“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas A. Edison
Innovation. Imagining and the creating something new and releasing it into the world. Some companies make a name by selling the same time-tested tech, while others pride themselves by being on the cutting edge. In a recent conversation about shoes, I realized that I have a profound engineering respect for Mad Rock’s constant attempts to innovate, and think its worth taking a look at all they have done. This isn’t meant to downplay what the others do, I could write a similar piece on LaSportiva’s tech, and I might. It’s also not an advertisement for Mad Rock, in part because not all of these ideas worked, and in part because they’ve never made a shoe that fits my funky hoof comfortably. But lets take a look at what their zany design department has dreamed up and put to market:
Serrated Heelcup
Look at that thing! Its got teeth, like a shark, to really bite into those heel-hooks. Mad Rock was banking on even if the coefficient of friction was low, there’d be some mechanical interlocking going on. Sadly, this concept seems all but discontinued which is strange to me as this used to be synonymous with the Mad Rock brand.
Hooker Toe
Mad Rock was one of the first to really go all-in on the toe-hooking that was becoming needed for the next generation of 3D roof problems, and did so with their “Hooker” shoes. The offset laces allowed even more real estate for the black stuff. Imagine how quickly Dave Graham could have made the FA of The Story of Two Worlds if he’d had these puppies instead of those lame [redacted] he was wearing!
Zippers?!?!
You’ve seen slippers. You’ve seen laces. You’ve seen velco. Have you ever seen zippers? Once only used for tall stylish or combat boots, Mad Rock introduced them for climbing shoes as an alternative on the Hookers. Unfortunately, while it allowed a tighter fit than a traditional slipper, it also lacked the adjustability of a laceup. It was a novel idea for the time, but so was LaserDisc, and unfortunately it suffered the same fate.
Dual Rubber
Climbing shoes started life as stiff soled clod-hoppers, and slowly evolved into super soft slippers. While the softer shoes gave a better feel and more compliance for dicey smears, you gave up the stiffness needed to stand on a dime edge without a foot cramp. Like Reese’s, Mad Rock combined the two different thoughts to try and reap the best of both worlds. A stiff band around the perimeter for edging, and a soft pad in the ball for smears. Unlike Reese’s, this idea didn’t seem to catch on.
The Future
Mad Rock hasn’t stopped trying to innovate. Even if the old ideas didn’t stick, I’m looking forward to seeing if all the ideas listed on the tech page are still around in 10 years. I was inspired to write this article after reading about the skepticism surrounding their new 3D molded toe box. Its unclear if this is going to allow people to catch resoles faster, or make them more difficult to resole.
Without companies taking risks and bringing disruptive tech to the market, we’d be stuck with slow incremental change, down paths that might not be optimal. Or maybe the real future is just climbing barefoot. Charles Albert is making a killing at it. Mason Earle climbs cracks harder than you with one shoe. Sharma was crushing V8 in “Rampage” without shoes. For the rest of us mortals though, I’ll see you at the shoe racks.
