a steady stream of water shoes are flowing into the market.

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FOOTWEAR
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water
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BY MARCUS WOOLF
walkers
A STEADY STREAM OF WATER SHOES ARE
FLOWING INTO THE MARKET.
TWO YEARS, THE FOLKS AT TRAVEL COUNTRY
Outdoors in Orlando, Fla., were scratching their heads.
General Manager Mike Plante said he and the store staff just couldn’t
figure out why Salomon’s Tech Amphibian water shoes weren’t moving
off the shelves. “The rep would come in and say, ‘This is the hottest
thing going,’ and we just couldn’t sell it,” said Plante.
But by the spring of this year, things had changed dramatically. “We’ve almost already sold through them,” he said. “I have to
tell you, it’s been a real pleasant surprise.”
The reasons for the sudden
upsurge in sales aren’t clear. No
single, easily defined user
group has suddenly flooded the
shop. “It could be the water
skier, or just somebody looking for something they can slip
on quickly and wear in the
water,” said Plante.
While the consumer base for
water shoes is not clearly defined, what’s certain is that
water shoes are more popular
than ever, and most major
footwear manufacturers are
wading into the category. This spring outdoor retailers stocked
a slew of new water shoes from a wide range of companies like
Teva, adidas, Bite Footwear, Keen, Merrell and Montrail. Consumers seem drawn to the shoes for a variety of reasons: college
kids like the look; outdoor enthusiasts slip them on for multisport weekends; and people in warm climates see them as a great
ventilated warm-weather shoe.
Questions remain regarding the ultimate potential for the category. Will consumers’ passion for these products last, or are they
a fad? After all, companies have introduced these types of products before with limited success.
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»OUTDOOR »SUMMER 2005
THE FIRST WAVE
Jacques Lavertue, president of
Wolverine Worldwide’s outdoor
group, said Merrell experimented with water shoes eight
years ago. “They didn’t really get
a lot of traction in those days,”
he said. “When we talked to buyers then, they were of the opinion that nobody was going to
spend the kind of money (water
shoes cost) to go basically trash
their shoes in the water. I remember talking to accounts, and they
said, ‘Are you kidding me? People use old sneakers and sandals.’”
Lawrence Motola, adidas product manager for the outdoor division, said the company’s first water shoe was the Water Moccasin
introduced in 1995. “We designed it with Scott Shipley to give
you some comfort, cushioning and protection if you had to portage.
And it was sleek enough to fit in a kayak,” he said. While that
shoe may have worked well, it certainly didn’t enjoy the popularity that the latest adidas Hellbender water shoe is seeing now.
One reason water shoes may have slipped in the beginning is that
they weren’t widely accepted by the paddling community. For one
thing, paddling guides are notoriously minimalist, and they likely
viewed early water shoes as too bulky. As the interiors of whitewater
boats became tighter, there was simply no room for a full shoe. Whitewater boaters continued to use lower-profile neoprene-type booties,
which remain the footwear of choice in core paddling shops today.
But new markets for water shoes have emerged, and retailers
and manufacturers think that this time around the category stands
on firm ground.
ONE SHOE FITS ALL
Scott McGuire, Keen product manager, said water shoes will only become more popular because “people want one product that can do
a lot of things.” He said, in the past, a person would wear sandals in
» W W W. G E A R T R E N D S . C O M
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MERRELL AND KEEN FOOTWEAR
for
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»OUTDOOR »SUMMER 2005
the water and use a hiker or trail running
shoe on land. “There’s been this need for
them to have something that’s a mix of the
two, and the high-end water shoe market
has been affected by a multi-sport mindset.”
Bob Orlando, former president of Teva,
noted that water shoes are benefiting from
the trend toward athletic, lightweight outdoor footwear. “Outdoor footwear 12 years
ago was heavy backpacking product. That
transitioned into lighter, more athletic styles,”
he said. This has now trickled down to water
shoes, which use the latest technologies that
allow shoes to dry quickly, fit comfortably
and perform well in many situations.
“It has taken hiking, approach and trail,
and added the ability to go in and out of the
water. And now the water shoes have good
cushioning and support,” added Orlando.
“People don’t have as much fear of being
in and out of the water, when you have
materials that dry so quickly,” said
McGuire of Keen. “Gone by the wayside
are the days of old where you had a heavy
pack and heavy boots. You took off your
boots and put on flip-flops for a stream
crossing. Now you have a lightweight pack,
and when you come to a stream, you just
want to keep on going.”
Water shoes can tackle varied terrain
because manufacturers have paid particular attention to design, while injecting shoes with the latest technologies.
Merrell uses proprietary Vibram soles
with soft rubber compounds made
specifically for water shoes. Lavertue
told GearTrends®, “We’re developing new
compounds as we speak.”
The mid-soles of new water shoes resemble those found in lightweight backpacking footwear, and you’ll find athletic
shoe components, such as air cushioning
in the heel. Bite Footwear’s Primal shoe
even incorporates its Orthosport footbeds,
which the company said provides support
akin to an aftermarket in-sole.
While gear heads and the multi-sport
crowd appreciate these super techie features, water shoes also appeal to less hardcore folks who want a ventilated shoe for
everyday wear in warm climates.
