Hoka One One was founded in 2009 by two Frenchmen, Nicolas Mermoud and Jean-Luc Diard. The name comes from Māori and translates roughly as “to fly over the earth” – which is an unusually accurate description of what the shoes were built to do.
The opposite of everything around them
At the exact moment the rest of the industry was racing to make shoes thinner and more minimal, Hoka went the other way: maximum cushioning on a deep midsole. The thinking was simple – let the material take the impact rather than the joints.
The design was not taken seriously at first. The shoes looked comical, and plenty of people said so. The effect, though, turned out to be measurable, and opinion turned with it.
From the mountains to the road
The idea was developed first for mountain running, where the descents do the damage. It turned out that the same cushioning worked just as well on tarmac – and that is where Hoka found the audience that made the brand.
Their signature idea is the Meta-Rocker: a sole curved along its length, which eases the transition from heel to toe and smooths out the stride.
Why it worked
- They listened to runners. Feedback from club runners and professionals alike went straight into the next version.
- They turned up at races. Backing events and athletes built trust in the community rather than in an advertising slot.
- The audience widened on its own. It started with ultra runners and trail runners; the shoes are now worn in the gym, on the tennis court and simply around town, for the comfort.
The thick sole is everywhere now. It began at a company everybody laughed at.