Honestly, it's not a particularly interesting year for innovation. The most technically novel and interesting shoe on that list is the Oracle, but even it is borrowing design aspects from two other shoes.

We're not seeing any major novel stuff to talk about--a lot of Sportiva chasing happening, which makes sense considering they own like 70% of the US market. The eco leather is a pretty good sales schtick, and people seem to be suckling at that particular teat, but trying to sell leather as an ecologically friendly product in general seems like a bit of a puppet show. And for something as low impact to the world as rock shoes, a small windmill to tilt at.

There's a lot of recycling of old ideas, taking parts of other shoes and putting them in new shoes, just using new fabrics or leathers, or making new lasts. I'm psyched to see the new woven uppers coming out of Butora/BD/Mad Rock, but I won't comment on durability or the shape of the lasts.

Boreal and Tenaya continue to make excellent shoes that equal the best on the market, but they have virtually no American marketshare to speak of, and the shelf space they deserve will be given to BD and Butora next year because of brand recognition.

The new lineup from Evolv and Scarpa look the most interesting to me, personally. Sportiva's is a disappointment, although I'm psyched they decided to bring the Cobra back from European-only sales, for the third time. Women's shoes don't sell well at retail, and they made a bunch of narrow shoes narrower, so what Sportiva is doing is just adding SKUs. Seems like lazy designing, but at the same time, they've nailed every other category so what else is there to do?

The market seems a little saturated right now to me.