Surfing talent will no longer get you sponsored. Plus, Nike copies Satisfy (boo), Salomon tries a lifestyle ambassador (yay!) and the void of female shoe reviewers.
I’m with Buzz on this one. The women I know who run don’t seem very interested in YouTube reviews or running podcasts—and I’m not entirely sure why. But I appreciate Buzz’s reasoning: our relationships with sport can differ, and most running/gear content is, at heart, sports content.
It’s become a running joke that some people (often men) watch shoe reviews just to validate their own purchases. In my experience, women tend to approach these decisions differently and don’t lean on that same impulse. When female friends do ask about running gear or content creators, I usually point them to RunLikeHeller.
What can be said about Nike! Big win for Satisfy and the free marketing. So many comments are in the realm of “never heard of Satisfy before.” I wonder what the bump in Followers will be when this all shakes out?
While not unique, MothTech and the Satisfy look lead the running subculture trend. Newbies to the sport aren’t here because they watched the Olympics—they’re here because of the “get outside” wave that rippled across the planet through the pandemic. Now that snowball is rolling and has a life of its own. Running will never be the same again, and I’m here for it.
Really great Aaron. I love the insight that a brand needs to connect/speak to women in different ways than men. Not at all a new insight but I'm not sure the running industry, especially trail, have figured out how to do that effectively. There's a lot of assumptions that something like a shoe review on YouTube reaches women to the same/similar degree as men. Or that a brand can take X campaign idea that worked for a male product and just insert the women's version and you're done. Like a shrink-it-and-pink-it mentality for marketing/advertising. I don't see it discussed as often but it makes me wonder how much that contributes to the gender disparity alongside the other factors always mentioned (representation, event policies, product fit, etc).
Worldwide, 22.7% of ultrarunners are Female. Some say, "How can we increase participation!" but I always it was because women were smarter and had better things to do.
Same with shoe reviews - these are usually entirely subjective and exist for the purpose of generating affiliate revenue - I'm again hoping women are just putting their time to better use.
Maybe it's like sports casting - if you read what the announcers said they sound like idiots - but they say it with enough moxie to sell it - sports broadcasting is mostly male for this reason.
Youtube apparently trends male anyway but I am learning so much through the comments. Like the female shoe reviewers that do exist, the fact that some think the female specific shoes are all crap, and some that have been intimidated away from reviewing shoes. Love these conversations, appreciated you chiming in Buzz.
Good note on the specialty shops bit. There was another sub that mentioned :
> Why was Fendi at Design Miami? Loro Piana at Salone in Milan? This isn’t about a line of products that contribute a negligible amount to these companies’ bottom line. It’s because this is where the tastemakers and the elite are.
Specialty shops similarly are tastemakers within a hobby, so signal the same thing. All cultural capital that is lost once everything is on sale or you sell too much in big box stores.
It seems any healthy market needs that role in some form. What else fills that role within running? Crews? Races? Likely all of them in different ways.
Influencers whether it’s run crew, individual, or racing orgs like TSP or even just the marathon majors. Anything that’s exclusive will have a level of status associated with it.
I've been filled in that Believe In The Run has something like 10 female shoe reviewers! So check them out if you are a woman who came up short a YouTube search like I did!
🤯 now that’s a topic right there. Meaning they call it female specific but it’s actually just the same male foot lasts? Or it doesn’t matter in the first place?
There are brands that actually do legit research (like Puma), but once it goes to production it tends to be overbuilt or too heavy or whatever, and just a very average shoe. Not markedly better than any other shoe out there, and significantly worse than the best ones. So maybe over the course of 500 miles it does benefit a female foot– maybe being a key word– but at the end of the day, it just doesn't really make a difference. At least, that's Meg's perspective. Which is why you'll never see one of those female specific shoes ever get a second version. But every few years they pop up, and I have a heavy suspicion it's just to sell more shoes, another promise of footwear that will change your life that is really just a marketing gimmick.
Wildly interesting. It’s either far more difficult than we assume to make a female specific shoe that matters or as much as we want to think it will make it difference, maybe it doesn’t? So much to to learn. Have you been able to get any designers who worked on these shoes to talk openly? I’d be curious to hear from Lulu as we approach one year out from the Further event.
