Scarpa Mojito review

You should keep a Mojito not only in your hands but also in your feet if you're looking for:

• A pair to explore the city and very light trails.
• A couple of flexible yet durable walking shoes that are comfortable right off the bat.
• A shoe with a long-lasting and protective outsole that can also be changed.
• An eco-friendly alternative made using recycled materials.

Don't let the minimalistic and clean vibe of the Scarpa Mojito trick you into thinking these shoes are a couple of feathers for your feet. This pair is on the heavy side, and if that's exactly what you're not looking for, then we believe you should have a look at our lightweight walking shoes catalog.

Additionally, despite not being waterproof (if you're looking for a waterproof walking pal, please click here), this shoe is totally not breathable. Its sturdy suede upper doesn't let the air get through, which means your feet might get sweaty if you walk around town with this pair in the summer. If you want to show off your new shoes when it's hot or your hometown's temperatures are naturally high, we believe you should have a look at some breathable alternatives.

At 29.3 mm, this Scarpa's heel stack is slightly lower than average, but it's not like our feet noticed or felt a lack of support.

In fact, it was pretty much au contraire mon frère. We felt surefooted and stable during our wear tests when we walked around town with this shoe. Its cushioning was also thick enough to protect us from pebbles and any other obstacles we stepped on.

So yeah, nothing to complain about here!

On the other hand, the forefoot stack is way lower than average, giving us more of a ground feel this time.

Our caliper marked 14.3 mm, which means our toes were pretty close to the floor. Even though the thick outsole made sure we didn't feel uncomfortable when we stepped on pebbles and so on, the Mojito gives off more of a minimalist feel at the ball of the foot.

If you're looking for an extra cushioned vibe that'll make you forget there's a harsh urban surface under your feet, we believe you should try any of Hoka's walking models.

As you'll most likely imagine by now, the huge difference between the forefoot and the heel stacks equals a massive drop. In this case, the Scarpa Mojito features a strong 15.0 mm drop.

You can see the difference in the picture, just look at how high the rearfoot is in comparison with the ball of the foot! But don't worry, this isn't something bad at all. Actually, it's neither good nor bad, as the drop basically depends on your personal preferences.

In this case, as we explain in our geeky-freaky but super spot-on drop guide, a high drop means there's more cushioning at the heel, so your knees and hips work a little bit more than the ankles.

The low-density EVA midsole the Mojito features in the heel (which is made with 20% recycled material) scored 35.1 HA when we pressed our durometer against it.

With a result that is a fair 28% less soft than average, we can't say this Scarpa pair feels like a couple of clouds underfoot. Nevertheless, instead of that extra plush feel, we got support and stability, so the trade is not bad at all if you ask us!

It was time for the Mojito to go back to its icy self, so we put it inside our lab's freezer for a good 20 minutes.

Once the time was up, we rechecked the midsole softness with our durometer, which returned 38.4 HA. The good thing about this shoe featuring an EVA compound which is already stiff is that the difference was minimal, as it only firmed up 9.3%.

In other words, with the low breathability and the non-brick-like EVA foam, you can definitely enjoy this Scarpa during winter!

It features a 5.4 mm thick insole, which adds some extra support and comfort to the underfoot experience. It's pretty average, so we've got nothing special to say here!

It may look different from a typical walking shoe in our catalog but the Scarpa Mojito provides a pretty familiar true-to-size fit in our regular men's US size 9.

Let's see if our gel mold confirms our first impressions.

The widest part of the mold (which corresponds to the area between the first and fifth foot metatarsals) returned 96.1 mm on our caliper. That's even wider than the average!

However, those couple of millimeters do not make the Mojito a full-on wide shoe. It's more of a bonus for medium-to-narrow feet who prefer some room for toe swelling or wearing thicker socks. Especially considering that the thick suede upper of this Scarpa shoe doesn't stretch at all. 

The toebox tip of the Scarpa Mojito is another reason why we think that it suits medium-to-narrow feet best. Even though it's not very aggressively tapered, it showed a slightly below-average reading of 70.8 mm in the big toe area and the protective toe cap makes it feel tighter.

