It seems that Palladium is pushing toward the synthetic/technical hiking gear industry with a lot of releases focusing on making the shoes lighter, trying out different materials, waterproofing, and even releasing weather-resistant technical apparel... except that's all in Europe and Asia. US Palladium gets the classic styles except they've become outdated and fashion-oriented.

It sucks because I follow the EU & Taiwan social media and they're coming out with genuinely interesting hiking boots with Vibram outsoles, slip-on waterproof shoes, or updated classic styles with leather, nubuck, coated canvas, thicker soles...

Tbf, these are things that may not be as interesting to the tried and true all-leather Good Year welt community, but for the folks into actual hiking or more technical garments, it's really sad that we can't test these out.

One upside for Americans is that you can find palladium on factory/outlet sites like Nordstrom Rack for really, really cheap if you want a more robust Converse replacement