Why Altra

Altra wasn't started in some corporate office, but in the back room of a Wasatch Mountain running store. Our founders, —elite athletes and running store managers, —wanted a shoe that let you run the way you were born to. They noticed that the design of most running shoes was hurting runners more than helping them. Elevated heels promote high-impact landing and narrow toe boxes squeeze the toes out of their natural position. Read Our Story

What began as experimental shoe alterations has transformed into the only shoe company to provide a cushioned Zero Drop™ platform and FootShape™ toe box. This innovative combo promotes low-impact technique and allows your feet to remain in a natural, relaxed position across every terrain.

Years ago, while filming customers at our running store in the Rocky Mountains, we noticed a disturbing trend—traditional shoes were encouraging high-impact landing and poor posture. Impact force was less and posture was better when running barefoot. Realizing the only difference was the excess heel thickness of their shoes, we began modifying their shoes to make them balanced from heel to toe—which we coined as “Zero Drop”. A toaster oven was used to heat and loosen the midsole, peel back the heel and cut out the excessive cushioning to make it even with the forefoot. This gave our customers the benefits of good form and low impact, without sacrificing the cushioning many runners felt they needed to do long mileage. .

While testing our Zero Drop theory, we immediately saw incredible results with our staff and customers. It helped them return to running with a relaxed, comfortable and natural running experience. Zero Drop was just one of many steps we took to return the runner’s foot to its natural position. Additional research made it clear that we needed to develop a shoe that let the toes relax and spread out naturally, instead of squeezing them inside the narrow toe box of virtually every running shoe. We paired our Zero Drop platform with a wider, FootShape™ toe box, allowing the toes to relax and spread out naturally for more stability and comfort..

With the help of some of the best minds in the running industry, Altra was started to bring a better running experience to the masses. Our award-winning technology and rapidly growing customer base have vaulted Altra into a Top 10 running shoe brand in only a few years. To our team of Ultra Marathoners and Triathletes, running is our lives and each day is a ceaseless pursuit to make running fun and healthy for everyone. We’ve seen our shoes return people to running and help them accomplish things they never thought were possible..