Yeah kinda came here to say this. Meaghan is very much an equal face of the brand and by far the most accomplished runner on our team. On our website especially, nearly every review features a female reviewer viewpoint, which we've been very intentional about. Kofuzi's numbers aren't surprising– YouTube as a platform is male dominated and shoe culture in general leans heavily towards men. That said, Emily Heller is a fantastic YouTuber with 24k subs and she also deserves a mention.
Re:female shoe/gear reviewers - I'm not a super crazy technical gear person, but I've worked in the space long enough to know at least as much as most guys, and yet when I would do gear reviews there was a sense that I didn't know what I was talking about or I'd have to "prove" it with a bunch of scientific explanations instead of being able to say 'it fits too tight' (for ex). It very much felt like there was a gatekeeping that keeps women out of gear reviewing a lot of the time
This is such a shame. My gear reviews would use the same language as yours! Having worked in run specialty I have such a tough time with gear reviews bc people can feel the same shoe totally differently. You can bring the same shoe out to 10 people and probably get 6 different ideas of what that shoe feels like. So subjective. Nevertheless (or maybe to my point) there shouldn't be any credentials to "prove" you're capable of reviewing a shoe other than maybe the experience to compare them between each other.
I think your 'can they v should they' take on the Nike v. Satisfy is spot on. The copyright argument of heat mapped holes in a shirt isn't very relevant as Nike has been selling that for years, but this particular look is definitely trying to hit that Satisfy vibe (although £50 cheaper...) Legal arguments aside, I feel the publicity around this will likely drive many people that were willing to drop £70 on the Nike version to Satisfy, if only because the design and marketing is better.
It's an aesthetic for me and holes deliberately cut in a singlet vs. moth-like holes in a vintage t-shirt aren't one-and-the-same. Satisfy's look is definitely very distinct within the context of running gear. They'll definitely benefit from this, no doubt.
Just read your SATISFY x Nike section and totally agree with your perspective. Again, you said it better.
I'm not sure it was better. I just smiled at us both reaching the same conclusion!
remember And1? classic Nike...
I’m with Buzz on this one. The women I know who run don’t seem very interested in YouTube reviews or running podcasts—and I’m not entirely sure why. But I appreciate Buzz’s reasoning: our relationships with sport can differ, and most running/gear content is, at heart, sports content.
It’s become a running joke that some people (often men) watch shoe reviews just to validate their own purchases. In my experience, women tend to approach these decisions differently and don’t lean on that same impulse. When female friends do ask about running gear or content creators, I usually point them to RunLikeHeller.
What can be said about Nike! Big win for Satisfy and the free marketing. So many comments are in the realm of “never heard of Satisfy before.” I wonder what the bump in Followers will be when this all shakes out?
While not unique, MothTech and the Satisfy look lead the running subculture trend. Newbies to the sport aren’t here because they watched the Olympics—they’re here because of the “get outside” wave that rippled across the planet through the pandemic. Now that snowball is rolling and has a life of its own. Running will never be the same again, and I’m here for it.
Really great Aaron. I love the insight that a brand needs to connect/speak to women in different ways than men. Not at all a new insight but I'm not sure the running industry, especially trail, have figured out how to do that effectively. There's a lot of assumptions that something like a shoe review on YouTube reaches women to the same/similar degree as men. Or that a brand can take X campaign idea that worked for a male product and just insert the women's version and you're done. Like a shrink-it-and-pink-it mentality for marketing/advertising. I don't see it discussed as often but it makes me wonder how much that contributes to the gender disparity alongside the other factors always mentioned (representation, event policies, product fit, etc).
Wow Matt! Thanks for including me in this great piece!
Really great interview Sunny. I thoroughly enjoyed it! Keep up the great work!
Cheers Matt
Worldwide, 22.7% of ultrarunners are Female. Some say, "How can we increase participation!" but I always it was because women were smarter and had better things to do.
Same with shoe reviews - these are usually entirely subjective and exist for the purpose of generating affiliate revenue - I'm again hoping women are just putting their time to better use.
Maybe it's like sports casting - if you read what the announcers said they sound like idiots - but they say it with enough moxie to sell it - sports broadcasting is mostly male for this reason.
