Retuning a Trail Shoe Supercar (EXCLUSIVE)
The latest shoes from norda look suspiciously similar to the brand's first-ever shoes. In fact, they look practically identical. And then, you peek beneath the hood.
The norda 001, the debut footwear offering from Canada’s expert in hi-tech trail shoes, was launched four years ago as a lightweight running sneaker using cutting-edge textiles never previously used this way. The shoes were aptly titled “Lamborghinis for your feet” by Highsnobiety.
Now, the original top-tier trail runner has been re-tuned and re-engineered to deliver even more speed. Enter the norda 001A.
“This isn’t just an upgrade,” Nick Martire, co-founder and CEO of norda tells me via email. “It’s a redefinition of what a trail shoe can deliver, from the first kilometer to the thousandth."
Martire, one half of the husband-and-wife duo behind norda, has integrated an bespoke variation of a foam compound called Arnitel into the 001A’s midsole.
Promises Martire, this material, described by parent company Envalior as a "bio-based high-performance thermoplastic elastomer," has taken the 001A shoe to the next level.
The Arnitel foam delivers a 30% resiliency upgrade while reducing the overall weight of norda's signature shoe by up to 10%. Plus, it’s been tuned to perform for over 1,000 kilometres.
“The 001 has always been the team’s workhorse, our do-anything shoe, and now the new 001A midsole offers race day-ready pop and rebound while retaining the durability we loved from the original model,” said Jason Schlarb, norda’s trail team manager.
Schlarb and his team have been busy testing the shoe, both in training and in races, for the past 18 months.
This isn’t the first time norda has utilized Arnitel, a material often used in electronics and the automotive industry as a high-performing rubber replacement. It can also be found in the norda 005, a race-day super shoe launched earlier this year by the brand, symbolizing the material's place in the future of norda footwear.
And though the 001 is made new by the addition of Arnitel its other top-range custom technologies remain intact.
Specifically, the rugged runner still features the world’s first seamless Bio-Dyneema upper — Dyneema, remember, is the world’s strongest fiber — and a thick sole unit with a unique Vibram tread underfoot.
That's a lot of specificity packed into the newly optimized 001A, releasing August 27 for $295 on norda’s website.
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