You need warmth? We’ve got it! The story behind the Ipsoot

December 09, 2019

The Ipsoot is back for another season helping to keep you warm during the dark cold days of winter. This glove model was first introduced in our winter 2017/18 line and has quickly become a gear staple for our fellow winter-loving photographers.

From the get-go, our vision was to create a glove range to accommodate every winter condition. Enter the Ipsoot, sparked by our customers needing that extra warmth and protection. In our first season, we launched with the Markhof Pro. The Markhof Pro quickly become a crowd favourite, we designed the Markhof as a pipe glove —a thin glove— so when our customers took the Markhof out into the deep snow, they let us know they needed something extra, and thus it was time to advance our glove line to the Deep Winter.

As we strive to always innovate and improve, we were quick on the case. The people want warmth? We’ll give them warmth! We jumped straight into designing the warmest 5 finger glove we could think of, a glove that would perform great in the snow and still suit the needs of photographers.

Shop the Ipsoot Photography Glove

TheIpsoots continue in our line up as our heavy duty 5 finger deep winter glove.

Heavy duty winter photography glove requirements:

To design the best glove possible, we knew there a few key elements we must have: Heavy-duty design, great insulation, merino wool, and waterproof materials only. We instantly thought of our team shooter Todd Easterbrook and what kind of glove he would need while shooting long cold days in the Canadian Rockies. If we could develop a glove warm enough for Todd, surely it’d be warm enough for the masses.

Todd grew up on a skateboard on the east side of Canada. He made a move to Whistler, BC where he went all-in on photographing mountain sports. As a snowboarder himself, he naturally worked his way into a full-time photography career focused around snowboarding. His work routinely requires him to withstand harsh backcountry environments for 8-12 hours a day. We knew Todd needed a glove that could keep up with him and we quickly took to the challenge of making that glove. And a challenge it was!

The art of being open — yet closed.

winter glove design
The original sketches of theIspoot.

Designing the glove took much more than adding extra insulation. We knew we’d have to beef up the insulation but we also knew the focus was going to be on the Flip-Tech overlap. We designed the Markhof to allow quick and easy access to get the fingers out, but for the Ipsoot, we wanted to make sure the flap was completely sealed with overlapping material to make sure snow and cold air wouldn’t find its way in.

The overlap would need to be both tight enough to not flip open by itself, but also loose enough to make it easy to use and seal without force. We stuck to our original creating philosophy: “If it doesn’t work smoothly, it doesn’t work. Full stop.”

We designed and tested and designed again. In reality, we tested pretty much every solution of finger opening options there is. We’d even go as far to say if there’s a finger opening option you can think of, we’ve probably already tested it! Small zippers, overlapping stretchy material, diagonal openings, velcro seal options. We’ve tried them all. Our best performing solution ended up being the overlapping flap with magnets, keeping the snow out but still easy to flip.

It’s all in the details:

The name “Ipsoot” comes from the name of a mountain in Todd’s backyard. We thought it was more than fitting our most durable glove yet would be named after a hearty, steadfast mountain in the Canadian Rockies.

As with all of our gloves, the silicon palm print is more than a random pattern. The Ipsoot palm print comes from a photo depicting a backcountry snowboard photography mission and if you look closely enough, you’ll spot the snowboarder and helicopter among the mountains.

helicopter shadow on snowy mountain in canada

These are the gloves you want to have if you're heading into deep winter conditions. We recommend them for the following locations:

1. Japan
2. Iceland
3. North American Rockies
4. Lofoten (between November - February)

If you tend to run cold and generally like an added layer, consider pairing them with a Power Stretch Pro Liner glove. We recommend getting the same size liner as glove for the best fit.

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Winter is no joke! Keep warm and shop our range of Vallerret Photography Gloves.

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