By providing Footshaped, Balanced Cushioned and gender specific shoes Altra helps people move more naturally. We focus on making shoes that fit human body and its natural running form. Balanced Cushioning encourages proper alignment trough knees, hips and back and thus a low impact landing under a bent knee. Footshape let your toes splay out in their natural position while building your feet power and stability. We do this by designing shoes for everyone, with a vast variety of features, cushioning and technologies.

Altra Running was founded in the backroom of a specialty running store in the Wasatch mountains out of the ideas of our founders Golden Harper and Brian Beckstead to provide a running shoe that could actually help people run better. What Brian and Golden noted was the repetitiveness of running injuries and how these injuries where connected to a poor running form. That’s why they came up with the concept of a different shoe, parting away from the traditional elevated and tapered shoe box construction. Altra shoes are designed to help you move better, more naturally and injury free and not to encourage heel-striking and body misalignment.

Altra shoes are shaped like feet. They are designed to allow your toes to spread out naturally and let your big toe remain in a straight position. This encourages improved stability, power and most importantly, added comfort. This is the secret to miles of comfort, no blisters and a stronger foot.

Every Altra shoe is built on a Balanced Cushioned platform which positions the heel and forefoot at an equal distance from the ground. This natural foundation encourages better alignment, better form, and a low –impact landing. Whether you prefer max cushion, low cushion, or something in between, Balanced Cushioning lets your feet move naturally at every step.

Altra shoes are not wide, they’re foot-shaped! The shapes of our shoes were developed by compiling thousands of scans of healthy feet. While the toe box in our shoes does allow your toes to remain in their splayed natural position, it is important to note that our shoes are a regular width at all the critical measurement points throughout the shoe. This allows runners to enjoy a comfortable, secure fit while still enjoying the benefits provided by our FootShape technology.

By putting your toes and heel on a Balanced Cushioning platform Altra encourages proper alignment through the knees, hips, and back. Improved posture and alignment aids in proper running form by encouraging a low impact landing under a bent knee. Studies have shown that this can reduce landing impact up to 3-5 times. Additionally, by removing the influence of an elevated heel, Balanced Cushioning allows the foot to land parallel to the ground, improving shock absorption and efficiency.

Every Altra shoe is designed to make you move naturally. That is why every model is equipped with a Balanced Cushioning platform and Footshaped Toebox. Footshape will let your feet be themselves and splay in a natural position. Balanced Cushioning creates an even platform under your body that enhances the preferred motion pathways, not encouraging a heel strike, while promoting natural alignment and gait.

The number one misconception is that Altra is only meant for midfoot/forefoot runners. That is false. Altra actually increases cushioning in the forefoot to achieve a balanced platform, leaving just as much heel cushioning as you would find in a competitor.  With Altra’s Balanced Cushioning approach, our shoes simply allow the customer to run/walk naturally, while providing cushion no matter where they land. With Balanced Cushioning our goal is to promote proper posture and alignment, not to change it.

Altra shoes are designed to respect the anatomy of your feet. That will help your feet gradually recover its natural alignment, a straight big toe, its stability and strength. For this reason, Altra shoes are used happily by many costumers suffering hallux valgus, bunions, neuromas and other common injuries. Remember that poorly fitted as well as too restrictive shoes can contribute to cases of this painful injuries.