A new year is upon the run specialty industry and there’s plenty to monitor. From retailers making moves to performance running brands battling for market share, from the cost of doing business to up-and-coming accessory categories, the run specialty marketplace is wealthy in movement, energy and intrigue in 2025.
Running Insight senior writer Danny Smith details 10 notable things he’ll be watching throughout the current calendar year.
1. Who will earn a spot on the footwear market share podium?
While Brooks and Hoka sit atop the run specialty mountaintop as the market share leaders, other brands are fighting for share of foot. Will someone break through and emerge the channel’s definitive number three?
Maybe it can be ASICS? Once the clear market share leader, ASICS has gained considerable momentum over recent years with dynamic new franchises like the Superblast and Novablast. Or perhaps New Balance? The Boston-based company continues serving its devout brand loyalists while also dishing up exciting offerings like the Rebel and SC Trainer to attract converts.
Maybe it’s On, which remains a trendy pick while pushing boundaries and unveiling compelling options like the upcoming Cloudboom Max? (Not to mention a catchy Super Bowl commercial.) Or Saucony, which can lean into its popular Endorphin line-up alongside reliable models like the Ride and Triumph?
Which brand from that set – the four most likely candidates at the moment – will assert itself in the third slot and close the gap on Brooks and Hoka, neither of which is conceding a sale.
Further down the market share list, but certainly worth keeping an eye on are Altra and Mizuno. With its introduction of low-drop footwear, Altra continues finding new fans. Mizuno, meanwhile, has enjoyed a lively resurgence over recent months. The Neo Vista, introduced last summer, earned attention and praise and revitalized a brand long carried by the Rider and Inspire. The ballyhooed January release of the Neo Zen proves Mizuno isn’t playing around.
2. Ownership transfers
In 2024 alone, a number of established stores changed ownership hands, including Aardvark Sports in Pennsylvania, iRun in San Antonio and Running Wild in Florida. I anticipate seeing more of this in 2025, especially given the number of run shops that opened 25-plus years ago and remain under founding ownership.
I’ll be most interested to track how these ownership transfers occur. Some, like Aardvark, will see existing employees take the reins. Others, like iRun, might sell to an external individual. Given Fleet Feet’s publicized push to reach 400 stores, the North Carolina-based company will be an exit ramp for some existing owners, too, which recently occurred with Flying Feet Sports Shoes in York, PA.
3. What challenger footwear brand will gain traction?
The top of the performance running footwear heap attracts outsized attention, but I always keep my eye on others. Whether called challenger brands, upstart brands or something else, numerous players are capable of ending 2025 with heightened momentum and mainstream awareness.
Diadora is an obvious choice. The Italian brand has been around since 1948 and garnered global attention in running before thanks to its relationship with Sebastian Coe. Its recent re-entry into running has been thoughtful and steady and fueled by strong product. I’ve heard more than a few running retailers rave about Diadora as a partner, too.
Topo is no longer some sleepy player on the outside looking in. The Tony Post-led brand, now in its third full year under the Designer Brands banner, is pulling innovation and design levers unlike any other time in its 12-year history.
And though 361 flies under the radar and remains far too much of a secret, even in run specialty corners, the brand continues churning out reliable footwear. Released last year, the Eleos is a bang-for-your-buck star. Brand leaders hope the Ventus, a snappier $160 model dropping this month, will further elevate 361’s profile.
Keep in mind that a decade ago, Hoka and On were two fledgling brands clamoring for attention, so odds are good someone will break out from the pack and climb the market share rankings.
Perhaps it might be a brand on few radars these days.
Hylo Athletics and fashion brand Veja are capturing attention with their performance footwear and respective stories centered around sustainability, while Mount 2 Coast, which turns one in April, is winning plaudits from reviewers for its earliest models. Mount 2 Coast also has plans to aggressively push into retail throughout 2025.
On the trail side, I’ll be tracking Merrell, Craft, NNormal and Norda among others. The days of utilitarian trail shoes are gone and the innovation in the trail category is wild, even if trail footwear remains a relatively small part of running’s overall revenue pie.
4. The German power players
The presence of Adidas and Puma at U.S.-based run specialty stores has waxed and waned over the years — a shoe wall essential at times, a superfluous option at others. Currently, however, these two German brands – founded by dueling brothers Adi and Rudolf Dassler, respectively – are pushing the pace in performance run.
Adidas boasts a cleaner go-to-market strategy with its footwear lineup and has expressed a renewed commitment to the run specialty channel, characterized by its attendance at The Running Event last November.
Puma, meanwhile, has generated well-deserved attention since its 2021 running reboot. The Cat boasts a flurry of exciting styles, such as the Deviate Nitro and MagMax Nitro, and an edgy, enterprising vibe resonating with retailers and consumers alike.
What will these two well-established German heavyweights do in 2025 to increase relevancy and gain run specialty market share?
5. Investments in brick-and-mortar retail
For all the talk of e-com and the slow death of brick-and-mortar retail, run specialty surely isn’t running scared.
Fleet Feet CEO Joey Pointer openly discusses his ambitions to create a $1 billion brand and reach 400 stores. This year, Fleet Feet will knock on the door of 300 locations, as the company continues to welcome new franchises, convert existing stores and open corporate-owned locations.
