Wet ice is one of the most difficult terrains to navigate during winter season. It so slippery, even high-grip technical shoes will often struggle to maintain traction while walking across them, making studs a necessity. That changes with Vibram’s Active Grip technology, which the outfit is calling the “most advanced cold weather gripping system” they’ve ever created.
Designed to deliver high amounts of traction over wet ice, the tech claims three times better grip than any of the outfit’s previous creations, ensuring you can walk, run, and hop like normal even in the most slippery winter roads. It does that while keeping the outsole looking perfectly normal, too, making for one seriously impressive solution.
Each Vibram outsole armed with the tech will actually use two types of technical rubbers: Arctic Grip and IceTrek (the outfit’s existing dry ice compound), so it will deliver equally satisfying grips on both wet and dry ice. As an aesthetic addition, the soles will come with thermochromatic lugs that turn blue when temperature drops below 32 degrees, which should make for a nice novelty during the colder months. And the hold doesn’t wear out, either, with the soles able to maintain their traction even after miles upon miles of wear.
As with other Vibram outsoles, we’re, of course, going to see it used in a whole lot of technical footwear. Wolverine Worldwide starts things out with six upcoming shoes equipped with it, namely the Merrell Moab FST Ice+ Thermo Waterproof, Sperry Cold Bay Ice+, Hush Puppies Parkview Ice+, Wolverine Crossbuck FX Ice+, CAT Stiction HI WP Ice+, and Saucony Razor Ice+.
Learn more about Vibram’s Active Grip from the link below.