Running Sucks

Running Sucks

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Running Sucks
Running Sucks
Variety is the spice of life
The Weakly

Variety is the spice of life

We love a beautifully diverse running world, don't we? We love to include everyone in this wonderful sport, right? Well we've got it. Now what?

Raziq Rauf's avatar
Raziq Rauf
Feb 24, 2025
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Running Sucks
Running Sucks
Variety is the spice of life
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Last week on Running Sucks

It’s rare that I write about something truly newsworthy, but I got to do that last week. I interviewed the man who designed the Zara Long-Distance Running Shoe, and didn’t it just get the full range of responses.

The loudest commenters were naysayers, of course, and while the loudest voices are always heard most, none were incorrect. What struck me, though, was the number of people who replied directly to the email (you can do that, by the way) with quieter but equally valid opinions on the Zara Athleticz gear. Zara had hit a nerve.

Can Zara build a slow fashion running brand worthy of fast runners?

Raziq Rauf
·
Feb 20
Can Zara build a slow fashion running brand worthy of fast runners?

Despite the barefooted road runners, the zero-drop movement, the finger toes, and every other extreme running shoe doctrine out there, the carbon-plated marathoner conversation still reigns supreme, and Zara has joined it.

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If you’ve been reading along, you’ll know I’ve been exploring this running boom that we’ve been in for the past year, and I'm always keen to see how our enormous niche hits the mainstream, and if Zara selling carbon-plated shoes isn’t that, I don’t know what is.

Shoes, after all, are really the only piece of functional apparel that we runners need, so seeing the ethically-dubious fast fashion brand investing in running signifies anot…

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