Patagonia Salt & Pepper: The Shoe Fits a More Examined Life

Patagonia Salt and Pepper Shoe photo

You might recall our product review on the Patagonia Rum and Cola shoe. Part of the outdoor clothing company’s OutsideIn footwear line that uses am almost glueless outsole construction. I started off skeptical, but soon became a diehard convert, saying in my review that they might just have hit upon the future of footwear.

Well, the range has been extended to now include seven models, though we note that it appears that women are those most switched on to the concept because they get five options, with the guys languishing with just two. This season the line gained a couple of newcomers, the Pita & Hummus, and the Salt & Pepper (pictured above and noted below).

The Salt and Pepper (top pic) takes the OutsideIn idea into a more wintery style, with soft, warm pebbled Italian wool uppers. As you can see these have an anti-slip treatment on the base so they can be worn on their own inside. When venturing outdoors takes your fancy simply slip them inside the natural latex rubber outsole and you’re ready to take on the world.

patagonia outsidein photo

It is a great concept. It’s proven excellent when we’ve been camping I shucked the muddy outsoles off and dived into the tent with inner still. Or when visiting friends I can leave the outsoles at the door and comfortably pad around their home in my inner moccasins.

And we even read somewhere that you now buy component parts for your OutsideIn shoes should you somehow break or lose an upper, footbed or sole! If that is true, it’s encouraging to see Patagonia supporting the platform, rather than simply to moving on the the next seasons ‘big thing’. A pair of these could very well be the last shoes you need to buy for a long time. Now that might strike fear into the heart of many a woman, but it is a sure way to reduce your ecological footprint — so the speak.

Plus, with Patagonia Footwear being a partnership with Merrell/Wolverine, the glueless sole concept is being made available worldwide, where that brand has distribution, so more people are being exposed to the idea.

::Patagonia Footwear

More Patagonia on TreeHugger
• Yvon Chouinard Wins Environmental Good Guy Award
• Patagonia Expand Common Threads Recycling Program
• Patagonia Adds Five Products to Footprint Chronicles

Top image borrowed from Zappos and mid pix via Patagonia.