Reebok Trail Bender sandal review

Amphibious gazelle...

You must be wondering what took me so long to write a sandal review, considering that sandals are immensely popular in India. Every self respecting Indian would own at least one pair of sandals, and with good reason. India is hot and dusty during summers, so you need something which is breezy and easy to clean at the same time; India gets slushy during monsoons, so you can't risk taking your mint fresh sneakers out for a ride. In such circumstances, wearing a pair of sandals made perfect sense. Many of us call sports sandals 'floaters', so I thought long and hard about how the word came into existence, since India seems to be the only country where the word 'floaters' is used to describe sports sandals. I tried googling 'floaters', but the search results were more about an eye condition than a pair of shoes. I did click on one of those links, and I finally found a word for the stuff in my eyes...

The reason why sports sandals are called 'floaters' came to me in a flash during one of my early morning runs. Remember Mescos, the now defunct footwear brand? They used to be quite popular during the early and mid nineties, and they were known for their line of casual leather shoes with fancy Red Indian names like the 'Mohawk' and 'Sioux'. Mescos was also famous for getting the brand K-Swiss into India that time and had some really great shoes during their peak. While the going was good for Mescos, they regularly ran full page advertisements and it was during reading one of those ads that I came across the word 'floater' for the first time. My memory about that ad is very sketchy but the tagline went something like this - 'Sandals so light, they'll float in the air'. Since there was no other brand in the market that time which aggressively pushed the concept of sports sandals, the name 'Floaters' stuck and became generic over a period of time.

High on Hexalite: The Trail Bender is one of the many Reebok shoes this summer to feature the Hexalite technology. The Smoothfit Hexride seems to have kick started all things hexagonal at Reebok...

In some ways, the Trail Bender sandal is reminiscent of the Reebok Amazon sandal, the first sandal to be released in India with Hexalite heel cushioning. This was way back in 1996-97 and cost INR 1690 to own a pair. So if you were lucky enough to be wearing the black and blue Amazon sandal back then, you had truly arrived. Paying that much for a sandal during those days was unheard of, but these days brands seem to have no trouble selling sandals three times that amount - sandals like the Adidas Hellbender (INR 5000+) and Nike Willamit (INR 4000+) are good examples of that. The Trail Bender is 'judiciously' priced at INR 2890, so it's a mid priced sandal, relatively speaking.

The brand with two stripes: Reebok Vector meets two-stripes in true Adi-Bok fashion.

When I look at the design, it seems as if Adidas had fedexed a couple of their designers to Reebok's headquarter in Massachusetts to work on this sandal. The Adidas designers, being creatures of habit, drew three stripes on the upper but suddenly realized midway that they were supposed to be designing a Reebok sandal so they hurriedly rubbed off one stripe to end up with two...

The Trail Bender sandal uses a novel strap design which replaces the conventional two-strap velcro design we are all used to seeing. While this new design might have one less strap to fasten, it puts all the pressure at one point on the foot, and after sometime, it gets a tad uncomfortable. I walked around a bit for a little while, and the strap started pinching my skin. Not very hard, but yes, it did pinch. Reebok has also pushed the position of the Velcro strap away from the toe area, so most of the time your foot feels exposed and not covered enough for forefoot protection.

More is sometimes good: One strap system puts extra pressure on your foot, but the covered arch area lends some much needed support.

Having said that, there are some positives, too. The arch area of the sandal is covered which keeps the foot in check. The footbed is clear rubber with a hexagonally shaped texture, so it is very grippy if you're wearing the sandal barefoot. For heel cushioning, a Hexalite unit does duty, so the ride is quite comfortable. A padded attachment to the rear strap (see pictures below) effortlessly grips the heel without making you feel that your blood circulation has stopped.

All clear: The footbed is transparent rubber with the Reebok logo and hexagonal patterns printed on the other side. The hexagonal textured footbed provides an amazing grip.

Power-on: The small circular patterns remind me of the power on-off buttons found on computers and cellphones - see extreme top, right. But on a serious note, I think the designers took their inspiration from clip-on wheel locks found on bicycles and roller-skates. The Hexalite heel unit can be seen on the rear.

Heel pillow: A small padded piece is attached to the rear strap helps cradle the heel firmly without causing blisters.

All in all, a sandal which should have been great due to fancy trims and quality materials, but the less than desirable upper fit drags it down many notches. At INR 2890 , it is priced below comparable Adidas and Nike sandals, so it's worth a dekko if you are headed out to buy a pair of sandals.

The Lowdown:

Shoe name: Trail Bender

Color reviewed: Black/Silver -Gold

Retail price (India): INR 2890

Estimated US retail: N.A.

Available at: Majority of Reebok stores and select multibrand stores.

Weight: 308 grams for a half pair of UK 9/US 10

Verdict: A sandal packed with features like the Hexalite heel cushioning and a non-slip footbed, but is let down by a below average upper fit. We want the two straps back, please.