By Amanda Loudin Jason Bahamundi will go to his grave clutching his pair of Hoka One One running shoes. The finisher of five Ironman races and multiple ultramarathons swears by the big, cushy shoes—and he’s not alone. The brand saw sales increase 350 percent from 2013 to 2015 and most running shoemakers now have a…
Category: Footwear 101
Take Off Your Shoes and Walk
In 1961 Simon J. Wikler, D.S.C. (Doctor of Surgical Chiropody) published Take Off Your Shoes and Walk, a successful attempt to explain how modern shoes gradually acquired the characteristics that now prevent the foot from functioning naturally. Despite the persuasiveness of his argument, he is realistic about the difficulty of convincing his opponents that being…
Why Minimalism Went Flat, Part I
Part One, by Jim Hixson, CSCS It was exhilarating and vindicating to see the increase in the selection of lightweight, flat, thin, flexible shoes several years ago. But now the minimalist utopia is threatened by market forces. I looked at the 2014 survey Peter Larson had on Runblogger.com –two of the top 20 shoes were…