Running shoe technology: every name on the box
Twenty names, one line each: what the thing actually is, and whether it changes anything you will feel. Every name links to its card on the home page, where the same technology gets a full explanation beside the part of the shoe it belongs to, and to the models table, filtered to the trainers that carry it.
The directory
Grouped by the part of the shoe it sits in, because that is what decides whether it matters to you.
Upper
Insole
- Ortholite®A bought-in open-cell insole used by dozens of brands. Comfort, not speed.modelsin depth
Midsole
- Boost / LightstrikeTwo adidas foams: Boost returns the most, Lightstrike weighs the least.modelsin depth
- React / AirReact is the foam that lasts; Air is a gas unit doing one job in one place.modelsin depth
- NITRO / FloatrideFoam blown with nitrogen – lighter and livelier, and it shows when you push.models
- Meta-RockerGeometry rather than material: a rolled sole that tips the foot forward.models
- Fresh Foam XSoft and deep. It absorbs the landing rather than handing it back.models
- FF BLASTAsics’ light, bouncy foam. The stack is tall, so rough ground wobbles.models
- DNA Loft v3Nitrogen-blown Brooks foam: stays soft without the sunken feeling.models
- GuideRailsNot a foam. Two walls beside the heel that do nothing until it rolls too far.models
- PWRRUNA family, not one foam: an EVA blend, a lighter one, and PEBA in the racers.models
- CloudTecHollow pods that collapse on landing and lock on push-off. Gravel gets in.modelsin depth
- HelionThe compound the pods are moulded from; it holds its rebound in the cold.models
- Carbon plateA stiff sheet that redirects your push. Fast, and hard on the calf at first.modelsin depth
Outsole
- Continental®Tyre-company rubber under licence. The difference shows on wet tarmac.models
- AHAR / AHAR+Hard rubber placed only where the sole actually wears, to save weight.models
- Waffle rubberSquare lugs: a fair compromise on road and firm path, poor in mud.models
- Durabrasion rubberThin rubber patches on Hoka foam. Light, and quick to go on tarmac.models
- PUMAGRIPOne of the few rubbers you notice immediately, and it is in the wet.models
- Contagrip®Not one rubber but a family, mixed to suit the ground the shoe is for.models
Read in depth
Where a technology is worth more than a paragraph, it has its own page: what it does, who it suits, what it costs and where the claim stops.
- GORE-TEX®What it does, and where it stops
- Ortholite®What it is, and when it matters
- Boost / LightstrikeWhich foam is for which run
- React / AirWhat each one actually does
- CloudTecHow the pods actually work
- Carbon plateWhat it does and what it costs
How to read this list
Most of these names describe one of three things: a foam, a rubber, or a shape. Foams decide how a shoe feels and how long that feeling lasts; rubbers decide what it holds on to and how many miles it survives; shapes – a rocker, a plate, a pair of walls – decide how your foot moves through the stride. A name that describes none of the three is usually describing a colourway.
Two names from different brands are often the same material. PEBA foam is sold as PWRRUN PB by one company and under four other names elsewhere; nitrogen-blown EVA turns up in half the range of every brand that has it. Where that is true, the card says so rather than letting the trademark do the talking.