Key Specs:
Brand: Tecnica
Model: Origin
Price: $170
Availability: Limited release in July 2019, full release in Spring 2020
Unique Features: Custom heat-molded footbed, heel and arch support
Upshot: Two years ago, Tecnica, a company best known for its ski boots, branched into a new category when it released the Forge, a full-size hiking boot with an upper that’s completely customizable through a short in-store heat-molding fitting process. This year it took the next logical step: to use the same molding procedure on a low-cut hiking shoe, the Plasma. Both have proved highly successful, garnering numerous awards and accolades. Recently, Tecnica revealed that its next stride in footwear is toward trail running — with the announcement of the Origin, a custom-fit running shoe.
Who It’s For: Trail runners.
Insight: As with the Forge and the Plasma, the Origin’s fit is tuned precisely to the anatomy of a runner’s foot through a 15-minute process that occurs at retailers carrying the shoe. Unlike with the hiking boots though, the Origin accounts for the varying anatomies of different runners. “When a runner enters a shop today and likes one shoe or a particular technology, the only option is to buy a model that is designed for an ‘average person,’ ” observes Federico Sbrissa, Tecnica’s footwear Business Unit Manager, in a press release. “If you weigh 100 pounds or 200 pounds you’re forced into the same shoe.”
Tecnica’s solution was to consider weight to create two models with varying levels of support: the Origin LT and the heavier, more supportive Origin XT (different models of each for men and women mean a total of four new shoes). Even without the heat molding and anatomical consideration, the Origin looks like a quality trail runner — it has a sock-like, tongueless polyester upper with TPU reinforcements, a TPU shank and forefoot rock protection plate, and a Vibram Megagrip outsole.
The Origin will be available at select retailers this spring and widely available in spring 2020 for $170.
