Can you name more than 10 shoe brands? Most climbers that we ask can’t. That’s why we wanted to list all the climbing shoe brands (and makers). And, if you want to see all these shoes, head over to WeighMyRack.com/shoe to see every model.
This is a huge list of brands, and it can be totally overwhelming to know where to begin. If you’re looking for some suggestions of how to find the right shoe, we highly recommend looking over this Guide to Climbing Shoes.
All the 38 brands that make rock climbing shoes today:
links go to the individual shoe brands website, a star (*) means there is no US shoe distribution
6A* – Headquartered in France, shoes designed for schools and groups.
Acopa – Headquartered in California
Asakusa Climbing* – Based in Japan, currently only available in Japan
Alpidex* – Headquartered in Germany
Andrea Boldrini* – Made and headquartered in France
Black Diamond – Headquartered in Utah, made in Korea
Boreal – Made and headquartered in Spain
Bufo* – Made and headquartered in Czech Republic
Butora – Manufactured in Korea, shoes are available in the US via ButoraUSA
Climb X – Made in Asia, headquartered in Oregon, USA
Cypher – Headquartered in Utah, USA – in 2023 only have closeout sizes left
DMM* – No longer selling shoes
Edelrid* – They bought Red Chili, and no longer product their own shoes
EB* – Headquartered in France, holds the claim of the first climbing shoe
Elliot St* – Seen on e-commerse sites but no official presense online
Evolv – Made and headquartered in California, USA
Five Ten – Making shoes since 1985, bought by Adidas and manufacturing was moved to Europe/Asia.
Garra* – Headquartered in Madrid, Spain
Jurax* – Made & headquartered in Argentina, they serve Latin American climbers
kN climbing – Made and headquartered in Nevada, USA, they make custom climbing shoes
La Sportiva – Made and headquartered in Italy
LACD – Headquartered in Germany
Lavan* – Headquartered in Iran – making shoes since 2002
Lowa – Made in Germany/Italy, headquartered in Germany
Mad Rock – Made in Asia, headquartered in California, USA
Millet – Headquartered in France, making shoes since 1998 after they took over One Sport
Ocun – Made & headquartered in Czech Republic, “Ocun design outside, Rock Pillars technology inside.”
Red Chili – Headquartered in Germany, named after the band Red Hot Chili Peppers
Rock Empire – Headquartered in the Czech Republic
Saltic* – Headquartered and made in Zlin, Czech Republic
Scarpa – Made and headquartered in Italy
SFT Climbing – Made and headquartered in Northern California they make custom climbing shoes RIP 2016
Snake* – Headquartered in Brazil
Simond – Headquartered in Chamonix, France
So Ill – Headquartered in Illinois, made in California produced in Asia starting 2023
Teknia* – Headquartered in Argentina
Tenaya – Made in Spain, imported and distributed in the US by Trango
Tulson Tolf – Headquartered in Spain
Triop* – Made and headquartered in Czech Republic
Trongau* – Headquartered (and most likely made) in China
Unparallel – Headquartered and made in California
Wild Climb* – Headquartered in Italy and most materials used are from Italy
Zamberlan* – Headquartered in Italy
*shoes not distributed in the US
But what about [this brand] I saw online?
Here are some brands and manufacturers that you can still find on internet close-out websites, but are not currently manufactured.
Asolo – no longer making rock climbing shoes
CaVa – no longer makes shoes
Mammut – stopped making rock climbing shoes around 2008
Montrail – stopped making rock climbing shoes around 2007/2008 but is toying with the idea of making climbing shoes again
Rock Pillars – Merged with Ocun and all shoes are now made under the Ocun name
Salewa – not sure the story but you can occasionally find a UK4 sized shoe with a huge discount
Although we feel like we’ve found all the shoe brands that distribute climbing shoes in the US, there could be another one hiding. And we definitely expect more to pop up in the future.
