Hoka One One has lost its focus. In the first enumeration of 3 different shoes they made the finest there was. And promptly messed them up. The original Clayton, Clifton and Bondi were truly shoes to behold (the stories say). The one I was able to buy was the original Clayton. It came in at 7.8 ounces and is softer than the Bondi 5 at 12 ounces. The Clifton came in at the same weight and was softer still.

In the Bondi 5 it is firm and responsive. Its supposed to be soft and cushy. They completely forgot what they were supposed to be making. But maybe their mission statement is: “Sell as many shoes as possible at all costs!” And not: “Make the best shoe possible!” 

And that was the problem. With the Clifton being the best shoe ever made, there was no need for the Tracer, the Clayton or the Bondi. It was as light as any of them and softer than all! Hoka had no interest in satisfying the customer, they were about satisfying sales. That one shoe made 3 other models unnecessary. They could have stopped right there as far as neutral road shoes go. Mission accomplished.

Hoka isn’t the only company that goes backward in its shoe development, I saw the same thing with New Balance and the original Zante. In that case it was even more stark. The Zante was the lightest, the softest and the cheapest ($100). I was able to nab that one too on clearance for $60 bucks. New Balance’s 1080, which is supposed to be their “plush” ride, is in reality only their heaviest, and costliest at $150 dollars.

So there we come to it. The problem. The bottom line. You can’t continue to churn profits each quarter just making the lightest, softest, cheapest shoe out there. There’s no marketing buzz in that. You need the “new and improved” model each spring! Even though in reality all they are doing is making shoes harder, heavier and more expensive. 

[The only one who seems to be improving their shoe is Brooks. And that’s only with the Ghost and Glycerin line. The rest of their lineup is screwed up, but the Ghost is a shoe. The 10 is a dramatic improvement over the 6 & 8, and the 11 is supposed to up the game even more.]

(I ran into a review of the original Clifton at Sole Review of original Clifton . You can see from the score box its about the only shoe that hit the highest score for softness. In a men’s size 11 US they said it came in at 7.9 ounces! Unbelievable! The shoe had 3 minor flaws that could have been corrected without adding any weight. The toe box needed to be widened just a smidge. The tongue needed just a bit of padding. The sharp heel bevel needed to be shortened and squared off a hair to make it more stable. That’s it. They would have had the perfect shoe for eternity. Instead they chose to play this “harder and heavier” game. One year its this, the next year its that…)

[On an unrelated note, I was experiencing tight/sore hips and found some great exercises at Runners Connect that really made a difference after just 2 completions (1 day on, 1 day off). Can’t imagine how much better they’ll be after a few weeks.]