Sole Searching: How Bedrock Sandals Changed the Look of Adventure Footwear

Every so often, a piece of apparel or gear arrives in the outdoor world that feels so original that it can be difficult to draw lines to any likely influential predecessors. Throughout the year, we’ll be spotlighting iconic footwear designs to discover the ideas behind them from the individuals and teams that brought them to life. Beginning first with Bedrock Sandals, a minimalist adventure footwear brand whose innovative combination of a unique Y-shaped strap system and thinner-than-the-rest sole first emerged on the heels of the barefoot footwear trend.

With its launch in 2011, Bedrock made a splash by unveiling their namesake sandal to ultralight and minimalist outdoor users looking for an alternative to the chunkier-soled options already on the market. The first Bedrock sandal’s ultra-thin sole and minimal straps captivated barefoot-feel evangelists, albeit while raising eyebrows from others. As a follow-up in 2016, the brand unveiled its now-iconic Cairn model sandal (named the best hiking sandal by our own gear tester) that utilized much of the original Bedrock sandal’s design ethos with increased support underfoot. Following years of design refining, use, and feedback, Bedrock recently introduced the Cairn Evo update driven by the introduction of Vibram’s XS Trek Evo outsoles.

Like many, it was Bedrock’s unique combination of minimalism and rugged earth capability that drew me in a handful of years ago–when I first saw a pair of Bedrock Cairn sandals, my initial reaction was the cliche “What are thoooose?” Prior to that point, I was never much of a “sandal guy” whatsoever, but the unique aesthetic and adoption of the Cairn by the fat tire adventure cycling crowd had me second guessing my open-toe adventure footwear phobia. Before too long, I grabbed a pair for myself to bring on a trip touring the boulder-strewn, plunge-pool-rich interior landscape of Puerto Rico. I was no longer an anti-sandal guy, and wouldn’t shut up about them until several peers were converted to the way of Bedrock.

My conversion to sandals for outdoor adventures was far from a solitary event, and Bedrock’s Cairn design certainly won many other hearts and feet as the brand saw growth that put their product on the shelves of big-time outdoor retailers like REI and in the digital pages of many publications like our very own. The word was out: outdoor users didn’t have to depend on big chunky soles to get the big grip they need on trails, rocks, and river bottoms.

From the outset, a unique relationship was woven between the cult sandal makers and leading name in trail-hungry outsoles, Vibram. During its earliest days, Bedrock founders Dan Opalacz and Nick Pence handcrafted prototypes of their original sandals while working on salmon river restoration projects in Northern California with Americrop. Early experiments utilized Vibram Gumlite soles, made from compounds to provide everyday shoes with grip over slick office floors–a far cry from the Vibram Trek XS Trek Evo that make up the outsoles on the latest Carin Evo models.

A Kickstarter campaign in 2011 collected a couple bucks to fund the startup, and the brand’s first orders, which both founders personally fulfilled under the roof of a cabin along California’s remote Lost Coast–exactly the type of cottage industry vibe we love. Illustrating the scrappiness of this startup operation, Dan tells us how they purchased a modest $100 scroll saw from Sears to cut lasts from wood to trace the rubber sole cutouts and returned it to the store right after.

Soon after, with a growing need for a more suitable headquarters, Bedrock moved into a garage in Nick’s Virginia home town before returning to the West Coast two years later, landing in Oakland, CA. From here, Dan and Nick’s design efforts worked towards the release of the first Cairn sandal, the sandal that ultimately put them on the map thanks to its unique Y-shaped strap that allows the foot to splay out and create barefoot-like stability.

Approaching Vibram to develop the sole for the Cairn fulfilled a brand goal for Bedrock, “We wanted to be working with Vibram from day one, they have always been at the forefront of soling and we always want to work with the best players we can,” Opalacz tells me. After a successful concept pitch in 2014, Vibram came onboard as a sole partner bringing ideas dreamed up by Bedrock that would bring the Cairn to life.

Eschewing a more typical business model within fashion, where every single season introduces a new piece of footwear, Bedrock decided instead to slowly refine their Cairn design with user feedback. Subsequent updates to the initial 2016 design of the Cairn involved incremental design refinements workshopped in continuous collaboration by Bedrock and Vibram: improved sole iterations that fine tune lug placement, an improved sizing system that better addresses smaller feet, and an added Cairn Pro model utilizing Vibram Megagrip to provide unmatched grip on wet and dry surfaces.

Offering insight into the refining process of the proprietary outsole design, Vibram designer Jacob Baldry tells us, “It’s a balance between art and science, but that science aspect is really about zooming really far in to adjust fractions of millimeters of material and draft angles to get fluid evacuation perfect.” This dedication brought a pronounced performance upgrade for all Cairn Evo models that use the new Vibram XS Trek EVO rubber compound for grip in wet conditions, rivaled only by the Megagrip found on the Cairn Pro.

With the brand’s Resoul Program, Bedrock is uniquely positioned to collect user feedback when handling the resoling of their sandals, while simultaneously delaying worn out product from ending up in the landfill. "A lot of people in shoe companies never get to see the product once it’s been worn. We actually see how people use our stuff, and use that feedback to improve the design when and where we can Opalacz reminds us.

Though Bedrock still offers a version of its original design in the Classic LT, the Cairn Evo model sandals represent the apex of its unique design language, offering rugged capabilities packaged in a lightweight package, sitting proudly within a crowded space of outdoor adventure-friendly sandals.

With the addition of the brand’s first closed-toe model in the Mountain Clog, we know Bedrock is thinking beyond the confines of sandals. In the years to come, keep an eye out for a version of the Mountain Clog designed specifically for whitewater users and even footwear models designed for children. Only time—and the yet-to-be-found limits of Vibram—will tell what else.

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