“Ventilation is a big deal in summer
sales,” said Lavertue. “And you have a lot
of guys in the general population who
don’t want to wear a sandal.”
Plante said that in Florida, “People are
for sure buying them as a ventilated summer shoe.”
At Buffalo Peak Outfitters in Jackson,
Miss., footwear buyer Dave Edmonson is
seeing the same thing. “The nice thing
about the Tech Amphibian, especially
down here in the Southeast, is it offers
plenty of ventilation, but enough support
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to go kicking around in,” he said. “And if
you wade through a creek, it drains and is
functional.” Edmonson even wears the
shoes while kayak fishing because they
provide enough support while loading
heavy boats onto the car.
Buffalo Peak has also noticed that water
shoes have become popular with college
students. “It’s that look—very low profile
on the outer sole, lots of mesh,” he said.
A SENSE OF STYLE
Glance at several of the new water shoes—
the Merrell Waterpro, the Keen Banff, the
adidas Hellbender—and they all sport similar design with fingers of synthetic materials wrapping around uppers made of mesh.
“Aesthetically, those shoes are unique
in their appearance, so if that style appeals to customers they will buy them as
a lifestyle shoe,” said Jason Erfling, buyer
for the Alpine Shop in St. Louis.
Retailers certainly appreciate the opportunity to add to their walls something that really stands out. Keith Sparks of Bite Footwear
said that at the Outdoor Retailer trade show,
the company’s Primal water shoe quickly
drew the attention of retailers. “One reason
it got interest from dealers at the show was
that it was visually appealing,” he said.
Lavertue noted that, overall, footwear is
becoming more low profile. “People are
looking for ‘faster’ looking, athletic-inspired
shoes. That’s more resonant with today’s
consumer mindset in the outdoor shop than
it was nine or 10 years ago,” he said. “I
think—and our key retail partners think—
that outdoor consumers have evolved in
terms of what they’re looking for.”
Even though water shoes have found fans
among the multi-sport community, warm
weather dwellers and college kids, the core
paddling community remains rather aloof.
MISSING THE MARK?
Spend five minutes in the vicinity of the
Ocoee River in Tennessee, and you’ll realize that life revolves around whitewater
kayaking and rafting. Jamie Casson is the
manager of a Rock Creek Outfitters shop
that lies in the heart of this paddling
hotbed. Casson worked with Montrail to
develop its Upper Ocoee and Lower Ocoee
water shoes introduced this spring.
The shoes take traditional neoprene
styles a step further, fitting like a rock shoe
but adding a mid-sole, plus an outsole of
grippy rubber. In addition, Montrail placed
ample padding on the lateral side of the toe
and in the heel area. “We were looking for
something more substantial that would
fit in a boat,” said Casson. “Many of the
neoprene shoes don’t offer enough traction and are not substantial enough for
»OUTDOOR »SUMMER 2005
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carrying a boat over rough terrain.”
Though the shoes were designed for
kayaking, Montrail’s Boo Turner said
they’re probably still too big to be worn
inside smaller whitewater boats. “We may
have missed the mark,” she said. “But I
don’t think we could make the fit anymore
streamlined than they are.”
Tom Detrick, general manager of Appomattox River Company in Farmville,
Va., said he hasn’t considered offering the
latest mesh water shoes because the paddling shop carries little product that crosses into the general outdoor category.
“When I look at buying footwear, I think
of product made specifically for paddling,”
he said, adding that his whitewater boating customers are park-and-play boaters
looking for a neoprene bootie.
“Others want something they can walk
around in, like the Chota pull-ons and feltbottom shoes,” added Detrick.
Detrick doesn’t see a need for the new
water shoes on the market because current neoprene styles do just fine. “Companies have it pretty well dialed in. I’m
able to cover what I feel are all the necessities in five or six different models.”
Guy Santiago, owner of Oregon River
Sports in Eugene, Ore., also said he doesn’t carry the new styles. “They’re not applicable to our kayaking crowd,” said Santiago. “They’re too big for our whitewater
boaters who like the Desperado from NRS.
And we don’t see a need for our rafting
crowd, which use neoprene booties.” He
said that canoeists and sea kayakers exploring Oregon’s cold waters prefer something drier, such as Chota Mukluks.
While many paddlers don’t dig the more
substantial water shoes, manufacturers such
as Montrail and Keen seem willing to experiment and try to expand the market.
“I don’t think the category has solidified itself as to what it is,” said McGuire. “The Five
Ten Water Tennie, the Tech Amphibian, the
Banff, they all seem to be lumped into one
group. But they have very different end uses.”
Clearly, this is a product segment just
beginning to take shape, and you’ll see lots
of new shapes and styles at this summer’s
Outdoor Retailer Summer Market. Teva,
Merrell, Keen, Montrail and Five Ten are
just a few of the brands expanding their
water shoe offerings. And the competition
for retailer dollars is surely heating up.
As one company executive told us, “The
open-to-buys are just starting to grow now.
Five years ago, it was really a fringe category with only a few players. Now people
look at it as a true classification, so we
have a lot more players.”
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» To see new products and read more trend analysis from GearTrends®, go to GearTrends.com/
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»OUTDOOR »SUMMER 2005
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