To clarify, I really mean everything. One pair of shoes. To concrete run in, trail run in, sprint interval in, long distance in, wear casually out with blue jeans to the game/party/bar/church/date, to hike in, boulder in, climb ropes in, Crossfit in.
One pair of shoes. The perfect jack of all trades. Not necessarily The best in any one specific category, but when looked at as a whole... untouchable.
Enter the Skora Form
The perfect all purpose do everything shoe. Leather, waterproof, breathable, light, wide toe box, sexy, solid flat bottom.
I Love this shoe. I love it with jeans, I love it on the trails, I love it around town, I love it on the track, and I absolutely Love it in the gym. At home on roots, box jumps, pavement, and ropes. I've worn them camping, I've worn them working on a roof, on dates, preaching, through hundreds of miles of trail.... they really are THAT shoe.
From the first time I touted these shoes:
If you’ve never heard of Skora running, don’t feel bad, I hadn’t either.
But if you choose to not immediately go find out more about them, I can assure you, you will regret it. I'm quite confident that this is only the beginning... (boy was a right about that! ;)
Skora is a new company (as most of you know I have a huge soft spot for start-ups!) and they are bringing a fresh look to the market as they enter. Their mantra is “Run Real” and I must say, they’re making great strides (see what I did right there?) towards that end.
The Skora Form is one of their first 2 shoes they are bringing to market (now shipping) and with it, they did a lot of things right.
Skora is immediately setting their entire company around minimalism and their idea of “Run Real”. Their shoes are zero drop, minimal in cushioning, no support, stitch-down construction (more on that later), anatomical last, outsoles mimic foot shape, no heel counter, and a sole made to fit the natural shape of your foot and encourage medial to lateral movement.
Check this out this product Video (less than 90 seconds)
I’ll go ahead and say one thing right off the bat, the shoes look fantastic! My first thoughts upon unboxing were that they were almost Too pretty to run in! I Love shoes, and as a pure minimalist in that department (I only wear zero drop shoes: running, casual, dress, hiking, mowing the lawn, everything) I really miss my old shoes style – these fit the bill! Not only are they a great running shoe, they look great underneath a pair of bluejeans.
- The FORM is a lightweight shoe (tipping the scales at about 8oz) – much lighter than traditional shod shoes.
- The anatomical last, curved outsole forefoot, curved outsole heel, and absence of a heel counter make this shoe fit very well – the whole shoe is built… like a foot.
- Skora has really differentiated themselves in the material of the shoe. One of my favorite things about this shoe is the fact that it’s made of Pittards Goadskin leather with their “WR100X” leather lining. This stuff is Awesome! It’s genuine leather, super soft and supple (feels like old perfectly broke in leather right out of the box) feel, all while being extremely breathable (was thrilled about that part) And water resistant!
- The entire shoe, sole and all, is completely flexible!
- Ground feel: I actually expected to be unsatisfied with the ground feel and was pleasantly surprised. There really is good ground feel, but not as much as you would experience in a pair of Nadas or VFFs.
- The stack height is still quite low (9mm all the way across) and so it offers substantially better ground feel than say an Instinct or an A86, but again, not as much as The Most minimalist shoes I’ve tested (and this is a choice by Skora’s design team). The sole itself is quite thin and it doesn’t have excessive padding and sports no extra hyped up support or protection (which is great)
- I, personally, really like the aesthetics of the “cool” lacing design, but also appreciate the functionality of being able to choose the level of “snugness” a little better as well.
- Another + for this shoe is the fit. They wanted to focus on a glove like fit and I think they really achieved it. I like that it has a narrow “snug” heel and then it widens just a bit as it goes forward. The toe box is wide (all the way out to the end of the toes-not just where the toes join the foot) and allow for good toe splay. Excellent foot fit. I will say that I feel they probably run about a ½ size large, so keep that in mind when ordering.
So, on the conclusion end of things:
I really appreciate what Skora is trying to do and I Love new companies! I knew I would like this shoe, but didn’t really expect to love it as much as I did. I’m running in it (makes a good trail running shoe as well), doing some Crossfit in them, and they are also my go to casual shoe everyday now. You will Love the goat Leather.
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