Are Irish Runners Too Conservative in Gear Design and Styling

uvox

I love this post:

Twenty-Five Times Running Shoe Designers Lost Their Freaking Minds

https://medium.com/things-ive-written/twenty-five-times-running-shoe-designers-lost-their-freaking-minds-048-afc33f502c16

Except, as a hardcore (100 miles per week) Hoka One One runner, some of these designs look good.

But looking around what's available in brick'n'mortar running shops in Ireland, I don't seem a whole lot of style or color. Are Irish runners (women as well as men or decline to state) too conversative to support a market for such diverse gear? If the demand for Hoka One One was there it would be provided (the SCM argument is bollocks. It's s business).

Guess I'll have to keep buying in the U.S...

sconhome

Its the European buyers as a whole that you need to look at.

Irish market is supplied out of UK market which naturally is conservative in nature anyway. Mostly as a result of market size the range of choice in the UK & Ireland market is going to be smaller than that of the US.

Distributors will generally select a couple of 'safe' colours and several jazzy colours in a range to show in pre-sale meetings. Based on the pre-orders they may cut a colour from a range.

You only have to look at the reaction to the recent Brooks Aurora range which went from love it to hate it to see how hard it is to predict the market choices.



Irish range will always be a washed down version of the US and generally you see a 2-3 year lag in availability here, generally due to slow uptake on the distribution side of things.

spurscormac

AKW wrote: »

You only have to look at the reaction to the recent Brooks Aurora range which went from love it to hate it to see how hard it is to predict the market choices.

My eyes hurt

sconhome

spurscormac wrote: »

My eyes hurt

The comment about this was that they were inspired by all the Facebook profile rainbows

HelenAnne

uvox wrote: »

I love this post:

Twenty-Five Times Running Shoe Designers Lost Their Freaking Minds

https://medium.com/things-ive-written/twenty-five-times-running-shoe-designers-lost-their-freaking-minds-048-afc33f502c16

Except, as a hardcore (100 miles per week) Hoka One One runner, some of these designs look good.

But looking around what's available in brick'n'mortar running shops in Ireland, I don't seem a whole lot of style or color. Are Irish runners (women as well as men or decline to state) too conversative to support a market for such diverse gear? If the demand for Hoka One One was there it would be provided (the SCM argument is bollocks. It's s business).

Guess I'll have to keep buying in the U.S...

I love loads of those shoes! One thing I love about Brooks (and loads of Brooks shoes are in the link above!) is that often the mesh of the shoe is a strong colour - like pink or orange or green. I hate when the mesh is grey or white and all the colour is in the accent bits. They also do nice tops with pictures on them -- I have a running vest from America with fire hydrants and mountains and squirrels and moose on it and I love it!

(Sorry, this doesn't add much to the discussion - it's just a paean to running gear that I like!)

HelenAnne

spurscormac wrote: »

My eyes hurt

I really like them! they're the Northern Lights ones, aren't they?

sconhome

HelenAnne wrote: »

I really like them! they're the Northern Lights ones, aren't they?

Yip the 'Aurora' range. Very limited release & numbers. I think Run Logic was the only store to take them in in Ireland.

spurscormac

HelenAnne wrote: »

I really like them! they're the Northern Lights ones, aren't they?

If they were inspired by the northern lights shouldn't they be a midnight blue with hints of various colours above seamlines(aka the horizon) ?
Bet they'd get a better public response.

I'm in the wrong job, should be designing sports shoes.