Running Supply #86: Palisades to Paris, The Two Worlds of Trail and Fashion

Last week I maxed out screen time between catching the latest from Paris Fashion Week showrooms in between Broken Arrow results and Western States live streams.

Jul 03, 2026

Last week I maxed out screen time between catching the latest from Paris Fashion Week showrooms in between Broken Arrow results and Western States live streams. If we had the same level of low-ad, high energy coverage for Diamond League, USA Track Champs, or other big meets more people would probably watch track.

Quick Hits

The full PFW Roundup is coming on Monday. Stay tuned.
The Tour de France starts Saturday July 4. I have been cycling a ton this year and love getting a flyover history lesson as people race bikes at 30mph. Tune in for the team time trial starting in Barcelona (yes, not France). Even better, you can watch the tour for 5 weeks since the women’s race is 2 weeks after.
A pro runner was seen in a ‘97 retro Nike kit he got from Rematch, a European vintage seller. Which reminds me I have some old pro-issue kits I need to get rid of. Holler at me!
Back on my run/walk BS post surgery. Patience is not one of my strengths. I wore this Roark shirt and Janji trail shorts from run-walk to outdoor beer garden with great success and no additional bags.

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Race Results

WSER was the coolest it’s ever been at the start, resulting in records across the board. For a true recap, check the official one by FreeTrail which seems to be the defacto trail broadcast outlet now. Next year is the 50th so hope to be there!

The top 4 men broke the previous record of Jim Walmsley. The top two were European HOKA athletes, while the top American was Ryan Montgomery (Janji) who finished up wrapped in a LGBTQ flag rounding out pride month. Mario Fraioli coached the winner, Vincent Bouillard!
Jennifer Lichter (Nike ACG) hasn’t lost a race yet this year, and crushed the women’s record. She was followed up by ACG teammate Riley Brady, and Marianne Hogan (Salomon).
molly [Seidel] is a homie and also a grinder, finishing around 24 hours. I get not wanting to drop out of races, but this was a bit of a death march, so kudos for the physical and mental resilience. Brutal chafing (SATISFY), some nutritional hiccups, and apparently some serious foot pain (adidas) were a hindrance.
Seems like everything was about cooling between the Radical Airflow shirts, funky East Peak shirts and silicon pocket ice bandanas, and even an integrated vest solution from Nnormal (more later).

Trail and Tahoe vs. Showrooms in Paris

Trail is a fast growing segment within running, and lifestyle is one of the largest segments an athletic brand can tap into. It was a big week of brands flexing for their share of voice both on the ground and on the internet between Palisades and Paris. Also worth noting PFW is not actually more open than TrailCon. Many events and showrooms are invite-only to media, influencers, or buyers—which makes sense given there’s limited time in the day and it’s functionally a glamorous, distributed trade show.

I was surprised to see heavy presences from brands coordinated simultaneously, namely headed by their European teams while the US teams handled Western States. On was the primary sponsor of TrailCon, and also capstoned Paris Fashion Week with a special On Running Summit where they previewed their latest technology and finished at the Diamond League Paris week. This seemed like a better approach than the somewhat abrupt SubFour attempt during PFW that Nike had—sandboxed and with their own people highlighting their own athletes at a meet anyone could attend.

Updates from Paris Fashion Week June 2026

From Paris Fashion Week, I have bunch of new designs that caught my eye which I’ll be sharing on Monday. Beautiful new work from Alex Zono and his new collab with Brooks Running, experimental new prints from SOAR, more stripes from Unna, a women’s line from Raide, SATISFY’s latest graphics, a thoughtful women’s focused event from Pruzan, and more.

Takes from TrailCon

5,400 miles away in much cooler temperatures, Palisades in Tahoe transformed from Nike ACG’s safety orange at Broken Arrow to On’s Swiss minimalist black and white, to HOKA’s bright sky blue. I feel bad for the workers putting up the vinyl over that ~7 day stretch. The billboard whiplash is indicative of the arms race to carve out market share in trail as brands that previously occupied a much smaller space snap up races and spaces.

While I didn’t attend TrailCon, I got a number of eyewitness accounts from friends that did, as well as an unhealthy dose of social media content (what amount is healthy?).

Sort of Like TRE But Not In San Antonio

Which is a relief since San Antonio is sort of a weird spot. Both are pretty hard to get to, but only SA has a haunted hotel without AC (which I stayed in, the Menger). The people I spoke with said they had a great time at TrailCon getting time to actually hang and network vs rush around to each appointment to see the latest and greatest to place their orders. TrailCon is supposed to “inform, educate, and inspire” (Lee Glandorf help them with this copy please) which seems like code for panels and industry chat. I was surprised to hear that there were also shoe demos there given the demographic was namely industry people, specifically ones at the trail brands rather than retailers.