The rubber toe cap on the tip of the Mojito's toebox affects the shoe's vertical space showing only 24.1 mm of toebox height. So if you have a history of black toenails or other toe-related issues, it's better to opt for a roomier option.

We felt pretty stable when we walked around town during our wear tests with this pair.

As you can see, our ankles couldn't really play around much. But this balance we felt was thanks to the Mojito's midsole in the forefoot and midfoot (which is also made with 20% recycled material), as it focuses on support and stability, just like its outsole.

Then, despite its higher heel, this shoe's forefoot is pretty close to the ground, which also improved our general balance. Its upper materials didn't stretch at all, and despite not being the most padded walking shoe out there, we were pretty happy with the foot-hugging design it offers.

Just be careful, as foot-hugging and supportive structure are not synonyms. Even though this Scarpa pair wraps itself nicely around the foot, it doesn't have any specific stability features.

We quickly understood why it was so easy to walk around town with this pair when we took it to our lab and performed our manual torsional rigidity test on it. We could simply tell you that the Mojito got our lowest (aka most flexible) score, a 1/5, but we believe it's much better to show you through a video.

Look at that chewing gum of a shoe! It bent effortlessly alongside our fingers in the lab, and alongside our feet during our wear tests.

The heel counter follows the same example, as it was pretty easy to move it around using only our thumb. Actually, it resisted our constant pushes just enough for it to earn a 2/5 on our stiffness test.

We think the brand made the right choice here. You see, the Mojito's whole structure is pretty flexible, so adding a very stiff heel counter would kind of ruin the experience. As it got a lower score on our scale, we can't say it felt super supportive, but it did its job properly, so we're satisfied with it!

The minimalistic structure of this Scarpa pair can be easily seen if we look at its midsole. When we measured its width in the forefoot, our caliper returned 101.0 mm, which is incredibly low.

Even though a narrower midsole doesn't necessarily mean a shoe is totally out of the way for big-feet sneakerheads, it kind of hints at something in that regard.

As expected, the Mojito's heel follows the same logic.

With a width of only 83.9 mm, we believe this shoe might not be the most stable for people with wide feet!

Following its incredibly low torsional rigidity score closely, the bare 9.8N of force needed to bend this shoe all the way up to 90 degrees make it an incredibly 53% more pliable than average.

Like the pieces of a puzzle, we just got one more reason why walking around town in the Mojito was so easy and comfy. Our feet didn't need to go for that extra push to make it bend with them, so our legs weren't hit with early fatigue either!

After letting it take a quick 20-minute nap in our freezer once again, we re-analyzed this Scarpa pair using our force gauge. It marked 13.1N, which means it has only stiffened up 32.8%.

It definitely could've been worse, so don't worry, you can still your walks in the Mojito even when temperatures go down!

As we feared, when we took this pair to our lab our scale marked a high score of 12.3 oz/349.0g. We didn't feel it super heavy on foot during our wear tests, but... the fact that it's 19% heavier than average was something our legs couldn't ignore.

So don't let its minimalistic design fool you! The Mojito is not a lightweight walking shoe. If that's what you're looking for, don't hesitate to have a look at the feathery walking pals of our catalog.

When we took this shoe out of its box, we could already imagine it wasn't going to be much of a yoga fan, as its upper didn't look breathable at all!

During our light test, we couldn't see a single ventilation hole. The Scarpa Mojito features an eco-suede upper that, apart from being sustainable, is also pretty solid!

As you can see, our smoke machine turned into this pair's worst enemy. The air got all trapped inside, and only a little bit of it was released through the tongue, yet it was nearly not enough to even compete with the incredibly breathable On Cloudrift (which scored a 5/5 on this test).

After witnessing this kind of disappointing performance, we decided to give the Scarpa Mojito a 2/5 on our breathability test. It avoided the lowest score by the narrowest of margins!

Thanks to our microscope, you can see what we were talking about before. The Mojito's upper is solidly designed with a uniform suede material that doesn't let the air get through. Actually, we gotta thank the non-gusseted tongue. If it wasn't for that piece, this shoe would have ended up getting the lowest score on this test!

All in all, it might be called Mojito, but it's definitely not your pal for the summer!

