Shoes: Atreyu Running - 'The Base Model'

I recently posted a photo on Instagram of my most recent and unique shoe purchase and received a lot of messages and questions about them. Having now put some kilometres into them, thought I would share my thoughts and some very basic information.

The shoe in question is ‘The Base Model’ from Texan company Atreyu, founded last year. Everything about this company and shoe is unique from a less-is-more perspective which is refreshing in the world of shoes promising to wash dishes and clean the floors for you due to the propriety foam from Pluto. I’m no shoe expert but have put together a short video with my thoughts including value for money and if this piques your interest, you'll be able to find some more info elsewhere.

Usage

I currently run approximately 100 kilometres a week, three easy days, a tempo and intervals day and a long run. For me, these fit into my easy and tempo days as they’re just so lightweight and comfortable and I don’t feel like I need a $300 shoe for the bulk of my training, and nor does my wallet.

There’s none of the maximalist cushioning that’s popular these days, but I find that being so light, that they’re easy to run in even on slow days and let the legs turnover with hardly any resistance... 'smooth' is probably an applicable description and they literally disappear on your feet. I've run up to a half marathon distance comfortably in these but probably would default to something softer for longer training runs only as I'm terribly injury prone and like the extra comfort for long days out.

Pricing

There are two ways to buy these shoes, they’re $75 US as a one-off purchase or $55 US (approx. $120AUD including postage) on a subscription basis. I don’t want to call these shoes ‘disposable’, all shoes are really BUT… they’re designed without any of the excess bulk and rubbish used to make shoes last longer, at the expense of weight. They’re simply shoes to be run in until they’re done and then to be replaced.

The subscription, which I signed up for, sends you a new pair every two months (and you can pick the next colour choice in advance which I love). I rotate all of my shoes so I’m estimating that I’ll have put about 300+ kilometres in my pair before the next arrive. I’m pretty easy on shoes but will update with how many kilometres I get out of these as that will obviously play into the cost/km thoughts that some have, but even at that distance, they’re far cheaper than anything equivalent.

You can also cancel the subscription at any time (or skip one) so the worst case scenario from a cost perspective is that you end up with two pairs of shoes for approx $240AUD.

More info

There is also a no-frills carbon plated race version, ‘The Artist’, which is available for single purchase only at $100US. This is always in high demand but the next pre-release is due in June and you can sign up for notifications or find more information here.

If you're keen, there is plenty more information available at https://www.atreyurunning.com/ or check out their Instagram here.

Let me know in the comments or message if you’ve tried these or what your thoughts are on the shoes and business model, both of which I think are pretty cool! would love to know what other people think about a subscription model for shoes and whether this is something you would try.