The people I spoke with said they had a great time at TrailCon getting time to actually hang and network vs rush around. It’s not a trade shoe, there are no buy orders going in. People were showing off new product, but that’s not the point.

Brands Marketing To Each Other?

I think the knowledge share and industry people from brands building relationships, sharing knowledge, and spending time together is great. It’s how the tech in the sport and cooperation can get better. Idea sharing is good! But that’s often simply a marketing opportunity, and a lot of the sponsorship and booth stuff seems like a way to flex on each other…within the industry. I can tell you that I had to explicitly ask people for photos, so the Instagram-able moments set up for each booth were not effective.

The buy-in is scaled for emerging brands making it cheaper/easier, which didn’t seem to woo nutrition brand neversecond which had a popup down the road away from Palisades. The panels are part of the same spend-to-be-seen loop

Activations/Products Of Note

Some people mentioned they checked out the new merino apparel brand, Unknown Runner, after hearing about them in the ‘sletter. Rad!
Arc’teryx dropped in a 2-story shipping-container build-out with an upcycling setup, which IU
Precision Nutrition had a 100m sprint, great energy, and the fugliest couches on the panel stage. Someone else please sponsor the furniture.
NeverSecond had a Fun Barbie-themed "I'm a Carbie Girl" bit w/ YaBoyScottJurek, but also guerrilla-marketing TrailFest rather than buying in
East Peak x Tantrums made a combo cooling vest
On owned the event, big activation, plus demos of their CloudUltra Pro trail shoe (which is great, btw).
ACG kept their Broken Arrow store up, hosted the TrailCon awards (cute), sold out of their Radical Airflow, and demoed the Ultrafly and Zegama
Mount To Coast did an M1 demo and led a panel on day 3.
HyperLyte had a fun bed sheet people could draw on/sign
Naked showed off new hydration packs
Raide showed off some prototypes going into late 2027, including a women’s specific fit belt and crop top! Shout out Women's Gear Index.

Someone had some here for the women's race tees too

Takes on TrailCon and WSER

Who Is Trailcon For?

From what I heard, this year attracted more booth activations and panels, with a schedule keyed towards trail enthusiasts and stewards of the sport. Last year was “more about the org.” I can’t really validate this but if the focus can be on the purpose rather than the org, that’s a good thing. What I also heard was that more than half of the attendees were industry people, which makes some of the product demos a bit of a head-scratcher.

Beyond being an industry person camping out between these two races…why should I go? As a trail enthusiast and new-to-the-industry person it seems great. I have no agenda other than to listen, learn, and network. This bit on indie brands I’d have loved to attend.

If the conference is targeting in-industry folks, then more focused groups, smaller panels, different stories, really a diversity of programming is what I’d like to see. So that the variety of roles there can intermingle with their peers and share common problems and solutions. As a race director, how can I improve my trail race? How can I as a store owner work to improve the local trail system? I’m not near any of these positions, but I’m sure there are key topics and many speakers for them.

The Broadcast / Event Production Outdoes Most

While it’s probably a bit of a cluster on the ground with 5 cameras following around the top pros, that’s part of the game here. While the production might kill off the “spirit of trail” it’s really only affecting top end of the sport, the (some) people getting paid to run. The broadcast and commentary was overall entertaining and kept me about as engaged as the Tour de France, and certainly more than most track broadcasts. Live Feed (Part 1) here

The Quarry Pit Aid Station

Scott, Jenny, and the rest of the troops at Mile 90 had a “Quarry Pit” aid station, lampooning SATISFY’s Circle Pit event. Complete with homemade cropped tees with buckshot holes and fringe. Note the neck tattoos are not in fact permanent. A fun poke here that I think just about everyone had a good natured laugh about.

Trappe House (Mob Garage) Was A Spot

Matt Trappe put together a multi-brand house, not too dissimilar from the Rec Room it sounds like, bringing together several days of intimate conversation around the sport. It had a fun automotive theme and even had some vintage tee print-overs. I was sad to miss the Mob Garage as Matt was kind enough to extend an invite, it’s hard (and $$$) to get an AirBnb or hotel near Palisades! I love these neutral spaces, and love that it was also (mostly) offline. Keep an eye out for his film on the men’s race.

