Curious as we are about a shoe that can last nearly 800 miles and still stay responsive? Read on to learn about inov-8’s latest trail shoe with graphene-enhanced foam that claims to do just that.
Any serious runner can tell you how important a midsole is. The midsole is where support, cushioning, and responsiveness between your foot and the ground live. To innovate a better midsole, inov-8 partnered with The University of Manchester to develop its first — and the world’s first — graphene-enhanced foam.
What is graphene? It’s one of the strongest and thinnest materials on the planet. Technically, it’s a single atomic layer of the material graphite. It’s 200 times stronger than steel, yet 1,000 times thinner than a human hair.
Now, graphene has been used in trail shoes before. (Inov-8 created the first graphene-enhanced rubber in 2018.) But this will be the first time the material is used in a shoe’s foam, instead of plastic, rubber, or EVA. “With [this shoe], we deliver insanely sticky traction … we pioneer in grip,” said Michael Price, inov-8’s COO.
The first shoe model with the new graphene foam is inov-8’s TrailFly Ultra G 300 Max, which has graphene in the rubber outsole as well. On a media call, inov-8 noted that the TrailFly is “designed for durability and performance for ultra-marathon distances.”
One of the biggest questions we had about this shoe was not about how it performs, but rather how it’s designed — specifically, why use graphene? Using graphene is inov-8’s way to increase the brand’s sustainability in its products, as using graphene-enhanced foam increases the shoe’s longevity.
Inov-8’s athletes who have been testing the new foam in the TrailFly shoe said that “it was still performing well after 1,200 km,” which inov-8 reminded us is double the industry standard. Shoes that can run long distances, and last longer, can mean less material going to waste in the long run.
TrailFly Ultra G 300 Max Specs
- 6mm drop
- Grippy, 4mm lugs
- Wide toebox
- Midsole design optimized for ultra distances
- Medium-to-high stack height (30mm heel/24mm forefoot)
- 25% better energy return than a shoe with EVA foam* (25% better than inov-8’s POWERFLOW foam, which is EVA)
- Weight: 300 g/10 oz.
- Price: $190
* independent lab tested at The University of Manchester in England
