The worst running shoe brands?

YouKnowIt wrote:

New Balance - Ok Boomer 2.0 and their entitled 40something kids. Fresh Foam is junk.

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Pretty much if you aren't running in Nike and possible a handful of Hokas or Salamons (for dirt)... you are wasting your time.

Jacob Palmer: Let me ask you a question, Cal. How much money have you got today for clothes?

Cal Weaver: Um…

Jacob Palmer: What happened to your feet?

Cal Weaver: What do you mean?

[looks down at his feet]

Cal Weaver: These are my four-o-sevens.

Jacob Palmer: Oh, the four-o-sevens. Can I see them?

Cal Weaver: Yep.

[Cal takes off his sneakers]

Cal Weaver: These offer a lot of support.

Jacob Palmer: Right.

[Cal hands his sneakers to Jacob and he throws them down the mall]

Cal Weaver: Woh!

Jacob Palmer: What are you, in a fraternity?

Cal Weaver: Are you insane?

Jacob Palmer: Are you in a fraternity?

Cal Weaver: You could have hit somebody! What was that?

Jacob Palmer: Are you? I’m asking you a question. Are you in a fraternity?

Cal Weaver: No!

Jacob Palmer: Are you Steve Jobs?

Cal Weaver: What?

Jacob Palmer: Hold on a second! Are you the billionaire owner of Apple computers?

Cal Weaver: No!

Jacob Palmer: Oh, okay. Well, in that case you got no right to wear new balance sneakers, ever!

[he slaps Cal in the face]

Jacob Palmer: Come on.

You like Saucony Guide’s what?

Stay away from these and you're golden.

Brooks

Saucony

Asics Tiger

Mizuno

Under Armour

361 Degrees

I see that Running Warehouse has dropped the brand. I have the Sensation 2 model and the problem I have is with the ride of the shoe. My feet seem to slap the ground with every stride. I have to concentrate on every foot placement to run smoothly. Very difficult shoe to run in. This is the only shoe I have this problem with, normally I run in Saucony, Brooks, Hoka or Nike.

No one has mentioned Avia as another brand.

I actually once was given some Avia shoes and they were ok. Especially since they were free. Glad to see they are still in business and putting out affordable running shoes that are widely available. For the price, they fill a niche.

Worst running shoe I ever had was made by Sub4 (remember Steve Scott?) They were really narrow in the forefoot. They seemed to be made for people with a sub-maximal number of toes (4 or fewer). They no longer make shoes.

I also once had a pair of Fila running shoes. The sole delaminated from the upper after 60 miles.

Fila no longer offers running shoes.

There are a large number of other running shoe companies. Many primarily make trail running shoes, with some road shoes also offered. These include Topo, Salomon, North Face, Salming, Topo, La Sportiva, Icebug, Scott, Inov8, Xero, Dynafit, Columbia, Montrail, etc. etc.

As I expected, a lot of opinions and not much consensus. Runners are going to like what works for them, their gait, pace and preferences. No one shoe company is going to please everyone.

These days I wear Newtons and recently added On Running's Cloudflow to the mix. I like the Cloudflow but as it is the first On shoe I have tried, I can't generalize regarding the brand. I have tried Salming but the durability was poor. I use Salomon for some trail use and refereeing soccer.

Decades ago I ran in Asics and Saucony, but I haven't worn them in years. I tried Nike but was turned off by quality control and fit issues

Nike.

Adidas (can't get them to fit my foot) and On (waaaaaaaaaaaay overpriced and those stupid little pods tear up waaaaaaaaaay too fast)

wctually... wrote:

Coffee Runner wrote:

Karhu.

It amazing they are still in business

Pretty sure Craft bought them. And Craft shoes are awful. But their clothes are super high quality.

Craft, which is owned by New Wave Group, aquired Karhu North America for the purpose of distributing Karhu products in USA and Canada.

Karhu Holdings owns the Karhu brand and is responsible for design/production/etc. of the shoes. Craft has rights to NA distribution only. Craft does not make, design, produce, etc. any Karhu shoes.

A simple Google search, bro.

Worst BRAND in my lifetime is Reebok. Had huge market share and squandered it via mismanagement for three solid decades. Even when they had/have good running product to promote, they effed up delivering to consumers and in delivering consumers to the product. And they change logo and branding more often than Khloe Kardashian switches boyfriends.

Fila's was Tergat's marathon world record shoe... featuring a plate of all things

Talking of italian brands... not mentioned but Ellesse did some very nice shoes in the 80's winning a NYC Marathon.... Diadora and Lotto were usually decent at the time

Worst shoe ever for me Saucony Siren.... and not for the dreadful Yellow/Red/White combo

All time best... Asics Tiger Jayhawk GT, softest shoe i have ever worn... both from those years

I brought a pair of Kangaroos back in the day, was not a wise purchase. Remember the coil!

Brands don't matter, shoes do. If it's good for your feet, it's good. If it's bad for your feet, it's bad. Feet are different, brands make different shoes for different feet. A bad experience with a shoe doesn't make the brand bad, just a shoe that didn't work for you. The same Kayano/Nimbus that you thought was a house brick is arguably a godsend to the larger runner. The low profile flat that smashed up your legs is a go-to for the 5K low-14's stringbean. Tarring an entire brand with the same brush because you a tried a shoe of theirs that didn't work for you is groupthink idiocy.

Don't think they do running shoes but I utterly despise Vans.

They look kind of retro cool, but they kind of suck for, you know, running.

I like the Vapour Fly to race in, but not a fan of their other models and I've tried to like them. Used to like Puma and Asics in the 80's/90's, but wouldn't be tempted now , never got on with Adidas.

Really like the On Cloud Flow, works well for me and if you don't have an ego with regards to wearing named brands, live in Europe and want a decent every day training shoe, these are great;

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/shoes-kiprun-kd-plus-id_8505779.html

Their racing flat is also a decent shoe and great value. Like the Reebok Floatride (an under rated shoe) and would like to try Saucony, but haven't got around to them as yet :-)

Both asics and saucony are no-go's for me.

No matter which shoe I've had I somehow make weird holes from "bones" that I don't see in my foot in the same spot in both brands. This hole starts to form after 20 miles and starts to blister me by 50-100 miles.

I have no interest in trying mizuno , newton, oncloud, that swedish hockey player brand, or some of the other no name ones.

I have only put hoka on my foot once at a store and it didn't feel so great. Altra felt okay in store but I wouldn't buy one.

Adidas makes their widths too small and too many changes between colors. Skechers has weird sizing.

Nike used to be junk in the days of the original air. You'd burst that thing so quick or get it wet and it would reek for weeks. Now Nike followed by NB and Reebok in that order would be my go-to.

I want to buy more NB shoes as I'm not comfortable with Nike's treatment of women etc, but the store employees in the local NB store have no knowledge of their shoes and sell old model shoes at full price - sometimes above the current version. I get a large discount from Nike.

Other than the the first gen turbos I haven't seen any production defects in a while and that was pretty minor and took back shoes that split pretty easily.

361 Degrees