with things or do you think the Tallac’s perfect?
Well, I don’t know if it’s perfect (laughs) but looking back, I still think it came out really good. It’s really close actually to some of the very first sketches that I did, so I was pretty happy about that.

I think it’ll age gracefully. How does the weight of the Tallac compare to the new Ashiko?
It’s real close. I think our early samples actually weighed less. I haven’t weighed the new Ashiko samples yet but we’re pretty close, considering that weight wasn’t a primary goal, as the Ashiko is more of an all-around shoe.

PART ONE OF THE ACG FEATURE CAN BE READ HERE...