There’s a reason why the word ‘conquer’ is often used in relation to Mount Everest: a height like that is more than a mere climb. It’s a battle with the elements, a fight against the freezing cold temperatures, a war against the temptation to succumb to pain and give up. Doing that climb takes mettle, but also the right arsenal. Little do many people know that Swiss luxury house Bally was part of the history.

Celebrating 60 years of the first Everest ascent, Bally is looking at the achievement and the boots that helped make it possible. Tenzing Norgay – part of the 1953 climbing team – wore Bally’s Reindeer-Himalaya boots during the trek. With hiking boots an undeniably flourishing men’s footwear trend for 2013, digging into the Everest archive couldn’t have been done at a better time. The adventurer’s spirit takes hold of the entire collection – previewed today at London Collections: Men, in tents that housed both pieces of history and pieces of forthcoming Bally attire – from fur-lined leather hats to an official remake of Tenzing’s archival boot, complete with a modern update of the original hook lace-up system patented by Bally.