Gear Review: Brooks PureProject Jacket

 

Brooks launched the initial line of PureProject shoes back in 2011. This year welcomes the third iteration of the PureConnect, PureFlow, PureCadence, and PureGrit (the PureDrift, which was the most minimal of the group, does not appear to be getting an update and looks to be discontinued, as far as I can tell). However, for 2014, the PureProject name will also extend to an apparel line, described by Brooks as a streetwise collection that marries performance and style, such that it's appropriate "for wherever the run takes you." Today I'll be reviewing the Brooks PureProject Jacket.

Gear Review: Brooks PureConnect 3

Never let it be said that Brooks doesn't listen to their customers. There were two issues that people seemed to complain about with the PureConnect: the poor durability caused by a lack of lateral forefoot rubber and the narrow toebox. While the PureConnect 2, which was pretty much the PureConnect with a burrito-upper, was most likely already designed and a done deal by the time these complaints came out, these issues were addressed for the third iteration. The result is the Brooks PureConnect 3, a new shoe that has seen an extensive redesign, yet still shares some of the DNA of its predecessor (no pun intended).

Gear Review: Brooks PureCadence 2

As some of you may know, I do some of my running in the Brooks Racer ST 5 mild stability flat. It's not an overly stable shoe, and gives me a firmer platform and a touch of support for those days when the training is getting to me and my ankles could use the support. With this in mind, the Brooks PureCadence 2 seemed like a reasonable alternative for those days, so when Brooks contacted me to ask if I was interested in reviewing the second iteration PureCadence, I jumped at the opportunity.

Gear Review: PureConnect 2 Guest Review at RunBlogger

When Pete over at RunBlogger asks you if you'd like to write a guest review, you don't typically say no. Well, maybe you do if you're like...Running Times, but for most of us, that's a pretty exciting opportunity. So click on over to my Brooks PureConnect2 review, and much thanks to Pete for the opportunity!

Gear Review: Brooks PureDrift

A few months ago, I was desperately searching for a new shoe. I had a stack of boxes of Brooks Launch sitting in the back of my closet, along with my emergency hand-crank flashlight and a few bottles of water in case the zombie apocalypse arrives, because, as we all know, the first rule of Zombieland is cardio (that's a YouTube link, so don't click it if you're somewhere where noise is bad). However, they were strictly for emergencies, like sore feet that required familiar shoes...or the zombie apocalypse. A friend of mine had just posted to Twitter that she had just run through her last pair of now-discontinued Nike Skylons, so I knew that, Launch supply or not, I needed something different. There was the Mizuno Wave Precision, but why start to wear that when that's about to be replaced by the Wave Sayonara? There was the Saucony Kinvara, but the upper on that didn't fit me quite as well as that of the Brooks PureConnect. There was...wait. Why not just wear the PureConnect? Which is what I did. Anyway, needless to say, the Launch was saved which made my search moot, but my stint with the PureConnect rekindled my interest in the PureProject (which, Brooks, if that was your intent, well played), so when I heard about the release of the Brooks PureDrift, hey, I wanted them too.

Gear Review: Brooks Pure Flow

As some of you may know, I've been wearing the Brooks Launch as my daily trainer (with the Brooks PureConnect mixed in there sometimes). Unfortunately, some bad timing on my part had me at the National Running Center needing shoes on the spot with no time to actually ask them to order anything. No Launch in stock in my size meant I had to grab something else. Seeing as I had wanted to try the Brooks PureFlow for a while, I decided to take this opportunity to give them a spin.

Before we start, just to get you up to date, information on the Brooks PureProject can be found here.

Gear Review: Brooks PureConnect

A while ago, I posted some information on the Brooks PureProject, Brooks' entry into the reduced shoe market. When they were first announced, I was pretty unfazed, being happy with my other shoes, and mainly just satisfied that if Brooks was making other low-drop shoes, maybe that meant they'd leave the T Racer alone and not mess with that shoe's H delt. But then the more I heard about them, the more I wanted a pair! First came Sage's review of the PureFlow, then there was the PureProject Facebook contest, and then, well, I bought a pair of PureConnects. The PureProject line consists of four different shoes: the PureConnect, the PureFlow, the PureCadence, and the PureGrit. More information can be found in my previous post. Well, I've finally got some miles on the Brooks PureConnect, the most race-bred of the group, and now, it's time for a review!

Brooks Pure Project Contest

I'm ridiculously proud of this picture for some reason, so I'm posting it up. Came out almost exactly how I had it pictured. This is the effect I was going for (alright, so theirs is better, but those are professional graphic designers who made that. I am a physical therapy grad student with no formal graphic design or art training who did this between classes, and Facebook compressed it all funny on me). View the full size here or by clicking on the photo (it's worth it for full size, I swear!). More after the break.

Brooks Pure Project: New Information

UPDATE 11/16/11: Review of the Brooks PureConnect now posted!
UPDATE 2/9/12: Review of the Brooks PureFlow now posted!

Brooks has just released a whole lot more information about its Pure Project line. I was originally going to add this to my last post on Pure Project, but there quickly got to be too much information. Pictures of the shoes and information about the technology used below the jump.
 

Brooks Pure Project

UPDATE 4/2/11: Brooks has recently released more information on the Pure Project, including pictures of the shoes and details about the technology itself! Check out my new post on the updated data!
UPDATE 11/16/11: Review of the Brooks Pure Connect now posted!
UPDATE 2/9/12: Review of the Brooks PureFlow now posted!

A while ago, when I was in high school (so sometime before 2003), I saw a shoe at Champs Sports that was marketed as mimicking a bare foot. It looked super gimmicky and like it was marketed towards weekend warrior types rather than serious athletes (I can't even remember if it was a running shoe). Obviously it did not do well, because I can't even find information on it today. Then, in 2004, Nike developed the Free, a flexible running shoe that was supposed to simulate barefoot running, after talking to then-Stanford coach Vin Lannana about training barefoot. There were a few Free models available, rated on a number scale with 1.0 representing barefoot running and 10.0 representing a traditional trainer. In 2007, seeing as I was running on a Nike-sponsored store team, I gave in out of curiosity and bought a pair of 5.0 (now known as the Free Run) and a pair of 3.0 (more on that later). Meanwhile, Vibram was producing a "barefoot alternative" of their own, intended for paddling and sailing, known as the FiveFingers. However, it all hit the mainstream with Christopher McDougall's 2009 book Born to Run. Born to Run set off the minimalist and barefoot explosion, where people suddenly decided to try running sans shoes, claiming that it cured all their injures (also more on that later) and allowed them to run more naturally (aaand more on that later too). At first, it was mainly small companies that catered to this market (outside of Nike), with lesser-known companies like Vibram and Terra Plana producing minimal shoes meant to do little other than protect the sole of the foot from rocks. Then the running companies started to get involved. In 2009, New Balance axed their 790 (why, NB why?!) and replaced them with the MT100 (now the MT101), and in 2011, they released their Minimus line. Similarly, in 2010, Saucony introduced the Kinvara, the first of a line of more minimal shoes (along with the Mirage, Peregrine, Cortana, and Hattori), and reworked some of their racing flats to decrease the heel-toe differential (like the A4 and Fastwitch). Additionally, other small companies popped up, like Altra, Somnio, Luna, and Soft Sole, as well as companies better known for non-running shoes, like Merrell. Early last year (2010), Brooks CEO Jim Weber released a letter detailing his thoughts on the matter, as well as a lot of other information from "The Experts," who are all generally considered authorities on the topic. Despite the information, people continued to post on Brooks' website begging for a minimalist shoe. Brooks has now responded with Brooks Pure Project.