| Altra | Zero Drop Running Shoes

Altra running shoes cater to everyone from beginner runners to ultramarathon runners striving to reach their fitness goals with a natural, healthy body alignment to support low impact running and injury prevention. Altra’s vision is “to make a shoe for every person, every condition, and every need”. Whether you’re seeking Altra road running shoes, Altra trail running shoes, Altra racing shoes or Altra hiking shoes, this brand offers a wide variety of performance footwear while remaining honest to their mission and origins. Altra isn’t just about selling shoes, it’s about “helping runners to keep running” with comfortable running shoes that reduce stress to your body. 

The founder of Altra and shoe enthusiast Golden Harper’s running journey began in his family’s specialty running store, where he grew up immersed in the sport. Golden has enjoyed competitive running since he was 10 years old, and set the world best marathon time for his age at 12 years old. With both mother and father avid marathoners, running for Golden was not only a passion, but a core part of his upbringing, eventually channelling his running enthusiasm to compete in mountain races.

When working at his family’s running store in Utah, Golden identified a gap in the running footwear market, sparked by customers seeking a solution to their running-related discomfort and injuries such as shin splints, foot and knee pain. According to his research and the slow-motion video gait analysis of customers, the high heel drops of traditional running shoes which were designed to protect the heel on impact, actually encouraged runners to overstride, potentially aggravating the issue.

He created an experimental footwear design using his toaster oven to melt the adhesives of a pair of shoes to remove the midsole and outsole, replacing it with a flat foam for balanced cushioning from heel to forefoot. After experiencing the joy and improved efficiency of running in what later would be coined a ‘Zero Drop’ shoe, and noting the same success replicated by other runners wearing his modified design, Golden knew he was on the right track.

By word of mouth these modified, Zero Drop shoes gained popularity, with the feedback from customers suggesting they helped them maintain proper running form while alleviating injury such as lower back pain, runner’s knee, shin splints and iliotibial band (ITB) syndrome. For runners accustomed to wearing traditional high drop shoes, transitioning to a well-cushioned Zero Drop shoe required less time in comparison to adapting to minimalist shoes with little to no cushioning.

Golden set out to create Zero Drop shoes from scratch – an idea inspired by his cousin who discovered that these modified shoes were the answer to getting back into running after experiencing chronic knee problems. The running shoes would no longer be hacked versions of other brands, but their own designs. 

Altra officially launched in 2009. According to Golden, the brand name Altra was derived from Altera, meaning “to fix or mend something that is broken”.

Alongside the Zero Drop cushioning, Altra running shoes feature foot-shaped fits and spacious toe boxes, rather than traditional tapered toe boxes. The roomier fits allow the toes of runners to relax and splay, offering natural stability. The concept of a foot-shaped fit originally began in the running store of Golden’s family, when his father encouraged customers with foot complaints to buy shoes 1 - 1.5 sizes larger than their standard size, and to keep the lacing system loose at the lower eyelets. This provided a spacious fit that led to fewer injuries such as shin splits, bunions and plantar fasciitis. Fast-forward to Altra’s beginnings, and the last (shoe mould) prototypes were based on tracings of healthy feet wearing socks to achieve a natural fit and feel.  

Today, Altra running shoes come in one of three fits – their Original and most spacious FootShape Fit, their most common Standard FootShape Fit which offers a middle ground with a roomy toe box and slightly snugger midfoot, and their Slim FootShape Fit. Even the Slim FootShape Fit, being narrower and more streamlined for racing and speedwork, allows natural toe splay thanks to a generous toe box. 

Alongside catering to different foot shapes, Altra accommodates the individuality of runners as best as possible, including when it comes to gender. They make special attention to ensure Altra women’s running shoes aren’t simply a smaller version of Altra men’s running shoes, but cater to specific considerations in the female anatomy. Women typically have a narrower heel, higher instep, as well as thinner heel fat pads compared to men of an equivalent age, therefore benefiting from plusher cushioning. 

Unlike barefoot shoes like Vivobarefoot that are free of cushioning, Altra pairs their Zero Drop platforms with responsive and shock-absorbing foams through midsole technologies like Altra EGO, EGO MAX and EGO PRO. Altra’s Zero Drop cushioning ensures that even when there is a generous stack of foam underfoot, the feel is balanced from heel to toe, keeping your body in alignment without compromising on protection. The configuration of Altra running shoe outsoles is engineered to mirror the anatomy of your feet – flexing in key zones for full freedom of movement.

With founder Golden Harper’s degree in Exercise Science, specialising in running biomechanics and injury prevention as an author of numerous research articles, Altra has a research-based focus when it comes to the science of comfort. Altra is a popular choice for people in need of the best running shoes for plantar fasciitis or other common running injuries. 

The Altra Lone Peak for trail running, Altra Paradigm for daily training and the Altra Escalante Racer for speedwork (from the Escalante family), are among the top running shoes from this innovative footwear brand to find the ideal fit for your foot type and running goals.

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