Head to the shoe division of your native REI Co-op, and also you’ll encounter an expansive show. Leather-based mountain climbing boots with burly lugs are parked close to low-top path runners and efficiency sandals. Vibrant cherry crimson, tangerine and gecko-green hues mingle close to refined charcoals, taupes and chocolate browns. The road-up of brand name names—HOKA, Salomon, La Sportiva and Chaco amongst them—reads like a who’s who of outside footwear’s elite.
However, till now, one apparent title has been exhausting to search out.
Whereas the REI Co-op model title has graced quite a lot of gear, from packs and tents to working attire and bikes, its emblem has been restricted on the shoe wall. There’s a mountain climbing shoe and a strolling shoe—however nothing for runners. That modified on June 1 with the launch of the Swiftland MT path trainers. (“MT” stands for “multi-terrain.”)
“We’ve been constructing industry-leading outside items for a very long time,” says Bennett Grimes, who led the shoe’s design course of as senior product supervisor of innovation and footwear at REI. “We all know the path higher than anybody.”
However that legacy alone isn’t sufficient to stroll a footwear venture ahead. Coupling that zeal and understanding for what makes a fantastic product with improvements in sustainability and performance: That is motive. REI is dedicated to “constructing merchandise in a approach that tries to restrict our environmental impression,” Grimes says. “We needed to make a shoe in a approach that feels genuine to who we’re and never simply be one other shoe on the wall.”
Designed to Be Totally different
There’s no query Grimes and his crew have steep competitors within the footwear division. Most of the manufacturers REI carries have been making sneakers for many years, with award-winning merchandise which have crossed end strains on the toes of path legends like Courtney Dauwalter and Scott Jurek. A few of these manufacturers have additionally been committing to extra sustainable practices.
Grimes and his crew needed to do extra. “There’s a transparent hole in extremely practical outside footwear on the subject of considering by our carbon footprint and constructing a product,” he says. “We needed to strike the appropriate stability between consolation, sturdiness and sustainability objectives.”
Not solely is that this the appropriate factor to do; customers additionally count on it. Grimes factors to information displaying that buyers issue sustainability efforts—or the shortage thereof—into their decision-making processes usually, together with of their footwear purchases, particularly. “If issues are like for like, they’re going to gravitate towards the product that has a extra carbon-friendly approach of constructing,” he says, including that this buyer perception allowed his crew to deal with sustainability efforts in a recent and rigorous approach.
REI Co-op already has a historical past of incorporating sustainable aspects into all of its merchandise, together with its different footwear choices. The breathable Flash Climbing Boots (accessible in males’s and ladies’s), first launched in 2021, characteristic recycled supplies and, in response to one hiker from Rochester, New York, are “perfection for my toes.” And the co-op’s user-approved, “comfy and trendy” Beyonder Footwear (accessible in males’s and ladies’s), that are designed for strolling, have insoles made with 25% USDA-certified bio-based, petroleum-free Susterra® compound.
So, when the Swiftland MT crew first started exploring the potential of a trail-running shoe, there have been two objectives in thoughts: Minimized the creation cycle’s environmental impactful and nonetheless meet outdoorspeople’s rigorous efficiency requirements. “As I’m certain you possibly can think about,” Grimes tells me, “that’s not a straightforward factor to do.”
Beneath the Floor
At first look, the Swiftland MT appears like its trail-running counterparts from different manufacturers. Its outsole—the bottom-most a part of the shoe—encompasses a thoughtfully designed lug sample that provides stable footing on the path. Its midsole—the center, foam a part of the shoe—has a squishy really feel, however with its customary stack peak and eight mm offset, its profile resembles the common daily-trainer trail-running shoe competitor. In the meantime, the higher—the portion that encases the foot—is product of a skinny material layer and options typical shoelaces versus, say, a Boa® lacing system.
Beneath the floor, nonetheless, the shoe lives as much as the promise of “footwear with a lighter footprint.” Each part of the shoe is constructed with both recycled or bio-based supplies, and it wowed greater than 85 testers who wore the Swiftland MT by 2,500 miles of mud, sand and rocks in product trials.
I additionally tried out the shoe and located it ticked the packing containers for stable footing and luxury on an array of terrain. On a 6-mile, leisure-paced outing on my favourite gravel path, I felt secure and assured–and notably, no pebbles snuck inside previous the shoe’s sock-like opening. On rockier trails, the grip held agency, whereas on pavement, the Swiftland MTs hit the candy spot for knee-approved cushioning: the midsole provides some give, however not an excessive amount of. They usually did all that along with turning heads and prompting impressed, “REI is making [running] sneakers now?” queries.
The Swiftland MT weighs in at 10 ounces for a males’s measurement 9 (what Grimes calls the “candy spot for light-weight with out being a racing shoe”), and its twin efficiency and sustainability attributes begin from the bottom up. Underfoot, the proprietary TerraGripTM Run outsole provides confidence-inspiring grip and is made with 20% recycled rubber. “Throughout all rounds of of the trials, product testers felt that the shoe offered spectacular traction and safety towards all kinds of path circumstances,” says REI product researcher Bryan Jackler, who led the field-testing course of. The outsole additionally stood as much as {industry} sturdiness rankings, which required testing for 300+ miles of wear and tear. [Editor’s note: The field-testing process conducted by the co-op’s research and testing team for product development is separate from the field-testing process conducted by the co-op’s editorial team for tested gear guides in Expert Advice.]
