subject: Running shoe industry are trying to be the "sole" [print this page] Running shoe industry are trying to be the "sole"
Two customers entered City Sports on Fifth Avenue this pre-marathon week and told Momoh Pujeh they needed running shoes.Pujeh, a salesman, fetched a model that looked like a kind of reinforced foot glove: the vibram five fingers.
While their adoption has been gradual, the popularity of vibram five fingers is a by-product of the emerging barefoot running movement inspired by Christopher McDougall's 2009 book "Born to Run." By offering only minimal sole protection, the five finger shoes are challenging running shoe industry giants to develop lightweight models that scale back years of added sneaker technology what Pujeh called "excess stuff" that interferes with our healthy, innate running form.
"Vibram came out with the five finger shoes, kind of cornered the market briefly for people who wanted to try this," said Stuart Calderwood, senior editor at New York Road Runners. "Now the major brands are following suit by coming out with models that are ultralight and not maybe so funny-looking."
Puma, which is rolling out its stripped-down Faas line of shoes this season, is among the brands whose product developers are listening.
"This is the future of shoes," Pujeh told the two women. They politely asked to see the latest five finger shoes.
"Everything we heard in the market was that the easiest-built shoes are the best shoes you can put out there," said Phillipp Hahm, Puma's senior running product manager. If you are interest, you can search:http://www.vibramshoestore.com/.
More and more people are ditching shoes for long-distance runs. Can this possibly be good for the vibram five fingers?Ahead of Sunday's New York City Marathon, The New York Times reports that a growing contingent of runners is choosing to tackle the pavement without shoes. Running barefoot is not new the Ancient Greeks' access to Nikes being somewhat limited but the counter-intuitive practice has been creeping up in popularity, says The Times, as more runners become convinced that meticulously designed running shoes do more harm than good. (Watch an expert praise barefoot running.) Here's a quick guide to this seemingly painful trend:
