Skora Running: Now Taking Pre-Orders for an Eagerly Anticipated Product

Skora Base ($125) in Blue

The long wait for Skora Running to hit the pavement is finally set to end. Skora, a company I favorably compared to Apple, has delayed release and tantalized the minimalist running shoe crowd for nearly two years while they refined their product to meet what is clearly an exacting standard.

The vision of David Sypiewski, Skora’s founder, is to develop the ideal running shoe that would offer real-world protection and full natural foot function. His tagline, “run real,” is tucked at the end of every facebook post, every tweet, and every email from Skora’s Portland, Oregon headquarters.

On Monday, Skora opened the doors on pre-ordering their product, to allow their most eager fans to get a pair of the first Skoras on the market. Time will tell if the shoes can live up to the hype, as very few reviews are out there and widespread sales are not expected until mid-February of 2012. With the stats and final images released by Skora on their website yesterday, however, I can safely assume they will find favor with many natural runners.

That said, prepare yourself for a little sticker shock for the high-end model, the “Form.” At $195, these leather kicks don’t come cheap. The “Base,” a mesh and laceless version (but with the same sole as the “Form”) will run a more moderate $125, which is the same price point as the Merrell Sonic Glove (another favorite of mine) for instance. Right now, there are only men's sizes, though I understand that Skora will reveal a women's line later this year.

As a gear-aholic, I can find just about any reason to justify a price tag, if I am honest, and $125 seems pretty fair considering the small stature of the company (they simply don’t have economies of scale in their favor yet). I don’t mind paying a few extra bucks if I know I am going to love and actually use the product, and I also don’t mid paying a little to support technology I believe in (or in this case a willful lack of technology that I support). I would really, really have to love the product to put up $195 for one pair of running shoes, though.  We'll see what they are like.  The good thing for consumers is that the sole unit is the same on both models.

I’ll let you click through to Skora’s site to take in all the pics and stats yourself, but this promises to be a good, honest, minimalist product. Also, if you like flashy, high-zoot running shoes, Skora errs on the side of sophisticated industrial design, something I touched on in my last Skora post. While many minimalist and natural running products seem to try and walk a line between crunchy, granola, earthy aesthetics and 21st century running industry expectation, Skora is unapologetically progressive in it’s design philosophy, which should resonate with a niche area of the running market. I'm clearly biased...these shoes just appeal to me on many levels, and so does the company.

That all said, I’ve not run in Skoras yet, so I don’t have many answers about the line, but I hope to test a pre-release pair soon. In the meantime I hope you can appreciate, as I have, a company that is doing some original thinking in a market (natural and minimalist running shoes) where many manufacturers are increasingly taking a mainstream approach. Pre-order yours from Skora online, or call up Elite Feet Brighton and they will also take a pre-order with no money down.  Elite Feet and other retailers will have them in stores in February. Meanwhile...have a look here at the Base in blue and silver, then the Form in black and natural: