21 Trail Running Shoe Companies

Most everyone is familiar with road shoes but who makes trail running shoes? running-trail

Some of the your well known road running companies produce one or two models but there are also some companies that may not be as well known that focus their entire line for those that want to play in the dirt.

Trail Shoe Vs. Road Shoe – What is the difference?

A few subtle differences between a road and trail shoe include:

trail shoe often has more aggressive tread (varying degree depending on the shoe)
trail shoe may offer more support and impact protection
trail shoe may offer some water resistance
trail shoes are generally a bit heavier than you typical road shoe

Do You Need Trail Shoes To Run On Trails?

The short answer is no. Get out there and play with whatever shoes you currently run in. I still use my Brooks Adrenline for both road and trail running but I do have an interest in giving trail shoes a try. You will see all types of shoes out on the trail.

The List

Here is an inconclusive list of trail running shoes companies and models that I was able to hunt down.

Brooks – Cascadia and ASR.
Nike – Air Pegasus, Air Max Trailbreak, Zoom Structure Triax.
Adidas – AdiStar Revolt, Supernova Riot 365, Kanadia Trail 2, Kanadia Trail, Response.
Asics – Gel-trail Sensor 3 WR, Gel-Trabuco 12 G-TX, GT-2140 Trail, Gel-Trabuco 12 WR, Gel-Arctic WR, Gel-Trail Attack 5 WR, Gel-Kahana 3, Gel-Enduro 5.
INOV-8 – roclite 295, roclite 305, roclite 312, roclite 315, roclite 320. Note: These are the designated trail running shoes but INOV8 also contain other shoes that may be suitable for trail running.
Mizuno – Wave Ascend 4
Montrail – Streak, Wildwood TR, Mountain Masochist, Mountain Masochist GTX, Hardrock mid, Hardrock
New Balance – Men: MR790, MT840, MR904, MT609, MT875 Women:WT1110, WT840, WT909, WR904, WT609, WT875
Pearl Izumi – syncroSeek WRX, Peak XC, syncroSeek
Salomon – XT Wings, S-lab XT Wings, XT Hawk, XT Wings GTX, XA Comp 3, XA Comp 3 GTX, XA Pro 3D Ultra M+, XA Pro 3D Ultra, XA Pro 3D Ultra GTX, Speed Comp, SpeedCross 2
Saucony – Grid Cohesion NX TR, ProGrid Xodus, Progrid Guide TR 2, Grid Excursion TR3
Teva – Romero Trail, X-1 Evolution, X-1 Control 2
Under Armour – Mirage, Chimera
Keen – Obsidian WP, Powerline, Shellrock, Shellrock WP
GoLite – Shadow Dragon, Sun Dragon, Set Wing, Storm Dragon, Trail Fly, Spike Tail
La Sportiva – Ultranord GTX, Lynx, Wildcat, Skylite, Sonic, Imogene, Fireblade, Crosslite
Merrell - ST Stature, Cruise Control, Overdrive
The North Face – Ultra 104 GTX XCR, Ultra 104, Cooper’s Hill GTX XCR, Betasso, Ultra 105 GTX XCR, Voza, Chinscraper, Wolf Ridge
Vasque – Aether, Aether Tech, Blur, Celerator, Mercury, Velocity, Velocity VST
Scarpa – Apex GTX, Raptor
Oboz – Burn, Ignition

Visual candy for some of the shoes:

I am spent. My eyes hurt from looking at so much tread. For being such a small sport relative to road running, there definitely are quite a few trail running shoes to choose from. It was interesting to look at the wide range available from road-like shoes to those with agressive fangs that seemed to want to tear into the terrain.

I would like to give the Brooks ASR a try since it is the trail version of the road Adrenaline that I normally wear which fit like a glove.

Which trail shoes do you like? Are there any that you would like to try out?

If you are aware of any companies I may have missed, please let me know in the comment section below.

Running Warehouse (Extra 15% off at check-out for Endurance Buzz readers on most shoes) and Amazon carry a wide selection of many of these shoes.

Be active – Feel the buzz!

David – EnduranceBuzz.com