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Forged in the fells and mountains of the British Lake District in 2003, we are a footwear, apparel and equipment brand for committed trail and off-road runners, fitness athletes and adventure-seeking hikers who push boundaries and stretch limits all across the world. But then most of you already knew that, right?
This blog post focuses on some of the things you might NOT know about our brand, especially if you’ve recently discovered us. From technologies to celebrities and everything in between, here is our list of the top-10:
From the outset we have always included numbers in the naming of our shoes. The first pair of INOV8 shoes were called the MUDROC 290, with 290 representing the weight, which in this case was 290g per shoe. We have followed suit ever since across all footwear, whether that be in trail running shoes, fitness shoes or hiking shoes & boots…. with one exception.
We strive to make all our footwear as lightweight as possible without compromising on durability, protection and comfort. As you would expect, the lighter you go, the harder it becomes to deliver everything else. That’s where innovation comes in, with our use of pioneering technologies and designs putting us ahead of the competition.
You may have also seen a G in some of our shoe naming. The G stands for Graphene and highlights that those shoes have Graphene-Grip. By infusing the world’s strongest material, we’ve been able to give you world-first rubber outsoles that have insane sticky grip AND incredible durability. No compromise.
Did you also know that the X in our iconic X-TALON range is pronounced ‘cross’ and not ‘X’? That is because it was designed as a less aggressive alternative to the MUDCLAW and one which could be used to go ‘go cross country’.
Our lightest ever shoes? TRAILROC 150 for the trails, BARE XF 150 for the gym and ROAD-X-TREME 118 for the roads, all of which are no longer in the range. But wait, there is a wildcard too… the exception case. All we’ll say is have a look online for the INOV8 EVOSKIN. It was a long time ago!
It came as a huge surprise one day in February 2016 when the agent for internationally famous comedian Eddie Izzard rang INOV8 HQ and said his client was about run 27 marathons in 27 days across South Africa for charity – and was going to do so in INOV8 shoes. The story goes that Eddie had visited a retailer to try on trail & road running shoes from several brands and massively favoured inov-8.
We supplied Eddie with a few pairs from our ROADCLAW and ROCLITE ranges and the rest, as they say, is history. Eddie went onto complete his 707-mile challenge, finishing under a giant statue of Nelson Mandela in Pretoria and raising more than £1m for Sport Relief. The run was staged in tribute to the 27 years Nelson Mandela spent in prison before becoming the first black president of South Africa.
Eddie was at it again earlier this year when he ran 29 marathons in 29 days across 29 European cities for his Make Humanity Great Again Challenge. Amongst his footwear arsenal this time was the TRAILTALON 290 V2.
Okay, this is not strictly true, but allow us to explain. You know Henry Cavill, the British actor who plays Superman? Well, it turns out that the Man of Steel also likes his fitness shoes made of strong stuff. Yes, Henry has been spotted wearing inov-8 F-LITE footwear in his social media workout posts (see above). And no, we didn’t seed him the shoes.
Superman isn’t the only famous face we’ve spotted using our shoes down the years. We’ve seen it on the feet of all sorts of celebrities and royal relations, from Paddy McGuiness (comedian and TV presenter) to Pippa Middleton (socialite and sister to the Duchess of Cambridge). ROCLITE G 345 GTX and X-TALON 190, respectively, in case you were wondering.
Just this month it happened again. Another spot. This time on a viral video from Crufts – the world’s greatest dog show. It turns out the handler of Willow – the winner of the agility championships – used our X-TALON 200 shoes to keep up with his super-speedy, fast-turning four-legged companion.
It just proves – you never know where you’ll next see INOV8 shoes! Keep your eyes peeled and let us know.
No ‘shrink it and pink it’ here. This phrase refers to taking a men’s item and making it smaller and pinker to appeal to women. It is, unfortunately, still a method used elsewhere but the exact opposite way to how our Apparel Product & Design Manager Helen Stuart works. She starts by designing women’s running clothing, then adapts it for men’s running clothing.
Helen, who has been with the brand for seven years and seen her designs win multiple industry awards (see photo above), recently spoke to Trail Running Magazine about her innovative approach. The article (which you can read in full here) says: “There are many reasons for this, but first and foremost it’s because it’s more challenging to design for women’s bodies. Issues such as where to put pockets and how seams should sit are different for women and men. A chest pocket on a men’s garment could be incredibly annoying for women, just as a diagonal seam designed to articulate a waist might be too restrictive for a man.”
