Now Stocking: EB Climbing Products
I am now unbelievably proud to announce that we are now stocking EB climbing products.
As part of the "Now Stocking" blog posts I usually dedicate a large section to the history of the brand...with EB...more detail will be included into this as they are drenched in history within the whole sport of climbing. Due to the sheer amount of notable history and innovation EB has been a part of throughout the years, I will only be including significant highlights but a link to the full timeline of the companies history will be provided at the bottom of this blog for those interested.
The story starts in the 1930s when Pierre Allain, a young climber from Paris, began committing time to the boulders of Fontainebleau leading to him adapting his trainers to be more durable with stuck on rubber. This lead to Allain developing the first climbing shoe in the 40s, which led to the shoes we know today, with the help of a shoe maker. Pierre Allain also created a large number of other, today standard, products such as aluminium karabiners, an abseil device and the down jacket.
1950 comes around and master shoe maker, Edmond Bourdonneau, buys Pierre Allains business. This leads to the first branded climbing shoes being born with EB being proudly placed upon the side of the shoes.
Develop continues on the EB shoes leading to the flagship "Super Gratton" in 1968 with their popularity increasing in Fontainebleau over the next few years.
Climbing significantly increased in popularity throughout the 1970s which led to large numbers of EB shoes being shipped around the world. Further development through the 70s and 80s led to additional models being made with their team of climbers contributing to the designs.
Business began to slow for EB in the late 80s until the business was revitalised in 1992 when Jean-Claude Delubriac bought the business, who had previously specialised in boxing and golf shoes. Delubriac commits to reestablishing the company within the climbing community with a large amount of dedication. Travelling to climbing competitions across France to re-establish the EB name in the climbing community, climbers begin to return to the brand over the next few years with international status returning.
The small factory of the time struggled to meet with demand in the earlier 2000s with new models and development of the first beginners climbing shoes only increasing popularity further. Frederic Tuscan joins the team and later becomes the owner through his company "9A Climbing".
"9A Climbing" continue to own and develop the EB brand celebrating the 60th anniversary of the first climbing shoe being produced in 2010 with a completely renewed line of shoes.
2014 leads to Seb Bouin, who is known as the best French climber in history, joins the team. Seb has had large involvement since with his input on design, including the release of the Sentinel which took two years of development and was released in more recent years. (Soon to be stocked here)
The EB line has seen large amounts of development to deliver a shoe for every type of climber since, from beginner to pro, from soft bouldering shoes to stiff edging shoes. The company celebrated the 70th anniversary of EB in 2020 and continue to bring top end quality at an affordable price for everyone to enjoy.
After 70 years EB shoes are still made in France to the highest standard, which we stock with pride and cannot wait for you all to enjoy. Currently we have two of their high performance models in stock, the EB Nebula and Strange, and will have the full range in stock over the coming months. It is also worth noting that all EB shoes are Vegan, at the time of this blog post, making them inclusive to all.
We are also stocking their Chalk products which are available in sizes from 500g bags up to 5kg tubs! EB chalk is also available on our subscription service where you get an extra 10% off of the price of your chalk of choice. You make a saving and never get caught with an empty chalk bag on your project!
A full timeline of EB's history can be found here.