Five Ten ALEON with Fred Nicole

Over the past two years, Fred Nicole has been working closely with Five Ten to research, design and test shoes. New to Spring 2019 is the ALEON, a shoe that has been at the core of Fred’s work. Fred’s passion for design began at at art college with sculpture work. It then moved onto forming lasts out of clay and foam. What is the worst and best bit of the design process? The hard part is when people critic a shoe you are very proud of. On the other hand, the best part is when other people are psyched about what you have made. What is your favorite feature of the new ALEON shoe? There are a few; the last has a high arch, there is strong tension from heel to the toe is strong and the heel is also very good. Of all the problems that would feel easier in the new shoe which ones would you choose to reclimb? The following would be great to climb in the ALEON as they all have really small footholds and require a very precise shoe; Amandla, Rocklands 8B+, Slashface, Hueco 8B and Terremer, Hueco 8C.