And the innovation in the design of our apparel range doesn’t stop there… check out our new running base layers made of recycled plastic bottles!
There seems to be some kind of myth that all INOV8 shoes are narrow-fitting. This is simply not true. We have, in fact, graded the fit of all our shoes from 1 to 5 to make it easier to find the perfect fitting shoe.
All our shoes are designed with MET-CRADLE technology to lock down the mid-foot for a stable hold. Where they differ is in the toe box. Grade 1 represents our closest, most precise fit. At the other end of the scale, Grade 5 has the widest fitting toe box.
The lower the number on our scale, the narrower the fit, which ensures minimal internal movement of the foot when running fast on technical terrain. Shoes with the higher numbers on our scale will suit athletes with a wider foot and those wanting that extra comfort in the toe box. This wider toe box allows the toes to splay, perfect for longer runs and races when toes begin to swell and, in fitness, for increased stability when lifting heavy weights.
As a rough guide, Grade 1 represents an industry B fit, while Grade 5 equates to a 2E fit in the forefoot. The popular TRAILFLY G 270 (pictured above) is an example of a shoe with our Grade 5 fit.
Finding what width grading each of our shoes have is easy. Head to our website and on all category pages, you will find a 1-5 fit scale tick-box in the top left corner.
It’s something we get asked a lot: Are you shoes vegan? The answer is yes, all our in-line shoes and boots are 100% vegan – from the glues used to the knits and the leathers. Also worth adding that all the materials we use in our footwear are tested to either SATRA or INTERTEK global standards. Now you know.
The former British SAS serviceman turned adventurer and global TV presenter has always had a soft spot for our footwear and remains in the contact book of INOV8 founder Wayne Edy. In the countdown to London 2012, Bear zip-wired across the River Tyne in Newcastle (UK) carrying the Olympic torch and rocking a bright red pair of F-LITE shoes. He later appeared on a number of big US chat shows, again wearing F-LITE footwear.
It then went quiet for a while…. until last year when he wrote an article in The Wall Street Journal and picked the ROCLITE G 345 GTX boots as one of his ‘six tech essentials.’
Until next time Bear, thank you.
It’s true. The F-LITE shoes which have become synonymous with fitness and are the go-to choice for committed cross-fitters (like Dani Speegle, pictured above) were originally designed as mountain running ‘flats’. Stripped-back, low-profile, lightweight and boasting a flat super-grippy outsole, the F-LITE 230 was intended for speedy mountain goats racing short distances over hard ground.
Unfortunately it didn’t sell in big numbers and was about to culled from the INOV8 footwear range when suddenly there was a huge spike in sales in the US. Further investigations revealed a new sport based around functional fitness was becoming big news in boxes (gyms) across America and those doing it had discovered the perfect shoe for their hardcore workouts – that shoe was the F-LITE 230.
So there you go, that’s how we became the ‘original shoe of the box.’
Some companies claim it, but we can prove it… our employees really do live and breathe the brand. Preferred sports and abilities may differ, but the commitment level is always 100%. There are countless examples, from Bodil Oudshoorn (aka Dr Grip, photographed above) running the length of the 295-mile Via Egnatia trail (Albania to Greece) during her Christmas break to Fran Calvert competing at the CrossFit Games European & Meridian Regional and Jason Millward mixing it at the sharp end of Ultra Tour Monte Rosa.
We run or workout most lunchtimes, we help test all new products, we encourage each other to innovate within our roles, and when we speak to customers we speak with the brand at heart. So, guessing you now want to see if we have any job vacancies? All opportunities can be found here.
We won’t name names, but trust us when we say that other well-known brands were investigating how to use Graphene in sports footwear before we raced ahead and got there first with our G-GRIP™ and G-SERIES™ sports shoes.
Working in collaboration with scientists at The University of Manchester National Graphene Institute we were able to turn original concept ideas into final products for retail within 18 months. We are – and will remain – the only brand able to use the world’s strongest material in the outsoles and midsoles of sports shoes.
You will likely know that Graphene comes from Graphite rock, which was first discovered in the British Lake District in the 16th Century. What you probably won’t know is the location of the mine from where Graphite was first discovered. Perhaps we’ll keep that one to ourselves…. but tease you with a photo and the knowledge that it’s 16 straight miles away from our HQ.
