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I
f the participants of the annual
Western States 100-Mile Endurance
Run are any indication of the brand
preferences of the larger trail running
enthusiast market, there appears to
be some shake-up afoot in the trail
shoe category. Along with a few upstarts
extending leads, a few legacy brands are
showing signs of struggle.
Hoka One One, once again, was the
best represented brand among these elite
runners, found on the feet of 26 per-
cent of all finishers. Although Hoka did
slip a bit from its seeming dominance
in 2015, when it was found on 34.5
percent of finishers.
Altra, meanwhile, was arguably
the biggest winner in 2016, becom-
ing the second most popular shoe
among contestants and found on the
feet of 17 percent of all finishers and
20.4 percent of sub-24-hour finish-
ers. That’s up from 5.8 percent of
all finishers in 2014, when Altra was
the seventh most popular shoe at
WSER. Part of Altra’s gain apparent-
ly came at a loss for Brooks, which
fell to third on the list after strong
second place showings the previ-
ous two years. Brooks’ market share
percentage among all finishers
was essentially cut in half, while it
remained less of a contender among
the sub-24-hour group.
Along with Brooks, a few other
veteran brands have seen their West-
ern States stock slip. In 2014, Pearl
Izumi was the second-most popular
brand, at 12.8 percent, among elite
sub-24-hour finishers and the fourth-
most popular among all finishers.
During the past two years, Pearl
Izumi has fallen to sixth place among
all finishers and was lumped into
the “others” category among sub-
24 finishers in 2016. It should be noted
that in August of this year, Pearl Izumi
announced plans to shutter its “Run busi-
ness” in an attempt to re-focus resources
on the cycling and triathlon markets.
Perhaps Pearl Izumi’s dip in popularity
with trail runners is either a reason for or
a result of (or likely both) this decision.
Even more dramatic of a decline is
seen with Montrail, which all but disap-
peared from the WSER Runner Survey
in 2016. After solid showings the previ-
ous two years among both all finishers
and sub-24 finishers (the brand was
among the top three most popular for
both cohorts in 2014), Montrail also was
lumped into the “others” category at the
most recent Western States, falling be-
low a 5 or 6 percent market share. Could
it be that Columbia Sportswear’s plans
to sub-brand Montrail under the Colum-
bia brand does not sit well with harder
core trail running enthusiasts? Perhaps
Columbia is willing to forego that appeal
for a more mainstream audience?
Salomon, for its part, as well as New
Balance, have held their places rather
well, if only seeing slight declines due to
the rise of Altra and Hoka. Nike, mean-
while, has a rather unique story with
WSER trail running enthusiasts. In both
2014 and 2015, Nike is the only brand
that appears in the top five among sub-
24-hour finishers but does not appear
at all on the list of top brands among
all finishers. Call it the Nike inferiority
complex, but things changed in 2016, as
racers possibly noticed the Nikes on elite
finishers during the previous few years.
Indeed, Nike made a sudden and strong
appearance among all finishers surveyed
in 2016, coming in fifth place and found
on 7.6 percent of their feet (the same
percentage as Salomon).
If nothing else, the results of the 2016
Western States runner survey suggests
the trail runner category is anything but
staid or impenetrable by emerging brands,
and it’s not consolidating the way maturing
markets tend to do. In 2015, for instance,
the top three brands were found on 70.6
percent of all finishers. Those same three
brands showed up on only 52.5 percent of
finishers at the 2016 event.
At the same time, more than a quar-
ter of finishers were sporting brands
(the “other” category) with less than 6
percent market share.
Elite Feet
Shoe brand SPOTTING attheWestern States 100-Mile Run
By Martin Vilaboy
Media Users Are Most Likely to Tu
Holiday Shopping Ideas/Inspiratio
Source: GO/Digital
mance by Device
ommerce
by Day
Shoe Brand - All Finishers
Shoe Brand - All Finishers
Shoe Brand - Sub 24 Hour Finish
Shoe Brand - Sub 24 Hour Finish
5.5%
63.8%
5.2%
6.3%
30.5%
28.2%
8.6
10.3
$136.42
$134.06
12.5%
42.7%
Tablet
Desktop
21.5
17.7
Display ads
online
CYBER MONDAY
+12.5%
LAST MIN. RUSH
“CYBER WEEK”
NOV 24-30
BLACK FRIDAY
+17.4%
RKEY DAY
+10.7%
% of respondents
4.1%
4.3%
0.7%
0.5%
0.2%
18.8%
2015
2016
Snapchat
P riscope
Other
WSER Shoe Brand Survey
Source: WSER Runner Survey
Pearl
Izumi
Salomon
Montrail
Altra
Others
Oka
Altra
Brooks
Pearl Izumi
Nike
Salomon
New
Balance
Brooks
Nike
Salomon
Montrail
Others
Brooks
Hoka
Altra
New Balance
Salomon
Brooks
Hoka
Altra
Hoka
Nike
5.7%
8.8%
9.3%
16.5%
8.3%
23.3%
24.3%
26%
17%
9.4%
20.4%
26.4%
6.1%
7.6%
7.6%
4.9%
5.8%
9.7%
11.7%
8.3%
8.3%
11.1%
12.5%
34.5%
19.6%
34.7%
16.7%
11
11
67
72
47
26 21
21
17
73
24
25
21
12
10
6
5
25
12
9
8
6
6
6
38
32
18
17
Inside
Outdoor
|
Fall
2016
12