But Fleet Feet isn’t the only one growing. Florida-based Fit2Run is now approaching 40 units after celebrating multiple grand openings in 2024. Atlanta’s Big Peach Running Co., meanwhile, is scheduled to open two new stores by Memorial Day, raising its unit count to 15.
Across the country, independents are opening new stores, investing in remodels and relocating to bigger, better locations. It’s a sign of run specialty’s health and signals broader optimism for the channel moving forward.
6. The cost of doing business
Inflation was a hot topic in 2024. So far in 2025, it’s tariffs. Price stabilization seems the best potential outcome we might secure.
From rent to shipping to labor, costs will remain high in 2025, which means running retailers will have to carefully monitor their spending and make calculated, data-driven decisions to ensure a financially healthy operation, even if store sales climb.
I’ll be interested in the unsexy, yet tough, critical decisions running retailers make to drive financial wellness. Will owners renegotiate their leases? Tighten up their inventory spend? Operate leaner teams? Monetize store programs to propel revenue and offset escalating costs?
7. Product categories on the climb
Run specialty is an ever-evolving retail environment with a history of embracing innovative products and new categories. A decade ago, for instance, the recovery category consisted of a few mixed drink options and The Stick. Today, brands like Pro-Tec, Roll Recovery and Therabody offer an assortment of products to fuel recovery, while Oofos has significantly expanded its lineup of recovery footwear and emerged a run specialty staple.
What’s the next big category to pop?
Underwear seems a unique option given players like Saxx and 2UNDR as well as the female-centric Paradis Sport.
Hats aren’t new in running, but brands like ciele athletics and Territory Run Co. (in photo) are pushing to make running hats an essential part of the run.
Maybe its sunscreen with brands like KINeSYS? Or shoe care so consumers can maximize every mile? Or a completely novel category like sauna blankets?
A few years back, it seemed CBD products were poised to explode. Then, CBD faded – for good reason. In 2025, I’ll be on the lookout for any category helping run shops sell more to their existing customers.
8. Serving newbies and non-runners
During The Running Event last November, New Balance global product manager for running and training Andrew McCann said something that stuck with me: “With so many new people coming to the sport, what will they gravitate toward?”
McCann’s comment got my head spinning. What product will intrigue? What events and store programming will resonate? By and large, run shops have a good sense of what competitive high school runners want. Newbies, however, bring more mystery.
The same holds true for how running stores engage non-runners — those who enter stores seeking an everyday shoe for work, walking the dog, everyday comfort and so on.
Fleet Feet’s 2024 Running Report put quantitative figures around something most running stores intuitively know: dedicated runners are not our channel’s core business. Only 12 percent of the survey’s 3500 respondents – all of whom had spent $75 or more on running shoes and/or apparel or accessories in the past 12 months – identified as a “serious runner” and less than one-third had participated in a running event over the previous 12 months.
Though the word “running” – or some variation thereof – sits in so many store names, how run specialty shops connect with, service and engage non-runners will have a monster impact on business in 2025 and beyond. What will run shops do on the marketing and service front to capture these customers? Count me curious.
9. The tech trickle down
Under Armour wowed me at The Running Event last November when global product director of run footwear and run apparel Doug Smiley handed me the Sonic 7 and shared the headline. “This is a $110 shoe with supercritical foam,” Smiley told me.
Finding a performance run shoe at $110 is tough enough these days. Finding a $110 shoe packed with supercritical foam, well, that’s something altogether different.
Supercritical foams, praised for enhanced comfort and higher energy return at a reduced weight, were originally the sole domain of high-end racing shoes. Their arrival into core styles presents something particularly exciting for run shops: an opportunity to offer customers higher performance footwear at more accessible price points. This should be a win for running shops.
10. The eternal evolution of run shops
At The Running Event in 2021, I presented a program titled “101 Ways to Spark Your Run Specialty Store.” Last November, I offered a follow-up program called “101 MORE Ways to Spark Your Run Specialty Store.” That’s 202 sharp, creative, entrepreneurial things I’ve seen run shops do over the years, from group runs to in-store events to merchandising to branding initiatives. And I could have included dozens more in each presentation.
This year marks my 22nd year in the run specialty industry and the spirit and energy of run specialty shops is a constant source of inspiration. I’m excited to see what run shops do in 2025 to enhance the personalized experience, build community, entice sales, communicate to customers and more.
History tells me I’ll be surprised and inspired. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
WAIT, THERE’S MORE …
5 Bonus Things to Watch
#1
By many metrics, including RunSignup’s Annual Industry Report 2024, race participation is nearing pre-pandemic levels. Will the numbers – a sign of investment in the sport – continue to climb? And if so, where will the most significant growth take place?
#2
With more footwear options in its product pipeline, how will Tracksmith continue to execute its calculated move into brick-and-mortar retail?
#3
Are run clubs here to stay or are these socially oriented run crews just having a moment?
#4
Co-founded by a running retailer (Monica DeVreese from Santa Barbara Running Co.), rabbit (in photo at top of this article) has emerged a run specialty darling. How will the California-based brand, which entered the footwear game last year, continue connecting with retailers and consumers alike?
#5
U.S. consumers love to buy – and then return what they buy. How will brands and retailers deal with the nation’s “return culture” to appease customers while also protecting their bottom line?
