Altra was founded in 1998 by high school friends Golden Harper and Brian Beckstead. Running and outdoor adventuring have been a major part of their lives and continues to be today. After years of tinkering and testing prototypes, Altra’s founders were determined to share their innovations and bring a new option to the running world. Altra’s unique 3 Core technologies: FootShapeTM, Zero DropTM, and Fit4HerTM were ready for their debut and their first shoe hit the market in 2011. Altra’s innovation expands far beyond our Core 3 foundation, ranging from rugged trail features, such as GaiterTrapTM, TrailClawTM, MaxTracTM, DuraTreadTM, our unique view on dynamic support features like StabilipodTM and GuideRailTM, as well as midsole foams like Altra EGOTM, Max-LTTM and A-BoundTM.