KLETS stands for Ken Ledwards Equipment Testing Service and the item we are looking at here in the collection is the sole of this boot rather than the boot itself.

Ken Ledward is a mountaineer, skier, fell runner, equipment tester and outdoor gear designer. For many years he had thought the traditional mountaineering boots worn in Britain were too big and chunky, and having run thousands of miles over the mountains in much lighter fell running shoes, he was determined to create a new lightweight sole and find a boot manufacturer to produce a boot to go with it. Ken found a company called Winit, who made cricket boots (circa 1980), and they made the first lightweight boots with a KLETS sole. The deal with Winnit didn’t work out too well, so Ken turned to his pal, Mike Parsons, who owned Karrimor. Together they worked out a deal with Italian company ASOLO, who went on to make the Karrimor KSB boot with a KLETS sole, though the sole itself was now made by Vibram, not Winit. We have an early pair of KSBs (Karrimor Sports Boots) with early KLETS soles elsewhere in the collection.

The early versions of the boot were not problem free but were very popular, and when ex Olympic runner, Chris Brasher, entered the market with a lightweight boot with a KLETS sole they were a huge success in the 1980s and 90s.

KSB and Brasher boots are still available in 2014 though neither seem to be sporting a KLETS sole and the all round quality seems to be somewhat diminished too.

Ken Ledward himself kindly sent us this original KLETS sole, which he’d stuck on the boot for display purposes.