Minimal? Inconceivable!

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Minimal? Inconceivable!

By Al Gauthier ⋅ May 5, 2010 ⋅

This article was originally published on Running and Rambling

Minimal? Inconceivable!: “‘You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.’
- Inigo Montoya, from The Princess Bride (clip after post)

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Just because you say something over and over, that doesn’t make it true. Someone needs to get that message out to Saucony.

They’ve created something of a buzz – but not in a particularly good way – with their introduction of the ProGrid Kinvara, heralded (by Saucony, at least) as a wonderful new minimalist shoe. To reinforce the idea, the word ‘minimal’ is used three times in the first 15 seconds of the video that follows below.

But keep watching, and you hear this as well: the Kinvara is a minimalist shoe ‘with maximum cushioning’. You see a diagram for the patented Grid support system in the heel to protect you from ground impact. And you’ll watch a whole group of slow motion runners landing almost unanimously with heavy heelstrikes, the exact thing you’re NOT supposed to do in true minimalist footwear.

Obviously, that word doesn’t mean what Saucony thinks it means. (And if anyone else needs a refresher, I did a pretty thorough explanation here last Sptember.) The Kinvara might be a nice shoe, and it might represent a paradigm shift away from overbuilt and overly corrective footwear towards more natural foot function (I hope it does, personally) – but if there’s one thing it’s not, it’s a minimalist shoe.

More cynically, this whole development might be just a money grab from a company looking to cash in on the latest fad in running. The formula is fairly simple: make something distinctive enough to stand apart from your other models, then throw trendy buzzwords around like crazy in hopes of retaining a share of the customer base that’s been deserting you in favor of true minimalist shoes. I’m hoping this isn’t the case here, but from my standpoint, it’s honestly hard to tell.

You may as well just watch the Kinvara video and decide for yourself. And afterwards, I dare you to watch the Princess Bride clip and tell me that Saucony doesn’t have more than a little bit of Vizzini (the bald guy) in them on this one….

(Read the full article / article originally published on: Running and Rambling.)

Original Article can be found here: Running and Rambling

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Tags: Minimalist Running

Discussion

One comment for “Minimal? Inconceivable!”

Facebook comments:

That’s pretty funny, classic show.

They might be a good option for people that want to eventually be able to wear true minimal footwear but they shouldn’t advertise to be true minimalist shoes. I guess it depends on your point of view.

Posted by Terral | May 26, 2010, 20:35