La Sportiva Closeout?

I noticed that La Sportiva (US) has lots of their shoes on sale right now with most of them being labeled “2023,” including the Solution, Testarossa, TC Pro, Theory, Muira, and Otaki. Any one know why? Are some of these models getting discontinued or reworked soon? If so, I might need to buy up some Testarossas! The Solution in particular has a “2023” version on sale and one that isn’t. They look the same.

New PFAS regulations will come into effect.

So it looks like the majority of LaSportiva's climbing shoe lineup is getting cleared out. I expect for almost all of them new versions will be out that will comply with the new regulations on PFAS.

As khoi said

Very little in climbing shoes has any benefit from the use of PFAS chemicals so its most likely just switching up suppliers for better transparency and assurance that no PFAS enters the product stream. Maybe the glues might change up but this has been coming for a long time and the industry is fairly on top of it, atleast in the EU (looking at you goretex). 

That added transparency will also be essential for complying with the new digital product passport law and regulations that are rolling out in the EU for most products. 

rock climbing wrote:

Great now vegan is not vegan enough anymore.

Nothing we do is ever good enough, that's the burden of learning otherwise. 

 Seb pfas don’t just enter a product by chance. They are put there for a purpose. I bet there is a lot of them in that pretty colored rubber.  How else make that nitrile rubber ozone resistant. Leather has it too.  

Sometimes PFAS can be a simple contamination from lubrication, stuff like mold release. I don't know the specific formula's of all their urethanes, glues and the like, but I do know a lot of these products have been easily reformulated to work fine without. I know chromium fluoride is commonly used for tanning but I thought they'd moved away from that. 

 Do we even have Goretex without pfas? 

They are slowly and struggling with their rollout of ePE to replace their eptfe membrane. 

rock climbing wrote:

Goretex might not make the transition. And some products are not going to be the same but it will be for the better. I would not mourn the Goretex 

Goretex is described by many in the industry as a mafia, I wouldn't expect them to be going anywhere. We will likely just see a temporary shortage of their products in smaller brands but it'll be a blip and they will come back just as strong, goretex marketing is just too dominant in the narrative. 

Gore is much much larger than just their consumer goods, they make membranes that go into your body, fabric for NASA, thermal insulation for phones, etc

Saying Goretex is going anywhere is like saying 3M or Dupont is on its way out. 

that guy named seb wrote:

Gore is much much larger than just their consumer goods, they make membranes that go into your body, fabric for NASA, thermal insulation for phones, etc

This got me curious so I went to gore.com to check things out. They manufacture about 175 products. This is their product category page: https://www.gore.com/products/categories

If anyone had any doubt regarding the dangers of PFAS. 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/13/world-health-organization-pfas-drinking-water-health-guidelines?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

rock climbing wrote:

 pfas don’t just enter a product by chance. They are put there for a purpose. 

Outdoor textiles, even shit like shoe laces, almost universally have DWR, even if the end product doesn’t have significant benefits from it beyond stain resistance.

Austin Mauney wrote:

I noticed that La Sportiva (US) has lots of their shoes on sale right now with most of them being labeled “2023,” including the Solution, Testarossa, TC Pro, Theory, Muira, and Otaki. Any one know why? Are some of these models getting discontinued or reworked soon? If so, I might need to buy up some Testarossas! The Solution in particular has a “2023” version on sale and one that isn’t. They look the same.

Testarossas are being discontinued btw. Everything else is PFAS

Luca Raso wrote:

Testarossas are being discontinued btw. Everything else is PFAS

Are you certain about the Testarossas?

Austin Mauney wrote:

Are you certain about the Testarossas?

Yes. I work at Sportiva

Luca and Koch - so, which is it?

Testarossa is not in the Spring 2025 workbook/catalog at La Sportiva. I know this because I work part time at the Sportiva shop in Boulder. Come take a look at the workbook if you don’t believe me. There is a chance that I’m confusing it with the Fall 2025 one, but either way, the Testarossa is cooked next year, so buy them before they sell out. Pretty much every other PFAs shoe has already been swapped with the new PFC free version (including the Solution, which will probably remain in production for the next decade at least) and the site and some stores are selling the old ones for a discount before it’s illegal to sell them. I hope this is helpful for you guys.

