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Allbirds never made serious running shoes. Hoka grew out of the ultra running scene and broadened their offering.. On are European and went hard with their unus

Allbirds never made serious running shoes. Hoka grew out of the ultra running scene and broadened their offering.. On are European and went hard with their unusual sole design.

throwaway2037 19d ago
Hoka has a fairly unusual corporate history. They were founded in 2009 in Annecy, France. (Yeah, read that twice. No hate on Annecy, but that is a mega brand being started from a tiny French city!) Then in 2013, they were acquired by California-based Deckers Brands which is also the owner of UGG and Teva. The real question: How did they become the Lululemon of casual sneakers? Just like lots of women who don't do yoga and barely attend the gym, they cannot get enough Lululemon in their wardrobe. The same can be said for Hoka running shoes: All kinds of normies that barely exercise wear them anywhere and always.
- rjsw 19d ago
  Hoka was founded by former Salomon employees, why would they want to move from Annecy?
  - arethuza 19d ago
    Indeed, Annecy is gorgeous and pretty close to some of the largest ski areas on the planet?
    - throwaway2037 18d ago
      Yeah, I totally agree. If I could found a 100M USD+ business from Annecy, that would be heaven on Earth!
- baoluofu 19d ago
  I see a lot more of ON being the sneaker brand for people who don't look like they exercise that much. I exercise regularly and got Hoka Clifton 10s for running and daily walking and they are hands-down the best shoes I have had for that purpose. So much so that I immediately bought a second pair so I can alternate between them each day to hopefully keep them lasting longer. I tried on loads of different brands in the running shop and the Clifton 10 wides were definitely the best for my feet, despite my initial assumption that I would prefer ON cloud runners.
  - throwaway2037 18d ago
    Frankly, I don't understand the purpose of your reply. > I exercise regularly and got Hoka Clifton 10s for running and daily walking and they are hands-down the best shoes I have had for that purpose. Sure, let me rephrase for you: "I do not exercise regularly and got Hoka Clifton 10s for daily walking and they are hands-down the best shoes I have had for that purpose."
- allthetime 18d ago
  Maybe selection bias from where you live. I live next to endless world class hiking / trail running and everyone I see in hokas is using them. They are also wildly supportive and absolutely suitable for wear as a non athlete who walks or is on their feet a lot. They are popular it’s not surprising. See: how most people in $1000 Arc’teryx jackets arent summitting a mountain
- alex-korr 17d ago
  In my experience, they got big by successfully partnering with Ironman - around 2013-14, they started leading Kona shoe counts. Suddenly everyone went from ridiculing "moonshoes" to actually wearing them as daily trainers and oftentimes racers too. Nike had their chance when they came out with Vaporflys in 2018 and had every big time marathoner destroy decade old records but the tech they had (foam and carbon plates) quickly got commoditized.

Allbirds never made serious running shoes. Hoka grew out of the ultra running scene and broadened their offering.. On are European and went hard with their unusual sole design.

throwaway2037 19d ago

Hoka has a fairly unusual corporate history. They were founded in 2009 in Annecy, France. (Yeah, read that twice. No hate on Annecy, but that is a mega brand being started from a tiny French city!) Then in 2013, they were acquired by California-based Deckers Brands which is also the owner of UGG and Teva. The real question: How did they become the Lululemon of casual sneakers? Just like lots of women who don't do yoga and barely attend the gym, they cannot get enough Lululemon in their wardrobe. The same can be said for Hoka running shoes: All kinds of normies that barely exercise wear them anywhere and always.

rjsw 19d ago
Hoka was founded by former Salomon employees, why would they want to move from Annecy?
- arethuza 19d ago
  Indeed, Annecy is gorgeous and pretty close to some of the largest ski areas on the planet?
  - throwaway2037 18d ago
    Yeah, I totally agree. If I could found a 100M USD+ business from Annecy, that would be heaven on Earth!
baoluofu 19d ago
I see a lot more of ON being the sneaker brand for people who don't look like they exercise that much. I exercise regularly and got Hoka Clifton 10s for running and daily walking and they are hands-down the best shoes I have had for that purpose. So much so that I immediately bought a second pair so I can alternate between them each day to hopefully keep them lasting longer. I tried on loads of different brands in the running shop and the Clifton 10 wides were definitely the best for my feet, despite my initial assumption that I would prefer ON cloud runners.
- throwaway2037 18d ago
  Frankly, I don't understand the purpose of your reply. > I exercise regularly and got Hoka Clifton 10s for running and daily walking and they are hands-down the best shoes I have had for that purpose. Sure, let me rephrase for you: "I do not exercise regularly and got Hoka Clifton 10s for daily walking and they are hands-down the best shoes I have had for that purpose."
allthetime 18d ago
Maybe selection bias from where you live. I live next to endless world class hiking / trail running and everyone I see in hokas is using them. They are also wildly supportive and absolutely suitable for wear as a non athlete who walks or is on their feet a lot. They are popular it’s not surprising. See: how most people in $1000 Arc’teryx jackets arent summitting a mountain
alex-korr 17d ago
In my experience, they got big by successfully partnering with Ironman - around 2013-14, they started leading Kona shoe counts. Suddenly everyone went from ridiculing "moonshoes" to actually wearing them as daily trainers and oftentimes racers too. Nike had their chance when they came out with Vaporflys in 2018 and had every big time marathoner destroy decade old records but the tech they had (foam and carbon plates) quickly got commoditized.