wilderness
kids
STONZ - Outdoor Footwear
for Babies and Toddlers
Booties that your little one will keep on
©Outdoor Adventure
Canada
Admittedly,
I was a little skeptical when my friend mentioned
that I should try fabric booties out for our
daughter, Kaia. Shelley had used them with
her grandson on many a winter hike. He's pictured
here playing in the snow. Our baby girl was
a mere eight months old and to say keeping
footwear on her was impossible could be an
understatement. The moment she'd get comfortable
in the carrier, she'd kick off whatever covering
graced her little feet-that is, until STONZ.
So with her recommendation, I put my doubts
aside and went into the testing phase with
an open mind and was pleasantly surprised.
The first journey
in this gear test was a day of snowshoeing
near Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario's
near North. We set out on an easy route that
included Ragged Falls. It was a perfect sunny
day, albeit a little on the cold side. The
booties were loaned from Shelley's grandson
and they were a little large for Kaia, but
with the liners in they still performed very
well. The booties have two cinch cords with
toggles. The top on sits horizontally, while
the one at the ankle is on an angle. This
configuration helped the footwear stay perfectly
in place even with them being a little too
large for her tiny feet. The soft liner and
waterproof shell kept Kaia's feet toasty warm
and dry.
One
day of testing isn't enough to have a product
featured on OAC so when we returned home,
Kaia received her own pair. She's worn these
with the liners on the coldest of winter walks.
They've been brilliant in Spring and Fall
and we even used them, without the liners,
on a wilderness canoe trip in the Summer when
it rained for days on ends.
I was concerned
about how STONZ would hold up for keeping
feet dry once my little girl started walking
and running. Not only did her feet stay dry,
but she seemed to have good stability when
walking. The boots even perform well when
placed on the wrong feet as they were in this
photo of Kaia.
Moms (and Dads
too), be sure to give the booties by STONZ
a second look when you are considering outdoor-rated
footwear that the little ones will keep on
their feet.
STONZ is
a Canadian company and their products are
Canadian made. For more information, please
visit the STONZ
website.
Written by Laurie March
Photo of the boy playing in the snow, by Shelley
Lauzon
Photo of Kaia wearing her STONZ booties, by
Kirk Reardon