Are we missing any brands currently selling rock climbing shoes? Email Alison, or let us know in the comments below.
Our Best Advice for Climbing Shoes
Go to shoe demos (at the gym or climbing festivals) and try on ALL THE SHOES. Including the high and low volume versions of the same model. Ideally, try climbing the same routes in each pair so you can get a sense of how they fit and perform differently. Note how they fit: are there pressure points or any gaps between your foot and the sides / top / bottom of the shoe? Pick what fits snugly and feels right to you.
If there’s a spot on a shoe that’s nagging you or any part of your foot slips in the shoe, keep trying on shoes. After trying on a ton of shoes, at one point you may wonder, “is this shoe perfect?!” because you can’t find anything wrong with the fit – at this point trust your intuition. And, for future reference, write all this info down on your phone: whether the shoe model fit or not, and what sizes are good/bad.
Want to See All The Climbing Shoes (over 400)?
At WeighMyRack, we list every climbing shoe and give you filters for volume, closure, material, last shape (downturn / asymmetry), and more. You can also filter by on sale items with discounts > 20%.
Other Interesting Climbing Shoe Articles
- How Much Downturn Do You Need?
- High Asymmetry vs Low Asymmetry : Which is Best?
- Volume & Gender : What’s the difference?
- How to Fit – Length and Toe Shape
- How Your Shoe Can Help You Climb Better
- Velcro vs Lace vs Slipper
- Why Are Climbing Shoes Expensive?
- How Climbing Shoes Are Made
- What are the Most Sustainable Shoes?
- Sensitivity vs Stiffness
- The Biggest and Smallest Shoes
- Leather vs Synthetic Climbing Shoes
- All the Vegan Climbing Shoes
- Lined vs Unlined Shoes: Does it Matter?
- How to Recycle, Resole, Upcycle, Sell, or Donate Your Climbing Shoes
- Where to Resole Your Climbing Shoes
- Who Makes Climbing Shoes?
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Saltic are made in Zlin, Czech Republic, I’ve been to their workshop & purchased shoes there.
Zlin is home to Bata shoes and many of the shoes produced (climbing & other) in CZ stem from his legacy.
Thanks for this info Marty! It’s always exciting to hear more about climbing shoe history.
The Mammut shoes were also made by Rock Pillars and then branded Mammut, I believe. At least the old ones were..
Lots of good info here. Thank you and keep these posts up.
There is also Garra from Basque country. And I saw also Salewa climbing shoes, but I am not sure, these was a produced type or test type only.
Thanks Lada, I’ve added Garra to the list if all the shoes above bumping us to 29 brands–great catch!
Agreed, I’ve also seen photos of Salewa climbing shoes, and every now and again catch an extremely small-sized pair on closeout. Looks like I should add them to the “not being manufactured” list. Thanks again!
30th company into the list is the italian Zamberlan. I´m not fan of them, they are so narrow for male foot
Ah ha! They tricked me, as they don’t distribute their climbing shoes to the US. Adding it now — thanks again Lada 🙂
hi, Alison. Unexpected latino number 31: http://www.snake.com.br/botas/adventure-sports/
and let´s go further with No. 32: http://www.tekniashoes.com.ar/stuka.html
Lada, once again, thank you for sharing your deep brand knowledge.
The link at the bottom is broken.
https://blog.weighmyrack.com/all-the-rock-climbing-shoes-that-are-on-sale-right-now/
Thanks for the heads up Dominic!
The good news is, the link is actually correct. The bad news is, the blog was throwing some XML exceptions (aka server issues). It’s a coincidence that the shoe sale page was effected and not others.