TerraLoftTM Run takes middle stage within the midsole. “This sounds type of tacky,” Grimes laughs, “however the objective was to create smile-inducing cushioning.” After a number of prototypes, they did. The froth layer is designed to assist the consumer really feel gentle and agile however not overly springy and uncontrolled when progressing by their stride. Likewise, the proprietary foam feels comfy underfoot however doesn’t cross over into momentum-zapping “pillowy” territory. In the course of the testing phases, customers reported the crew nailed this delicate formulation: “Very responsive and cushioned sufficient for my style,” says one.
However these aren’t the one attributes of TerraLoftTM Run value smiling about. The froth additionally options 10% BLOOM™ Algae, a know-how that turns waterway-clogging algae right into a performance-level, EVA-algae-based hybrid foam. In impact, the Swiftland MT transforms plant matter into an ingredient for runner consolation.
Within the shoe’s higher, FirmaKnitTM Run, a proprietary knit design that cradles the foot in a supportive sock match, has a number of advantages. Its built-in tongue and foot-hugging collar stop dust and small rocks from sneaking into the shoe. In my very own expertise, the match feels pliable but safe because of content material backers underneath the laces that create what Grimes calls a “midfoot lock-down.” (In different phrases, the foot stays put and the ankle stays supported.) Knitting the higher as a substitute of utilizing the industry-standard cut-and-sew approach reduces the quantity of producing waste. And, the FirmaKnitTM yarn is created from 90% recycled PET plastic that’s been purposely engineered to dry shortly, and I seen it did dry sooner than a few of my different sneakers from well-known path manufacturers. I used to be happy to search out in my very own testing that the landfill-avoiding knit approach didn’t lead to sacrifices in consolation or efficiency: A win-win.
A “multi-terrain” shoe has to carry out effectively on many surfaces. Product testers reported that the Swiftland MT exceeded their expectations on reasonably technical trails and dust and gravel paths. Additionally they ranked it greater than rivals in a blinded head-to-head path run take a look at throughout which they ran three loops utilizing completely different sneakers (the Swiftland MT and two others—all with their branding hidden) for every loop. The Swiftland MT was most continuously chosen as the favourite. “We needed to construct a shoe that was comfy and simple to tackle and off, however nonetheless supplied sufficient technicality that you simply really feel supported and guarded, that will have actually nice grip underneath your toes so that you simply really feel assured it doesn’t matter what terrain you’re on,” Grimes says. “The Swiftland MT was us creating and innovating our personal supplies, pushing the {industry} ahead, and testing and testing and testing and testing till we bought it proper.”
Getting Extra Folks Exterior
All that know-how (and testing; did Grimes point out testing?) ladders as much as a performance-oriented path shoe designed to assist entry- and intermediate-level runners get on the market. “How can we construct a product that invitations extra folks to be exploring unpaved paths and expertise the spontaneity and pleasure and freedom that that may deliver? That [was] the ethos of what created this product,” Grimes says. “We simply wish to get extra folks out exploring the wilderness.”
It’s not simply the shoe’s technical attributes which are meant to encourage customers; the aesthetics are meant to take action as effectively. Fairly than choose manifestly vivid colorways, the design crew caught with grounding hues like Pink Earth and Deep Orange which are each “outdoor-inspired and energetic,” says REI senior shade designer Angela Patruno. She provides that the shoe’s physique is eye-catching sufficient in order that when wanting down at your toes it’s like “following your buddy,” whereas additionally being muted sufficient that they mix in with and belong in a pure setting. “If you’re working, you don’t need one thing that’s distracting you or taking you out of the second,” Patruno explains. “What we actually needed to keep up right here was that you’re within the outdoor, and the [Swiftland MT] is a part of the expertise.”
Making the outside accessible to extra folks has at all times been the drive behind the REI Swiftland path working assortment, which launched in 2021. The road contains working socks, insulated working jackets and member-favorite path bottoms. (Buyer reviewers have referred to as the Swiftland 7” Working Shorts the “finest working shorts ever.”) The Swiftland 5 Hydration Vest—designed particularly for male and feminine anatomy—is obtainable in sizes as much as 2X/3X. All these merchandise hit mid-market value factors to make sure they’re approachable cost-wise.
REI designers imagine that including the Swiftland MT, which falls on the cheaper finish of the trail-shoe spectrum at $130 per pair, is a pure development within the Swiftland line. If suggestions from early testers is any indication, customers will agree as they struggle the sneakers for themselves. “There’s a ton of buyer love,” Grimes says. “There’s pleasure for what the Swiftland MT is, what it does and for having the model title of REI on their toes.”
The hope is that when runners be taught concerning the sustainability options behind the Swiftland MT, the shoe will impress them additional, standing aside from its brethren on the footwear wall. As Grimes says, that was the “why” behind the venture. It’s not, nonetheless, the end line.
“If you’re a retailer like us, there’s a chance to actually push the {industry} ahead with one thing that we care about,” Grimes says concerning the REI dedication to elevated sustainability. “I hope each model tries to get as shut as we did or surpasses the place we’re going. … We have to begin prioritizing each part if we wish to shield the outside.”
The Swiftland MT seeks to do this, making an impactful step towards a footwear {industry} with a lighter impression.
