For Women Only

Why brands are embracing female-specific running footwear. / By Daniel P. Smith

Way back in 2006, Nike tried something particularly novel. In its run-specific Bowerman Series, Nike debuted a top-of-the-line neutral training shoe called the Vomero. But in an interesting twist, the original Vomero existed solely in the men’s catalog.

On the women’s side, Nike produced a near identical model it named the Percept. While the $110 Percept featured many of the same ultrabouncy, uber-plush features as the Vomero, it did veer from its male counterpart in a few subtle ways. Most notably, the Percept’s upper included an expandable mesh in the forefoot to deliver a more forgiving fit and accommodate problematic bunions, an issue more prevalent among females.

Noble as Nike’s intentions might have been to bring a women’s-specific performance running shoe to market, the Percept was ultimately a short-lived experiment. The challenge, a former Nike employee tells Running Insight,

Under Armour released the Flow Synchronicity earlier this year, a women’s-specific performance running shoe model carefully designed to better address the unique characteristics of the female foot. was that a women’s-only shoe, even a near-replica of a men’s model, required The Swoosh to essentially market two different shoes. It became messy, inefficient and costly.

The following year, Nike ditched the Percept name and produced a men’s and women’s model of the Vomero 2 even as some of the same subtle design differences persisted.

These days, footwear brands such as Under Armour and Puma – you can even add Saysh, a newcomer helmed by Olympian Allyson Felix making its debut at The Running Event this month – to that list of women’s only shoe designs. All are giving the women’s-only running shoe another shot, developing singular models thoughtfully designed for the female foot and telling female consumers – boldly and loudly – they have a shoe for them.

Given that women represent nearly 60 percent of all race finishers and desire relevant solutions, it’s an intriguing bet by the brands to drive differentiation, conversion, loyalty and brand equity.

When Puma decided to reenter the running space,

For Women Only (continued)

which The Cat did with a bang last year, it did so eager to understand and appease female consumers, in particular. If that meant eschewing tradition and engrained business practices, so be it.

Ditching ‘Pink It and Shrink It’

“If we were going to attack running, then we needed to be more inclusive of women and their needs,” Puma footwear innovation manager Laura Healey says.

That mindset spurred an ambitious question: What if we make a shoe exclusively for women?

It was an intriguing idea. After all, the “shrink-it-andpink-it” philosophy well established in running footwear design has long been criticized for falling short on catering to women’s needs and addressing a few proven anatomical differences, such as narrower heels and wider forefoots.

“We know women aren’t scaled down versions of men, yet that’s how we designed shoes for them,” Healey says.

Around the same time, Under Armour employees engaged in similar conversations in and beyond its Baltimore-based headquarters. The brand began first moving down this genderspecific biomechanical path in its basketball footwear lineup, unveiling a women’s specific basketball shoe called The Breakthru in September 2020. The Breakthru’s quick success on the hardwood underscored the powerful science and emotion of making footwear for her and inspired movement toward a female-specific running shoe. “We realized the compromises we were making in co-gendered product and we wanted to give women choice,” says Katie Lau, the global product director of train and recovery footwear at Under Armour.

After a year of scanning feet and identifying patterns in the female foot, Under Armour ditched convention and launched itself into a longer-than-normal two-year process of developing a shoe specifically designed for the female runner.

The result – the new Synchronicity – launched this past summer and incorporates everything Under Armour came to learn. The Synchronicity features a narrower heel, lower height in the toe box and a higher arch. Listening to women’s feedback about aesthetics as well, the model includes a more subdued Under Armour branding element on the heel.

“It is a more informed, purposeful and thoughtful product,” Lau says, adding that testers repeatedly used phrases like “locked in” to describe the fit.

In developing the Run XX Nitro, which Puma introduced this summer, the brand focused on common attributes of a women’s foot, including a narrower heel and wider forefoot.

The Puma Effort

Puma, similarly, combed through details of footwear to determine which elements of a running shoe could be better tuned to female athletes, investigating everything from the geometry to the midsole foam to the heel counter.

In testing, Puma recruited more than 220 runners to run four weeks in “a shoe engineered to support women’s needs” and a control shoe (a general Puma running shoe). More than 36,000 miles later, 80 percent of the women preferred the women’s-specific model.

Those findings emboldened Puma to bring the Run XX Nitro to market last summer. The model features a narrower

For Women Only (continued)

heel, a lower instep and a wider forefoot as well as a wider base and a new Nitro foam designed to be slightly firmer and deliver a pinch more stability.

“The Run XX allows us to learn so much we can bring into other shoes, such as the last, fit and foams,” Healey says, adding that Puma’s goal moving forward is to develop both men’s and women’s footwear models in tandem. “There are aspects of footwear we can start to tune so we’re bringing more thought to all of our women’s footwear.”

It’s a learning process, both Healey and Lau acknowledge, but an exciting development for women in 2022, the 50th anniversary year of the landmark Title IX legislation that unlocked widespread competitive opportunities for women in sports.

“It’s positive other brands are joining us and investing in this space because women deserve it,” Lau says. n

Under Armour’s Flow Synchronicity features a narrower heel, a lower height in the toe box, a higher arch and gentler Under Armour branding on the heel.

The Go Run Persistence women’s-only shoe from Skechers addresses design and performance needs identified by female runers: soft touch points, additional collar padding and a plush ride among them.

REVERSE ORDER

SAUCONY AND SKECHERS BUCK TRADITION AND BEGIN DESIGN PROCESS WITH WOMEN’S FOOTWEAR When Saucony began developing a new max-stack model to debut in its Fall 2022 performance running shoe lineup, the Massachusetts-based brand thought it had a winner until it held samples of the women’s size 7 model in hand.

“The proportions were completely off and it didn’t look right at all,” Saucony senior product line manager Jessie Peterson recalls.

So, Saucony went back to the proverbial drawing board and re-started the project. This time, though, Saucony took an unconventional approach and began the design process by attacking the women’s point of view first. The brand recalibrated its data and pattern creation to start with the women’s size 8, not the customary men’s size 9. With that twist, Saucony planned to get the proportions correct on the women’s side. Only then would it scale up to the men’s size.

It’s an example, Peterson says, of a new muscle the industry is learning to flex and a counter to the pink-it-and-shrink-it philosophy the industry has long followed.

“Just because this is the way it’s always been done doesn’t mean it leads to the right product for the female foot,” Peterson says.

Similarly, Skechers started with the women’s design when developing the Go Run Persistence, a shoe it introduced at The Running Event last year.

The neutral running shoe features key attributes Skechers found women consistently identifying as important: soft touch points,

additional padding on the collar and tongue area, step-in comfort, a plush ride, a durable outsole and versatile uppers capable of being worn throughout the day. The Persistence embraces those sought-after features with an Ultra Flight midsole, a carbon-infused forefoot H-plate, a Goodyear outsole and a no-frills aesthetic.

“Skechers has always been a brand that resonates strongly with women, so we felt it was essential to listen to female runners and understand what they were looking

for in a premium running shoe,” Skechers senior director of product development and merchandising Keith Shelton says. n

THE RIGHT FIT FOR EVERY RUNNER

There's more to foot shape than arch height. Get the right t for every runner's needs with a range of underfoot solutions, from exible cushioning to stability and support, and made-to-order 3D-printed insoles. Come see us at The Running Event Event booth #824.

THE RUNNING EVENT ...

LESSONS LEARNED

Five running retailers detail how a discovery at TRE 2021 energized their business. / By Daniel P. Smith

From its education sessions to the expo hall, from off-the-cuff conversations with strangers to earnest discussions with familiar industry friends, The Running Event provides running store leaders a plethora of ideas they can use in their stores.

Here, five retailers who attended TRE 2021 in Austin, TX, share one important thing they learned at the event and subsequently incorporated at their retail store to enhance the business.

LYNN BOURQUE THE RUNNERS SHOP, TORONTO, CANADA

“Two of my key staff members, Ben and Greg, went to Holly Wiese’s workshop and they came out energized with ideas, advocating that we could and should look at the store’s layout through a different lens.

“When we got back to Toronto, we dug right in and kept floating back to Holly’s ideas about creating flow in the store. We looked at everything with a critical eye — how customers were entering our store, where specific merchandise sat and if there was a more optimal place for our fitting room.