Hola pueden agregar en Argentina a Jurax Argentina
Web: http://www.jurax.com.ar
http://www.facebook.com/JuraxArgentina
Thanks Vicente! This is wonderful to know. I wish we could add these shoes to WeighMyRack.com/shoe but their website only has photos and no technical information. But I’ll add Jurax to the list above for others who may be able to find their shoes locally.
hi, another from spain (probably): http://www.tulsontolf.com/products/
Interesting, thanks Lada! It does seem like Tulson Tolf is from Spain, but they don’t easily list any specific location information on their website…I’ve sent a note via their contact form.
hi
never heard about that company before: http://www.alpidex.com/en/sport-climbing/climbing-shoes/ – also produces (or more likely sells) everything else: shoes, harnesses, HW, …
Elliot: I have already seen those shoes few times, but cannot find any informations except e-shops f.e.: http://www.sine-mainz.de/produkt-highlights/schuhe/kletterschuhe.html
Good finds Lada! I can’t seem to seem to find anything further on Elliot St either. I’ve sent out a few emails to the e-commerce stores to see if I can find out more.
There’s a Mexican brand called Maestrin, they’re the go to shoe for beginners since you don’t want your first pair cost you more than 60 dollars because you are probably going to ruin them in 5 climbing sessions.
Also, I think the Acopa legacy remains in Guadalajara, Mexico. They’ve been resoling shoes lately. a lot of people from around mexico send their shoes to be resoled with them since they do such a good job (I heard this as a rumor, I’m not sure if it’s true).
Thanks for the update Uriel!
Do you know if there is any official information for Maestrin online? I can find a few sellers, but I can’t find any manufacturer homepage or information on what shoe models they might be making today.
I have this same issue with Alebrije and Acopa/Rock On. I hear rumors but can find no evidence of existence!
Maybe not relevant as the company was taken over by Millet but for the historical sake there was a company OneSport. They made excellent shoes. Sponsored Fred Nicole at the time
Thanks Vlad! This is great history that will live on in the comments! If we ever make a more complete historical documentation, this is exactly the type of info we’ll be actively seeking out. (The extinct brands we listed in the post above can still be found for sale online, that’s why a few of them are getting a shout-out).
Thanks again for sharing!
Thank you for posting this informative blog about the best shoes for rock climbing. It is important that we wear the right kind of shoes to avoid any injury while rock climbing. I will definitely keep this list in mind the next time I’m buying rock climbing shoes. Looking forward to your next post.
A question that has been haunting me for long: why doesn’t Japan make any climbing shoes? Climbing’s big there and there athletes are now getting champions world wide. They also have some solid brands making high quality outdoor gear. Any thoughts?
That is a really great question, that I have no helpful answer for. It makes me wonder: is it possible we’re missing one?! I’m going to keep this in mind as I talk to other manufacturers, and if I come up with any theories I’ll let you know!
2 years later and a Japanese startup has been found!
Asakusa climbing shoes that have a very Japanese look to them.
Thanks for this note Dwight!! It looks like they are currently only available in Japan, but we’ll still add them to the list.
[…] pair of MoccAsyms, there weren’t many brands to choose from. As of 2019, there were at least 41 climbing-shoe manufacturers worldwide (and I can think of a few more now). While larger companies (Five Ten, La Sportiva, Scarpa) still […]
[…] pair of MoccAsyms, there weren’t many brands to choose from. As of 2019, there were at least 41 climbing-shoe manufacturers worldwide (and I can think of a few more now). While larger companies (Five Ten, La Sportiva, Scarpa) still […]
[…] of Moccasyms, there weren’t many brands to choose from. As of 2019, there were at least 41 climbing-shoe manufacturers worldwide (and I can think of a few more now). While larger companies (Five Ten, La Sportiva, Scarpa) still […]
[…] https://blog.weighmyrack.com/all-the-brands-that-make-and-manufacturer-and-sell-rock-climbing-shoes… […]
We’re glad you found our post so helpful and are happy you linked to us as a source. Your resulting post looks like it takes much of our work and copies it with slight modifications, plus a number of new sections.
Nice list.
You can add Canin made in France in Grenoble
https://www.lechaussemontagne.fr/