Raide’s New Designs

Raide split time between Palisades and Paris and showed off a bunch of their Fall 2026 and 2027 product. They have a new waterproof popover anorak and quarter-zip hooded tee that packs into a pocket, as well as a long sleeve and singlet. They’ve also added a lightweight trail short with similar pocket design that goes from the shell to the liner (for less bounce). Also shown prior a ton of women’s specific cuts focused on providing the best fit for cargo.

Recent and Upcoming News

Holey Shirt, It’s Everywhere

Nike clearly gave out some marketing budget for their run specialty partners to do a fun activation for the launch of Radical Airflow as I’ve seen a few in-house campaigns pop up this week. My favorite was what the team at Mill City put out—they did a wrap of their storefront with actual RAF fabric.

If you still need one, I have a list of a bunch of US stores.

Special mention this one pic from Notre (last)

Nnormal’s Prototypes for Killian at WSER100

Killian dropped out mid race but was sporting some all white prototypes of new shoes and a trail vest. The N202 is their new laceless design that has a tent-like wrap at the top, with probably some super critical foam and a plate. What was more interesting, though, is the “cooling vest” coming in 2028. It looks like they’ve added a pouch on the back that fits ice.

Brooks Ghost Amp, Ghost Max 4, Hyperion Max 4, and Hyperion Elite 6

Seems like much of the industry is augmenting their tried-and-true workhorse shoes with supercritical foam and appending a “plus” or “pro” to denote that it’s amped up. The Ghost Amp is a poppier version of the popular lightweight trainer coming July 15th using their new “DNA HYPE” foam, a blended PEBA and EVA. This seems to satisfy more of the lightweight, lower stack trainer space with a better foam than a one-shoe-quiver. Early availability at Road Runner Sports for those who can’t wait.

The shoe looks notably faster than the normal trainers. I mostly just like the contrast stitching effect on the upper texture.

The Ghost Max 4 comes August 1 at $165, a pretty fair price entry for a max cushion trainer featuring the stable DNA Loft v3. More

To round it out, the Hyperion Elite 6 is out now at $275 and features a beautiful engineered mesh upper and ditches the funky medial midsole bubbles for a more traditional arch wedge of their DNA Gold foam. It’s gotten some great reviews already for the breathable upper and better foam feel, with the main gripe being price. I dig the handjet looking logotype across the upper too.

Puma Velocity 5 and rumored “Fast-Pace”

Protesting this colorway and the choice to launch HYROX first.

The Puma Velocity 5 is coming July 9 (though available now at Zappos). This time they’re advertising its ATPU foam midsole, despite the V4 also having one. I’m sure this is a great shoe, but the Pure Nitro just came out and this is around the same price point. I suppose the Pure Nitro is more of a lightweight daily, while this is a true daily trainer. The only pic I have is this Hyrox one which makes me sad.

r/RunningShoeGeeks - Puma Fast-Pace and Fast-R Nitro Elite 4? — Thanks, Reddit

This rumored Puma Fast-Pace I found on Reddit seems to be the true answer to the EVO SL. The Pure Nitro was not quite as fast feeling despite being received pretty well. BITR tends to be pretty critical and read it as having “no real bounce, no propulsive energy, and at quicker paces.” I imagine that’s because it was meant to be a supercritical daily trainer rather than blending into the workout and even race territory. This one seems to be more of an elite racer sans-plate, and has a striking appearance with the all white upper and Big Cat logo that hopefully makes it from wear-test to shelves.

Overall Puma is putting out some great shoes for the runners, and their brand velocity in the enthusiast + sub elite space is great. I have no idea what the sales data is, but their fleet of shoes right now top to bottom is excellent. They look good and feel good, with very few duds in there. What they honestly probably need is a hefty walk oriented shoe as a run/walk specialty store staple to tap the current Brooks/Hoka/On customer.

Introducing the Hoka Clifton Pro, A Clifton For Runners

The new Clifton Pro launches July 9 and looks to be a souped up version of the super popular Clifton (now on v11). This seems to be more of the daily trainer aimed at serious runners than the Clifton which now is a walker jogger staple. At $165, it’s not a steep increase for a shoe that most runners will certainly prefer, even if its not the one-shoe-quiver type I’m hoping for1. It does however make the $200 super trainers a bit of a harder sell given it is pretty light, and feels pretty good.

For Later

Check out my bit on 3rd and 4th wave running stores, which features a list of the best running stores in the world. Indie Running Stores

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For me that might still be the Saucony Endorphin Speed, or the RAD UFO. I will not wear an EVO SL because I am not a sheep, and I’ve never run a step in an adidas shoe. Seems like in the last few years they’re not only viable but great! Once I’m back up on the mileage I’ll give the Terrex a spin.