How an Indestructible Trail Shoe Leveled Up (EXCLUSIVE)

Even before norda released its 005 shoe in early 2025, its quickest and most technologically advanced trail running model, the brand was already producing the gold standard of footwear for anyone crazy enough to run something like a mountainous ultramarathon. The brand’s been engineering Lamborghinis for your feet since 2020, but the 005 took it up a gear. 

The 005 is what norda calls a trail super shoe, made for race days using Formula 1-level materials and the same fiber as bulletproof vests, which makes it all near-enough indestructible. Now, that shoe has evolved.

The norda 055, officially unveiled here by Highsnobiety, is the Canadian running label’s newest model. It isn’t an upgrade on the previous edition per se, but rather, as the brand’s founder, Nick Martire, described it in a press release, “a specific tool for a specific purpose.”

“When we set out to create the 005, our focus was on making a shoe that was as light and fast as possible, swift and powerful while still maintaining the elevated level of durability that we’re known for,” Martire tells Highsnobiety. “On the other hand, the 055 is a shoe for a very different purpose. It takes a ‘more is more’ angle, with a higher stack, deeper lugs, and a more structured upper.”

Along with the frankly insane technologies it experiments with — the 055 includes a bespoke bio-circular material woven from Dyneema, the world’s toughest fiber and over 15 times stronger than steel by weight — what makes norda distinct is its approach to releasing shoes. It rarely brings out new designs, only doing so to fill gaps in the brand’s range, and its updates to older models are purely performance-focused, free from gimmicky cosmetic upgrades. As Martire told me before the release of the 005, he hates the concept of “putting shoes out to market every year for no reason other than driving sales,” and wants norda to act as the antithesis of all the sportswear giants who do so. Every new shoe is, as he calls it, a new “tool” in norda’s expanding selection of trail weaponry.

In this case, “The 055 is an all-terrain, all-distance shoe,” he says. “It’s rugged enough for high-mountain racing, but fast and propulsive enough for speed sessions or less technical trails as well. It’s also our first shoe with a knit sock collar, as typically we’re known for more minimalist heel designs.” That latter point is vital, as the new collar means better protection from mountain debris entering inside.

So far, the 055, releasing globally on July 9 for $325, has proven itself as a useful tool. Test runs included Jason Schlarb, norda’s trail team manager, racing in Colorado mountain ranges wearing 055s while experienced explorer Ray Zahab tested them in extreme environments like Death Valley, and Rachel Entrekin ran a record-breaking over-56-hour performance at the 2026 Cocodona 250 wearing the new mid-top model. The 055 is helping break records before it’s even released.

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