Hideous, Yet Effective (Yaktrax)

If you told me, prior to the #SNOMG situation of today, that I'd embrace the hideous beast of a product pictured above, I would have told you that your pants were on FIRE.  But the reality is that dire weather calls for desperate style measures and Yaktrax, pictured above, are a winter essential, even for a city-dweller like myself.

These nifty textured rubber and coiled steel contraptions are actually a low-tech traction device, which stretches over the soles of your shoes. Obviously, heels or cute flats are out of the question here, but they do work well over sneakers, winter boots or Uggs, which are my shoe of choice for packed snow and icy conditions (what can I say - warmth is a priority in my life.)

Though they looked a bit ridiculous, Yaktrax made me feel infinitely more stable when walking on the icy sidewalks in my neighborhood. In fact, I could walk at close-to-normal speed instead of taking tiny, tentative steps. In my busy world, those extra few moments shaved off my commute to and from work alone are worth the $19.95 investment (and not falling on my ass is priceless.)

WInter is hopefully coming to a close soon, but if there's more snow in your forecast, I'd urge you to pick up Yaktrax. Available at REI.com.

FTC Disclosure: Product received for potential review.

 

4 comments:

fashion herald said...

I first saw these on my mom's kitchen floor in Iowa, and was like WTF??! But I have to say I'm so happy she's got them and won't be slipping on her icy deck.. Truly a life saver!

Kristin Booker said...

this is hilarious. perhaps this will keep me from slipping and killing myself since they never seem to want to de-ice the sidewalks in Williamsburg.

heather32north said...

Haha - well in their defense it is kinda hard to create a stylish looking ice cleat - it's more about function than fashion. Ironically we just received a tweet from a NYC'er looking to make our Stabilicers ice cleats more "mainstream", i.e, stylish perhaps? What I like about our ice cleats is that they are made in Maine which makes them kinda cool (being a USA made product and all) but our Stabilicers Sports style are definitely a bit more stylish if you are the sporty maryjane footwear type (like me). But I did spend some time in NYC (resided in Astoria) worked on W 18th and I slipped all over in heels - wish I had some traction for those back then. On that note - we do have cool vids we made - perhaps a bit campy but fun! This is about as urban as we got:
http://www.youtube.com/user/32northSTABILICERS#p/u/4/vY67gdsJ65s

Miss that city!
Heather

heather32north said...

Oh, forgot to post this - you can still have some style and be seen with ice cleats (trust me, I try...I do it every day) ...

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3507689&id=51535197365