In its two-year existence, the model NNormal has put its values on the desk. A kind of core values is sustainability. In that vein, for one of many first instances we will recall within the working business, the corporate shared the outcomes of an inner examine of the possible lifespan of its shoe based mostly on real-world testing.
The straightforward questions the examine asks are: What number of kilometers can an individual count on NNormal footwear to final? And, in consequence, how does that have an effect on the environmental impression of 1’s trainers?
The model’s assertion is that corporations are too centered on the CO2 consumption of a shoe individually when it’s truly the CO2 financial savings by merely consuming — thereby producing — fewer footwear that’s extra impactful. To this finish, NNormal promised to maintain impression minimization on the forefront and to make its targets and progress recognized alongside the best way.

NNormal’s photographs displaying the Kjerag throughout completely different mileposts of its sturdiness check. Picture courtesy of name.
Like driving a Toyota Corolla for 300,000 miles, it is perhaps a degree of delight to see what number of miles one can eke out of their trainers earlier than retiring them. For many of us, we merely need to get as a lot as we will out of a pair of footwear earlier than efficiency or integrity is misplaced, particularly when their price is at all times rising. Moreover, as we develop a larger understanding of the environmental impression of our path working interest, many people need to make our personal working extra sustainable.
In early February 2024, NNormal launched a sturdiness or lifespan examine, the primary formal inner evaluation it has made public. The topic shoe was the model’s debut, the Kjerag — see our NNormal Kjerag evaluation — which founder Kilian Jornet famously raced a complete season in a single pair, together with wins at Sierre-Zinal, the Hardrock 100, and UTMB.
Although its public report doesn’t at the moment reveal components like whether or not the 511 testers had been compensated or supplied footwear at no cost — to not point out some intangibles like had been they extra prone to report positively/much less negatively based mostly on being a fan of the model — the examine says that the runners’ weight, the kind of terrain they run, and sure factors of emphasis alongside a sturdiness scale had been all included.
The sturdiness scale within the picture above represents phases of 25, 256, 756, and 1,100 kilometers. Quick time period points like minor toe delamination (round 25 kilometers) to long-term injury to midsole foam (round 756 kilometers) are represented alongside the timeline.
The graph under plots shoe end-of-life distribution for testers, with a majority of testers (70.45%) getting 800 to 1400 kilometers out of their check footwear — that’s roughly 500 to 870 miles.

The lifespan distribution in kilometers of the NNormal Kjerag from the model’s examine. Screenshot from model web site.
So what does a NNormal buyer do with their footwear when the helpful lifespan has expired? The corporate gives a few choices together with its No Hint program to let runners ship again their footwear for restore or recycle. In Europe, clients can find a cobbler to have footwear resoled by a companion skilled to restore or substitute Vibram outsoles (the Kjerag makes use of Vibram’s Megagrip rubber) in addition to different materials failures.
Whereas a few of the sturdiness survey’s biases are unclear, NNormal is at the least taking the admirable steps of speaking concretely in regards to the sturdiness of its flagship product on a public stage along with selecting supplies – equivalent to Matryx uppers and a extra sturdy midsole materials within the Kjerag – for its footwear with product lifespan in thoughts. The model can be at the moment finding out the sturdiness of its different main mannequin, the Tomir, in an analogous method.
Sooner or later, it will be nice to see a standardized protocol developed in order that different manufacturers might publicly share knowledge on their footwear’ sturdiness and, ultimately, giant scale external-to–manufacturers testing that an impartial group collects, aggregates, and shares. Seeing robustly sourced common shoe lifespan, cost-per-mile, and resource-per-mile metrics would permit shoppers to make higher knowledgeable decisions and, fairly probably, affect product designers, manufacturers, and the business at giant to think about product sturdiness extra strongly.
One can dream. For now, kudos to NNormal for taking a primary step.
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- How strongly do you take into account sturdiness in your shoe and working gear purchases?
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