“We had benches situated around the

Lynn Bourque, owner of The Runners Shop in Toronto, shifted her store’s layout after attending The Running Event in 2021.

shoe wall, but they were almost creating barriers to access. We reconfigured the benches and even removed some. We relocated accessories. We also stopped receiving boxes on the showroom floor. We take everything to the basement now, which we’ve also improved with better lighting so it’s a more comfortable place

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Lessons Learned (continued)

At The Running Event in 2021, Howe2Run co-owner Pam Howe spotted a gait analysis system, technology that has since become a staple at her Savannah, GA-based run shop.

for our staff. Now, there’s even less clutter on the sales floor. We have director’s chairs we can pull out if additional seating is needed and we’re working on a custom-made reception counter that better fits the space.

“This effort created a more open, inviting flow and we think it’s been beneficial. People like airy, uncluttered spaces and we have that now.” PAM HOWE HOWE2RUN, SAVANNAH, GA

“In early February, we started using a gait analysis system we stumbled upon while walking the trade show floor on the last day of TRE. The technology provides over 10 biometric figures to help us improve runners’ and walkers’ gaits and gives us objective data you can’t see with the naked eye, such as angles of pronation or supination. We then give this to the customer in a PDF format, so they can take it to their coach or a medical professional.

“We weren’t looking for something like this when we were at TRE, but it has definitely enlivened and improved our fitting experience. Customers can do it through our regular in-store fit process or via appointment and we have many regularly doing side-by-side comparisons with shoes to make more educated selections. Having this technology in our store has brought people to us and given us an edge.”

J. JENKINS AND GRANT CATLOTH AD ASTRA RUNNING, LAWRENCE, KS

Catloth: “We were talking to a group who owned three run shops in Wisconsin and they told us customers trying on shoes in their stores wear only the store’s socks. And then they told us that their lowestperforming store was selling nearly one sock for every one shoe, which is a great figure for “We weren’t looking for something like this when we were at TRE, but it has definitely enlivened and improved our fitting experience.” Pam Howe, Howe2Run

any store. And that was their weakest store by that metric. We employed that idea here and it’s resulted in moving a lot more socks, particularly Feetures.”

Jenkins: “Even more, that conversation was the catalyst for us to be a more holistic running store, not just a shoe store. It encouraged us to think about how we can be more proactive about introducing the solutions we have in our store to customers, especially those items staring us in the face we know can make their run more enjoyable.”

Inspired by a roundtable conversation with fellow running retailers at The Running Event last year, J. Jenkins (left) and Grant Catloth began employing strategies to boost sock sales at Ad Astra Running in Lawrence, KS.

Lessons Learned (continued)

At The Running Event in 2021, John’s Run/Walk Shop was honored as a Best Running Stores in America finalist and owner Melody Marshall left with thoughts on bolstering staff retention and engagement.

MELODY MARSHALL JOHN’S RUN/WALK SHOP, LEXINGTON, KY

“Before COVID-19, everyone knew everyone — our staff, vendor reps and so on. Post-COVID, though, there was so much change and so many new faces.

“I had conversations with other retailers at TRE about staff structures and returned home thinking about titles and different staff members’ roles in our stores. I listened to my staff talk about why they left positions elsewhere and the lack of growth opportunities was something I heard time and again.

“It led me to establish clear roles at John’s like director of marketing and lead buyer — and then appoint the right people to those positions. Now, the outside people know who’s in charge of a given area when they come calling and recognize that individual has authority in that particular area

Jost Wiebelhaus traveled more than 5000 miles to attend The Running Event last year. He left inspired to bring more community events to his running store in Frankfurt, Germany. “Now, the outside people know who’s in charge of a given area when they come calling and recognize that individual has authority in that particular area of our business. The titles have given our staff extra credibility, but, more than anything, ownership of their work. They feel more invested in their role, which benefits them and our stores.” Melody Marshall, John’s Run/Walk Shop

of our business.

“The titles have given our staff extra credibility, but, more than anything, ownership of their work. They feel more invested in their role, which benefits them and our stores.”

JOST WIEBELHAUS FRANKFURTER LAUFSHOP, FRANKFURT, GERMANY

“I saw that the U.S. retailers are very, very good at community runs and that was a place where I learned we could be doing so much more to build energy and connections. Though we had a big Monday run club at 7:30 p.m. after the shop closed, we started a Sunday morning breakfast run in September with post-run coffee, donuts and the like.

“As a running specialty retailer, the customer community is so important because those fans also buy products in-store.” n