Boots, The Next Generation.

5 comments / Posted on / by

Korkers Guide Boot-Still my Favorite photo by Louis Cahill

With all of the research and development that goes into rods, reels and every fishing gadget under the sun, it surprises me that it’s taken so long for boots to go high tech. Up until a few years ago my wading boots were amazingly similar to what my grandfather wore. It wasn’t until Korkers came out with the revolutionary Boa lace design and interchangeable soles that everyone in the business took a serious look down. Those boots had some controversial features but since I put the first pair on my feet,I’ve waded in nothing else. Years ago I broke my ankle in a pair of boxy old school wading boots and that memory has staid with me. As important to me as my ankles, is the thousands of dollars of camera gear I carry. For me, a fall can be pretty expensive.

In the last couple of years Rubber soles have been all the rage. I’ve heard plenty of my friends in the biz tow the line by saying, “it’s a matter of personal preference”. I don’t know anyone who really believes that rubber is as safe as felt, and more people are coming around to the idea that it’s no more environmentally sound either. IMHO, rubber soles just give folks a warm feeling about not washing their boots. Rubber or felt, you need to wash your boots. There are plenty of places for the rock snot to hide on a rubber boot.

The Ektio Sole with Bumper

I stumbled across a new shoe technology that has been developed for pro basketball players. It was developed by a company called Ektio. It’s pretty interesting. Ankle sprains and brakes are the number one injury in basketball. The Ektio sneaker uses a system of straps and revolutionary sole design that they call a bumper which prevents the foot from rolling. Early testing suggests that ankle injuries are reduced nearly one hundred percent. I immediately thought of the day I broke my ankle and the months I fished with a cane in my wading belt. I’ve already sent the link to my friends in the boot biz. I hope we see something like this in felt sooner than later.

In the interest of disclosure I should say that Korkers is a client of mine. Gink and Gasoline, however receives no support from Korkers at this time. I just really do love the boots.

Louis Cahill
Gink & Gasoline
www.ginkandgasoline.com
hookups@ginkandgasoline.com
 

Follow Gink & Gasoline on Facebook:

5 thoughts on “Boots, The Next Generation.

  1. A bunch of my friends are Nike product testers….they were testing something similar to Etkio about 4-5 years ago. I was told that Nike bailed on the idea because although it reduces sprains, when an ankle twist does occur, it is catastrophic knee/ankle damage. Who knows if that is accurate or not though???

    • I’ve heard it suggested that knee injuries could be an issue. I’m not a boot designer or an expert of any kind but my understanding is that Ektio’s research is pretty encouraging. Get your friends opinion on it. We’d love to hear it.

Leave a Reply to Louis Cahill Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Captcha loading...