Youtube apparently trends male anyway but I am learning so much through the comments. Like the female shoe reviewers that do exist, the fact that some think the female specific shoes are all crap, and some that have been intimidated away from reviewing shoes. Love these conversations, appreciated you chiming in Buzz.
Good note on the specialty shops bit. There was another sub that mentioned :
> Why was Fendi at Design Miami? Loro Piana at Salone in Milan? This isn’t about a line of products that contribute a negligible amount to these companies’ bottom line. It’s because this is where the tastemakers and the elite are.
Specialty shops similarly are tastemakers within a hobby, so signal the same thing. All cultural capital that is lost once everything is on sale or you sell too much in big box stores.
(Source: https://substack.com/home/post/p-153770296?selection=a01fa267-aa36-443c-866f-7c6b85179b88)
It seems any healthy market needs that role in some form. What else fills that role within running? Crews? Races? Likely all of them in different ways.
Influencers whether it’s run crew, individual, or racing orgs like TSP or even just the marathon majors. Anything that’s exclusive will have a level of status associated with it.
I've been filled in that Believe In The Run has something like 10 female shoe reviewers! So check them out if you are a woman who came up short a YouTube search like I did!
Also, female-specific footwear is an industry scam to sell more shoes. Meaghan has yet to review a "female-specific" shoe that's any good.
🤯 now that’s a topic right there. Meaning they call it female specific but it’s actually just the same male foot lasts? Or it doesn’t matter in the first place?
There are brands that actually do legit research (like Puma), but once it goes to production it tends to be overbuilt or too heavy or whatever, and just a very average shoe. Not markedly better than any other shoe out there, and significantly worse than the best ones. So maybe over the course of 500 miles it does benefit a female foot– maybe being a key word– but at the end of the day, it just doesn't really make a difference. At least, that's Meg's perspective. Which is why you'll never see one of those female specific shoes ever get a second version. But every few years they pop up, and I have a heavy suspicion it's just to sell more shoes, another promise of footwear that will change your life that is really just a marketing gimmick.
Wildly interesting. It’s either far more difficult than we assume to make a female specific shoe that matters or as much as we want to think it will make it difference, maybe it doesn’t? So much to to learn. Have you been able to get any designers who worked on these shoes to talk openly? I’d be curious to hear from Lulu as we approach one year out from the Further event.
Yeah kinda came here to say this. Meaghan is very much an equal face of the brand and by far the most accomplished runner on our team. On our website especially, nearly every review features a female reviewer viewpoint, which we've been very intentional about. Kofuzi's numbers aren't surprising– YouTube as a platform is male dominated and shoe culture in general leans heavily towards men. That said, Emily Heller is a fantastic YouTuber with 24k subs and she also deserves a mention.
Keep on crushing it Robbe! I appreciate you chiming in.
Re:female shoe/gear reviewers - I'm not a super crazy technical gear person, but I've worked in the space long enough to know at least as much as most guys, and yet when I would do gear reviews there was a sense that I didn't know what I was talking about or I'd have to "prove" it with a bunch of scientific explanations instead of being able to say 'it fits too tight' (for ex). It very much felt like there was a gatekeeping that keeps women out of gear reviewing a lot of the time
This is such a shame. My gear reviews would use the same language as yours! Having worked in run specialty I have such a tough time with gear reviews bc people can feel the same shoe totally differently. You can bring the same shoe out to 10 people and probably get 6 different ideas of what that shoe feels like. So subjective. Nevertheless (or maybe to my point) there shouldn't be any credentials to "prove" you're capable of reviewing a shoe other than maybe the experience to compare them between each other.
I think your 'can they v should they' take on the Nike v. Satisfy is spot on. The copyright argument of heat mapped holes in a shirt isn't very relevant as Nike has been selling that for years, but this particular look is definitely trying to hit that Satisfy vibe (although £50 cheaper...) Legal arguments aside, I feel the publicity around this will likely drive many people that were willing to drop £70 on the Nike version to Satisfy, if only because the design and marketing is better.
It's an aesthetic for me and holes deliberately cut in a singlet vs. moth-like holes in a vintage t-shirt aren't one-and-the-same. Satisfy's look is definitely very distinct within the context of running gear. They'll definitely benefit from this, no doubt.