Running Shoe Company of the Year?

Marty Hehir. Adidas shoes are the fastest.

Skechers

Hoka didn't drop "One One" from its name. It's still all over their website. In fact, if you go to "hoka.com" it will default to "hokaoneone.com". Agree that they should drop the "One One" entirely though.

BruceDentonQ wrote:

Honorable Mention: Hoka. Dropping the 'One One' from their name and continuing to gradually gain market share. Maybe winners of the 'tortoise' award for their positive, yet gradual growth through 2020.

Underdog of 2020: Skechers Performance

Elite support of 2020: either Hoka or ON, which was pretty much the only brand I can think of that made major signing deals and team creation despite the pandemic shutting down race opportunities for athletes

Innovation of 2020: Hats of to Saucony for the Endorphin line.

Overall of 2020: I gotta give the nod to Hoka...not only for putting out simple updates that kept true to what was working instead of trying to/pretending to reinvent the wheel for the third year in a row (i.e. every one of Brooks's core shoes) but for the way they kept their presence with runners throughout the spring/summer.

College guy tells all wrote:

Marty Hehir. Adidas shoes are the fastest.

Well, no, lol. They have nothing of note on the track and I'd be willing to bet that the road shoes are the same as Nike, so I agree with the other guy, better runners. You really think that Marty couldn't have run the same time if he was "only" wearing vapor/alphafly?

Nike is a marketing company not shoe company

Has anyone tried shoes by this new Kenyan firm Enda?

Looks promising:

https://www.endasportswear.com/

BruceDentonQ wrote:

The Losers Award (those who took a step backwards): Asics - Aside from a gnarly prototype on Sara Hall's foot, what the hell has happened to Asics? Although they've updated the aesthetic of the Nimbus and several other models, it just seems that Asics has managed to stay the same (and Mizuno?) while all of the others are busy moving on. I could be biased though.

Or clueless. Asics brought out outstanding new models with FFBlast foam midsoles for 2020: Novablast, Glideride, Evoride, Kayano Lite. 99% of runners don't care about plated racers, so it's silly to judge primarily by that.

To go on a slight tangent here. What sites offer the best/unbiased shoe reviews?

I usually go to Running Shoe Guru. Looking for others.

LIRunner wrote:

To go on a slight tangent here. What sites offer the best/unbiased shoe reviews?

I usually go to Running Shoe Guru. Looking for others.

Road Trail Run does good multi runner reviews by people of varying age and abilities. One of their reviewers post here regularly.

Believe in the Run only has a small group of reviewers but they're pretty brand agnostic and can be harsh when a shoe is a fail while giving appropriate praise when a shoe is good.

boymeetsworld wrote:

Brooks seems to be floundering the most at the moment.

That may be true, renaming the Ravenna isn't exactly forward movement. To me, though, Mizuno is really taking on water right now. They are Brooks of 20 years ago or New Balance of the '90s, really stuck on aged technology and afraid to change things up for fear of losing (more) of their core customer demographic. Sure, they have some solid daily trainers but that's about it. Maybe that's good enough for them in the US but even in Japan they're looking way up at Asics right now.

Grumble, grumble, grumble wrote:

LIRunner wrote:

To go on a slight tangent here. What sites offer the best/unbiased shoe reviews?

I usually go to Running Shoe Guru. Looking for others.

Road Trail Run does good multi runner reviews by people of varying age and abilities. One of their reviewers post here regularly.

Believe in the Run only has a small group of reviewers but they're pretty brand agnostic and can be harsh when a shoe is a fail while giving appropriate praise when a shoe is good.

Agree with this, these two seem to be the most comprehensive and unbiased sources. Most others skew towards "this worked/didn't work for me" without giving insight to how that might apply to you.

Asics may deserve "Most Improved" given how far they climbed from the dark shadows of the archaic Nimbus/Cumulous/Kayano line. The Novablast, Metaracer and "Lite" versions of the venerable oldies are truly a giant shift in the right direction.

Saucony probably wins simply because of the Endorphin line but New Balance deserves consideration as well.

Meanwhile.... Nike, the company that breathed more life into the revolution that any other company in 2018/19 basically went stagnant or took steps backwards. However their 2020 line of spikes is impressive compared to all competitors.

you mad bro

New Balance have completely won me over with their Fuel Cell range. I now own the Fuel Cell Rebel, Prism and Propel and I love them all - springy, light and fast. Big enough toe box and the Rebel is even meant for forefoot runners like myself.

I hear what people are saying about Asics this year, but I used to wear the Nimbus and since going to New Balance I never plan on returning to the brand! Mainly because they are just SO overpriced. I can get two pairs of the New Balance for the price of one pair of Nimbus...it's a no-brainer. Also have a pair of Mizunos - wore them the other day after some months in New Balance and it felt like wearing rigid clumpy bricks...they need to up their game!

This is a great topic, and I'll give it my best shot -

Running Shoe Brand of the Year

1a - adidas

Listen, three months ago, no one serious would have raced in anything but VaporFly. I was in Atlanta. I saw first-hand the temptation and the desperation (and curiosity) around the AlphaFly, and how the likes of Jake Riley and Rupp proved it true. Many runners abandoned their loyalties in 2020 to race with an advantage in the "evil" brand. But then adidas entered the picture... first, with a head-turning Rhonex over 10k road, then we started hearing about the African women racing fast in them.. Peres.. you name it.. soon enough, every ma and pa basement YouTuber was starting to comment on the shoe's performance and comfort that rivaled that of the Nike Vaporfly Next%... and then the 57:30 happened, the World Half Champs happened, and it was real... real talent was running really, really fast in adidas' answer to Nike. And although adidas is pretty much dead in America as a brand, they have revitalized their performance chops with this shoe... but they did not do what Brand 1b was able to do...

1b - Saucony

It's a shame Saucony is a corporate mess. They've let go of almost everyone.. and if the rumors are confirmed that even Molly Seidel has departed their stable due to incompetence, then only their product can save them.. and their product hit big in 2020. What Saucony was able to do was nail a high end plated racing flat in the Endorphin Pro, but then nail the pay-off with the Endorphin Speed. This is where adidas mis-fired... there was no pay-off for the adizero adios pro. The Speed for Saucony is turning into a cash cow. Run Specialty retailers can hardly keep them in stock. It's a great shoe on all accounts, because it dabbles in both worlds... guys like Droddy use them for tempos, and then the Joe-Blows of the world use them for race day. It's the perfect marriage of hero to halo...

Agree with this take. I'll add a couple more

2. Asics

As others have said they are finally modernizing their lineup

3. Nike

Vaporfly has held out despite new racers from all the major brands. New spikes are the only exciting spikes. Finally at the end of the year we have the idea that Adios Pro may have caught the Next% but that's far from settled. The rest of their lineup may not be exciting but they survived a year in which everyone tried to catch them and the spikes appear to be revolutionary.

4. New Balance

FuelCell is the real deal and they seem to be incorporating it into great shoes. Fresh foam is a trusted name now and they are expanding it into more shoes.

Reina de Corazones wrote:

Nike is a marketing company not shoe company

could not disagree more

Vomero is the perfect everyday trainer and the Vaporfly/Alphafly is the best racer on the planet. What's not to love?

survey says wrote:

Karhu, for staying true to what they do.

I actually wore Karhu shoes in 2012-2014 before I gradually transitioned to Hokas rotated with Haglund’s relief shoes.

How is their current lineup?