I thought I was going to miss the testarossa but honestly mine bagged out and lost their downturn and performance worse than any shoe I’ve owned, they are great out of the box though. A good alternative is the Mago, not quite as stiff but more sensitive, maintains its performance. 

Doug Chism wrote:

I thought I was going to miss the testarossa but honestly mine bagged out and lost their downturn and performance worse than any shoe I’ve owned, they are great out of the box though. A good alternative is the Mago, not quite as stiff but more sensitive, maintains its performance. 

you must've sized yours oddly or gotten a counterfeit pair because that hasn't happened to me or anyone else I've known in 15 years. The mago has been discontinued now for over a year.

b k wrote:

you must've sized yours oddly or gotten a counterfeit pair because that hasn't happened to me or anyone else I've known in 15 years. The mago has been discontinued now for over a year.

Sized them 2 down from street, and your explanation is about 1 million times less likely than the fact that they simply lost their shape. Counterfeit climbing shoes, lol what a ridiculous idea. Sorry you feel insulted that your favorite shoe didn’t meet another’s expectations but not everyone shares your opinion, that does not make them wrong. 2 people can buy the same car and have wildly different experiences, accept that this is possible with shoes as well.

Also Mago is still made in Europe market, I have no issue getting them from Italy. 

Doug Chism wrote:

Sized them 2 down from street, and your explanation is about 1 million times less likely than the fact that they simply lost their shape. Counterfeit climbing shoes, lol what a ridiculous idea. Sorry you feel insulted that your favorite shoe didn’t meet another’s expectations but not everyone shares your opinion, that does not make them wrong. 2 people can buy the same car and have wildly different experiences, accept that this is possible with shoes as well.

Also Mago is still made in Europe market, I have no issue getting them from Italy. 

Counterfeit shoes exist, doug. Usually made in China.   is a major problem for La Sportiva specifically. I don't feel insulted, but perhaps you did, based on your response. Have a nice day. 

b k wrote:

Counterfeit shoes exist, doug. Usually made in China.   is a major problem for La Sportiva specifically. I don't feel insulted, but perhaps you did, based on your response. Have a nice day. 

Ok well if you are that convinced of this counterfeit, I believe it could be possible, and apologize for my wording. I still believe it’s much more likely that a leather shoe got sweaty over and over again and compromised the integrity of the design or simply reached the end of its lifecycle. 

Luca Raso wrote:

Testarossa is not in the Spring 2025 workbook/catalog at La Sportiva. I know this because I work part time at the Sportiva shop in Boulder. Come take a look at the workbook if you don’t believe me. There is a chance that I’m confusing it with the Fall 2025 one, but either way, the Testarossa is cooked next year, so buy them before they sell out. Pretty much every other PFAs shoe has already been swapped with the new PFC free version (including the Solution, which will probably remain in production for the next decade at least) and the site and some stores are selling the old ones for a discount before it’s illegal to sell them. I hope this is helpful for you guys.

In the workbook did you notice a direct replacement? Something similar.  Seems very bizarre that they would discontinue such an iconic shoe. 

There is no direct replacement, only the current alternatives like the Genius and Mandala (same highly asymmetric last) and the Solution/Solution Comp (similar edging quality+soft rubber). In my experience working at the store, the Testarossa is not a popular shoe by any means. It might be the worst-selling performance shoe that we currently offer. You are right to say that it’s still a favorite of many advanced sport climbers, and they are the only people who buy them from me. These people are a very small minority within the greater market. Very few of our sponsored athletes climb in them at this point. I know J-Star is a huge fan, I can’t think of another athlete of ours that I’ve met that uses them these days. Maybe they will continue to be sold in the Euro market, but I only know about the NA catalog.