Couple of acronyms to deal with first as KSB stands for Karrimor Sports Boot, while KLETS stands for Ken Ledward’s Equipment Testing Service. Way back in the 1980s Mike Parsons, who owned Karrimor at the time, got together with Ken Ledward to produce the type of boots we have here in the collection. Ken had been working on a lightweight boot for a while, he’d also produced an environmentally friendly sole, which caused less erosion compared to the heavier versions around at the time, he and Mike called it ‘over-booting’. Ken initially got a football and hockey boot manufacturer called Winit to make his boots, but that deal didn’t work out too well, so he and Mike Parsons turned to a company called Asolo in Italy and the KSB was born. Asolo got another Italian company (Vibram) to make the soles, though the pair we have here in the collection have the earlier, non Vibram, sole, making them a bit of a rarity.

Karrimor is now owned (2026) by a multi-national company. Mike and Ken are octo and nonagenarians respectively as we write. Both were largely responsible for the light-weight trail shoe revolution that is now the norm – well done guys.