Outstanding
Climbing Shoes
for Children and Adolescents

Buying Kids’ Climbing Shoes:

Our Decision-Making Tips

Children have an intuitive urge to climb anything that gets in their way. This makes bouldering and climbing perfect activities for them to try. Whether in the gym or at the crag, the right kids’ climbing shoes make the sport more fun. These must not only be extremely comfortable to wear and easy to put on but also perfectly aligned with the special anatomy and ergonomics of children’s feet. After all, these are still growing and have special requirements.

With the PULPO for playful kids and the PUZZLE for young, ambitious talents, Red Chili offers two climbing shoe models for these different needs. Whatever you have planned—the crag, the gym, bouldering, or climbing—the Red Chili YOUNG TALENTS climbing shoes offer maximum fun and comfort for little ones and keep feet healthy for the future!

Children Climbing Shoes Shop

Why Do Children Need Special Climbing and Bouldering Shoes?

Children’s feet have more cartilage tissue than fully-grown adult ones, making them softer. This means that they can be deformed more easily, making it all the more important to optimally align the shape of the shoe with the child’s foot and to avoid pressure points. In other words, it is essential for children’s shoes to fit properly and to be tailored to the special anatomical and ergonomic requirements so as to avoid deformities later on in life.

Special features of children’s feet and kids’ climbing shoes

Special heel shape

Children’s heels have a smaller volume, their Achilles tendon runs much straighter up the heel, and their ankle sits slightly lower than in adults. Until adolescence (about 13–15 years), the structures are still developing and any pressure on them must be avoided. As a result, kids’ climbing shoes need a narrow, straight heel shape, should leave plenty of space for the ankle, and should be made of soft material.
Child-friendly materials and technologies

The forefoot area of kids’ climbing shoes must leave enough room not to squash the toes and the balls of the feet. Children still have the plantar gripping reflex seen in babies. This

must not be hindered by the shoes so that the child can properly feel the footholds. To promote this sensitivity, the climbing shoes should be soft and flexible. This is achieved through the use of suitably flexible upper material and softer rubber. This also explains why climbing shoes for kids often have no midsole, making them even softer. Young talents who want to climb and boulder more ambitiously need a flexible shoe that fulfills all the aforementioned properties but offers a little more stability to enable precise stepping. This is achieved through the use of a special midsole in combination with a more technical upper material and a slightly narrower fit tailored to children's feet.
Comfortable to wear and easy to use

For children and adolescents, fun while climbing should be the number one priority. Young children in particular have a real urge to move around, meaning that between climbing attempts, they often love chasing around on the mats or clambering around in their climbing shoes under the sector. As such, they often keep their shoes on their feet throughout their trip to the gym or simply for a long time. This makes it all the more essential for them to be comfortable and fit correctly. VCR straps and a wide opening should also make the shoes as easy as possible to put on and take off.
The right size

Whether a child, adolescent, or adult, it is extremely important to choose the right size of climbing shoes—but this is by no means easy. Don’t worry though, we've put together all of our background knowledge so you can check out plenty of information before making your next purchase, so it’s easier for you to choose the right size for your child or yourself.

Red Chili
YOUNG TALENTS:Climbing Shoes for the Stars of the Future

Here at Red Chili, we have put our heart, soul, and extensive orthopedic expertise into the development of our climbing and bouldering shoes for children and adolescents. In our YOUNG TALENTS collection, we use soft rubber and technical upper materials with as few seams as possible to minimize pressure points. By combining these with child-friendly fits, we achieve outstanding comfort. For maximum softness in the PULPO, we have completely omitted the midsole that we use in the performance-oriented PUZZLE to provide greater performance and stability. With shoe sizes of up to EU 37/38 (UK 4/5) for the PULPO and EU 39 (UK 6) for the PUZZLE, we also create a seamless transition to our adult collection, the models in which start from size EU 35.5 (UK 3). As soon as their feet are fully grown, kids can decide whether they want to move on to a climbing shoe from the COMFORT, PERFORMANCE, or HIGH-END collection.

PULPO: comfortable kids’ climbing shoes from size 27

The PULPO enables even the youngest of children to get off to a flying start. Specially designed for children’s feet, it offers climbing performance and comfort when worn for a long time as well as plenty of room so as not to impair growing feet. The shoe is made of microfiber material that comes together with a triangular, flexible neoprene insert to enable the PULPO to be worn over two shoe sizes and thus grow with the child for a certain length of time and still provide a secure fit.

Product

The child-friendly, wide shape leaves plenty of space and the soft rubber without a midsole allows wearers to grip with their toes. This not only supports the plantar grasping reflex and thus the child’s natural foot movement but also promotes sensitivity for footholds. Thanks to the large VCR strap and wide opening, the shoes are easy for kids to put on and take off. The octopus design makes the PULPO a favorite climbing buddy, which leaves no marks on the wall thanks to the white, durable sole. And as a special feature, the left shoe is blue and the right shoe is red. The colors make it easier to provide help from time to time when little ones are stuck, e.g. “move your red shoe to the next foothold up”.

PUZZLE: performance climbing shoes with downturn for ambitious adolescents and children

The Red Chili PUZZLE is a performance-oriented climbing shoe with downturn for ambitious children and adolescents that is also tailored to the special ergonomic and anatomical requirements of growing feet. Its heel is narrow and straight so as not irritate the Achilles tendon. The wide design in the forefoot area stops the toes from being excessively compressed. The soft upper made of LYLIANE microfiber is produced from a single piece to reduce seams and pressure points. This also enables us to avoid excess material.

Product

The tongue is made from breathable, recycled knitted fabric and makes the shoes extremely comfortable to wear.

The PUZZLE is soft and flexible, thereby promoting young people’s natural behavior of “grabbing” footholds with the feet. This “claw effect” is supported by a slightly deeper rand in the toe area. With its straight, symmetrical shape, midsole and powerful downturn, the PUZZLE delivers good performance, making it the shoe of choice for advanced children and adolescents.

Outstanding Climbing Shoes for Children and Adolescents