Beauty and Brawn: Running in the Craft Endurance Trail

Craft Sportswear has just about everything for everyone: shoes, jackets, shirts, shorts, dresses, hats in all our favorite outdoor sports: running, cycling, skiing, mountain biking. As runners, we’re on the lookout for fun new shoes and Craft arrived on my doorstep with their Craft Endurance Trail shoe.

See all our reviews on Craft Here!

Looks:

This is a good looking shoe! It’s a unique colorway – complete with grey, dusty orange, purple, and even a little neon yellow. All things considered, this shoe should not come to together (into a “Flex-Desert” colorway) as nice as it does. Overall the visuals are pretty simplistic in nature and I’m a fan.

Fit & Construction:

The Craft Endurance Trail running shoe boasts of a sturdy construction that can withstand the demands of trail running. It actually almost feels like a road shoe but with enhanced qualities (traction, toe cap) for the trails.

They felt like the fit may be a tiny bit big, so you may possibly consider sizing down a half size if you often find yourself between sizes. I am solidly a 12 and think the 12 fits pretty well, but still may be of consideration for some.

Upper:

The upper seems pretty straightforward. It is made from a singlelayer with some TPU overlays. Overall it feels lightweight and breathable to allows for air circulation. It just sits pretty high on the foot and doesn’t provide a ton of that snug lockdown that we hope for.

The gusseted tongue is thin and holds the foot down as well. The laces also seem a little longer than many out there. That’s not really a good or a bad – just something we noticed along the way.

The upper is really our only complaint of the shoes and if that could be modified a bit, this would be an out of the park homerun.

Midsole:

When it comes to comfort, the Endurance Trail running shoe does not disappoint. It’s a daily trainer of trail running – with a midsole construction from PXFoam. Craft describes it as:

An ultra-lightweight midsole material that offers an exceptionally high amount of energy return while providing shock-resistance and flexibility. A single, natural foaming agent is used in making this green innovation without adding any chemical cross-linking agents. The process is non-toxic and environmentally friendly. In addition, raw and finished materials are completely reusable. The innovative foam has an extremely low density making it up to 20% lighter than traditional EVA. The reduced weight combined with explosive rebound make Px Foam perfect for every run.

For a shoe that tops 11 ounces in a Men’s 9, I didn’t find that it felt overly heavy. I can’t really explain it, but it felt lighter than it was – definitely a good thing. The PXFoam seems have a solid about of bounce to it – providing a little assistance when toeing off and landing.

I wore these on a recent trip to the California Desert and a tackled a lot of rocky trails. My feet remained happy and the cushion was top notch.

Outsole:

The shoe has a sticky rubber outsole that provides excellent traction on different types of terrain, making it suitable for various trail running conditions. I am not a huge trail runner (usually putting in 6-11 miles at a time), but we feel this has the capabilities of being in it for the long haul. It is probably suited for most intermediary trail conditions (the most technical trails may need a little something more), but overall it can handle most all terrain.

Overall:

As someone who is generally a low-medium trail runner as it comes to distance, we were extremely pleased with this offering. The foam construction is a nice balanced middle ground providing a nice amount of spring without overdoing it. Even with the upper lacking a little, I have found myself coming to these over most of my current trail offerings. It’s really solid!