Shoe Of The Week: Zoot Solana
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This neutral cushioned trainer serves up a glove-like fit and a buttery ride.
Zoot Sports is known as a triathlon brand, with a 30-year legacy in the sport and its lightweight tri-specific race shoes. The new Solana is its first true attempt at reaching the broader audience of runners and, based on our wear-tests, it’s a shoe many runners will appreciate. It’s a lightweight, comfortable, high-mileage neutral trainer that offers both premium cushioning and great shock absorption from a proprietary injection-molded EVA. What does all of that really mean? The ride is creamy smooth—an ideal blend of softness, snappy responsiveness and inherent stability without being marshmallowy or overly firm—thanks also to continual ground contact and a sufficiently wide platform.
It has a narrow, low-volume interior that serves up a locked-down fit enhanced by a soft, gusseted tongue and a snug heel cup with a padded collar. Part of the genius of this shoe is the minimally designed upper that has a seamless, barefoot-friendly interior and an internal support web that eliminates the need for excessive overlays. The toe box isn’t very wide, but it’s not constricting either. In summary, the Solana is well-cushioned, form-fitting and energetically flexible. (The Solana ACR is a similar model with a tighter upper mesh geared for running in fall/winter conditions.)
Price: $100 (Solana ACR: $110)
Weights: 8.5 oz. (men’s size 9.0), 7.3 oz. (women’s size 7.0)
Heel-Toe Offset: 8mm
Info: zootsports.com
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