When a shoe gets a low breathability score, we just anticipate the durability test even more! So we grabbed our Dremel and started the fight.

At a constant speed of 5K RPM and with 3.2N of force, we went for the same spot we always target when we analyze a shoe. Why? Well, the answer is simple: thanks to this, we can compare every model that comes into our lab!

This time, the tool could only hit the toebox protection of the Scarpa Mojito. As you can see, it barely got rid of any material, and the shoe looks pretty much brand new! That's why we decided to give it a 5/5 on our toebox durability test.

Honestly, this score is even more impressive if we compare it with the On Cloudrift and its ugly hole. No kidding, we followed the same rules: speed, force and time, for both tests. And look at the difference!

The Scarpa Mojito's vellutina lining also had to face our Dremel's wrath, but without any kind of protection this time!

When we started seeing green threads flying around our lab, we really wanted to close our eyes. But it was time to put the tool aside and see the final results.

Yeah... that doesn't look good. Even though it didn't completely destroy this shoe's heel, the Dremel managed to make a pretty scary hole. Consequently, we decided to give the Mojito only a 2/5 on our heel padding durability test.

Once again, it was a close call: it almost ended up with the worst score at durability! Also, if we compare it with the Skechers Summits, which looked perfectly fine after this same test... it just looks even worse.

To measure the outsole hardness, we press our durometer against it.

It returned 79.5 HC, which is slightly higher than average. This score promises a healthy mix of durability and grip, and we couldn't be happier!

To verify our previous hypothesis, we grabbed our Dremel one last time. At 10K RPM and with 3.2N of force, we drilled the outsole for 22 seconds.

We measured the depth of the dent using a tread gauge, and it marked 1.2 mm. We were pretty happy with this result, as it's lower than average.

This meant we could happily use this pair daily, as its outsole is ready to endure the constant abrasion of urban areas.

In order to measure any shoe's outsole thickness, we first need to cut it in half. In that way we have total access to the material, so we can stick our caliper easily and get an accurate measure.

It returned 5.9 mm, which means it's crazy thick! It's actually a whole 51% thicker than average. Even though this might mean some unnecessary extra weight (we'll talk about this later), it also translates into more durability.

If you've read this long, congratulations! You've made it to our favorite part of the Mojito: its outsole.

Well, well, well. Here we are. As you can see, right in the middle of it we've got the name of Scarpa's proprietary outsole brand, PRESA. According to this shoe's official webpage, it has more than 80 years of technical outsole design experience, delivering the best traction available. And honestly... it does! This shoe bit the floor as if its life depended on it, even if it was wet!

Regarding its composition, the outsole is made using 30% recycled materials. It is molded in the brand's exclusive SuperGum Eco rubber and, as you can see in the picture, it features small lugs and a long linear groove to enhance flexibility.

Overall, we can say we are incredibly happy with the traction and stability offered by this shoe's outsole. And the fact that it's made using some recycled materials makes it get even more points!

We know Scarpa means high-quality design, and it's reflected on the price of its shoes. The brand also offers to fully re-sole its models, which is an incredibly convenient opinion! Apart from that, the Mojito features a durable upper with protective layers and an incredibly grippy and long-lasting outsole. In a world of walking shoes with exposed foam, we do believe this investment is worth it if it usually rains a little bit in your hometown.

Forget about reflective elements, the Mojito is meant to be in the light!

This shoe's tongue is pretty fun too. First of all, forget about any type of gusset that would add some extra weight to an already kind of heavy pair.

Nevertheless, our caliper marked that it's actually slightly more padded than average at 5.8 mm. We believe the brand could've gone for a thinner one in order to reduce the Mojito's overall weight, though. But we can't complain about its comfort levels!

As this shoe's tongue opens all the way up, getting our feet on and off was incredibly easy. Still, the brand decided to add a finger loop in the heel.

To be honest, we didn't really use it much, and it could've been removed to make this Scarpa pair lighter. But we liked the detail! It's just our geekiest side talking.

Removable insoles are our thing, and Scarpa knows it!

You can use your own orthotics in the Mojito with no problem. Just bear in mind that this shoe's midsole is quite narrow!