If you're a gym-goer or trail runner, you'll have probably seen HOKA shoes already by now. They're the ones with the highly cushioned and slightly over-the-top outsoles. But if you can get around the unusual look, this style of ‘maximalist’ footwear is worth trying, especially if you often find yourself footsore at the end of a long hill day or suffer from conditions such as metatarsalgia (ball of foot pain) or plantar fasciitis (heel and arch pain).
If you want a bit of background, the brand was originally founded in France in 2009 by two former Salomon footwear designers, who wanted to build a trail shoe to conquer downhill Alpine trails. The name Hoka, incidentally, comes from a Māori phrase, Hoka one one (“Ho-kah own-ay own-ay”), which loosely means “fly over…
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Trail United Kingdom (Digital) - 1 Issue, May 2023