Solutions are a well-known performance climbing shoe by Italian company La Sportiva . Renowned for a powerful toe and solid heel, the Solutions do have an achilles heel –the strap closure system unfortunately often breaks before the shoe is worn out.
Hanchor investigated the root of this issue. Here we have a pair of affected Solutions from climber “Toy”. Looking at the lace itself, although thin, the webbing used is actually quite sturdy and on principle, should stand up to repeated use. The problem is obviously not with the lace itself.
Next we look at the metal grommets which the lace passes through. Here we’ve taken off the velcro closure patch from two solutions where the laces have broken. The velcro patch on the left is from an older generation Solution, whereas the one on the right is a newer generation. You can see that the metal grommet on the older model has rusted much more than the one on the newer model. It seems that La Sportiva realized there was a rusting issue with these grommets and changed the material of the grommet.
However, the strap breaking problem still occurs even with the new grommets! When we look at the back of the velcro patch, we can see that the way the grommet is attached creates a sharp edged flower pattern. We believe that repeated rubbing on these sharp edges is the root cause of the laces breaking.
The best long term solution to this issue would probably be for the shoe maker to switch to a different grommet with smooth edges. To help “Toy” in the short term Hanchor used a custom, heavy duty lace to make the Solutions wearable again and allow him to climb many more routes.
Hanchor is very happy to help fellow rock climbers and provide strap repair service for free! (Shipping fees excluded).
For service information, please contact us at info@hanchor.com (even if you have an issue with another climbing shoe feel free to get in touch as well and we will see if we can help!)
** Repair service stopped after 2019/08.
