9 years of running in Altra shoes

An article that I came across a few weeks ago entitled "The running brand growing 35% with almost zero name recognition in the US is outpacing HOKA and On" was admittedly the nudge I needed to finally write the one you're reading now. I've been running in Altra shoes for 9 years now, and have a lot to share regarding my experiences with the brand.

Amazingly, almost nobody I've met has ever heard of Altra, and I've only noticed two other people wearing Altra shoes in public. When people ask how I originally discovered the brand, they are typically surprised to hear that I actually first purchased Altra running shorts and shirts, only to find out about their running shoes later.

Marketing is powerful, because people often associate brand worthiness with what they see other people wearing. The reality with running shoes in particular, however, is that brand awareness typically isn't going to provide an appropriate match between a given runner and shoe model. I've written about this topic in the past, the most recent examples of which are here and here.