Hoka Delivers Trail Racing Shoe With Two Parallel Carbon Fiber Plates
Running footwear has embraced carbon plates for their propulsive and energy-giving characteristics. But those same carbon plates that move runners forward fast have struggled to handle changing terrains underfoot. Hoka Shoes has a solution with parallel carbon fiber plates in the brand's Tecton X trail racing shoe, designed to provide the propulsive benefits of carbon fiber but with an update to improve a runner's agility on uneven trails.
"When you incorporate a carbon fiber plate into a shoe, you get a ton of propulsive benefits that help with speed, but the rigidity of a typical plate can also pose a potential challenge," says Gretchen Weimer, Hoka vice president of product. "Hoka developed the dual plate design in the Tecton X, hereby maintaining the propulsive benefits of a carbon ...