I heard about the durability problems people have been having with the under foot strap on most gaiters. Other companies solved this problem by using Velcro on the heel of their gaiter but the fabrics they used were less durable and weather resistant. I decided to buy the Mont-bell stretch gaiter that uses the Schoeller breathable DWR fabric and add some velcro to it.




I bought them in a size large so they would stretch down to the heel. This was a good move since the fabric only stretches so much. I left the grommets on so I could use the straps on some mid height inov8s for snowshoeing since they probably won't be able to stretch down to the heel on a mid. Theres enough stretch in the ankle to pull over my pants too.


I used loctite flexible glue and nylon sutures to hold the Velcro patch on. Shouldn't have any problems with it coming off.


Another reason why a Velcro gaiter works so well is that thy dont ride up in the back. The inov8 280 has a really short heel cup so I figured I would have problems with the strap only gaiter riding up like in the BPL review

Edited by Steingass on 07/14/2009 02:19:38 MDT.

I like the look of those gaiters, too.

I was just about to try the same mod on my Inov8 gaiters. No sewing machine though so it'll be my best attempt at hand sewing!

Thanks. Should be an easy project to sew by hand. Good luck.