Boston Marathon Sneaker Designs Celebrate the City

Not many athletic events get their own shoes, but the oldest marathon in the U.S. has inspired several Boston sneaker designs that have been announced surrounding the 2015 Boston Marathon. With the deep history of shoe manufacturing in the Boston area, it’s no surprise to see these Boston Marathon shoes. As we frequently assist shoe companies to learn the digital tools necessary for shoe design, including such as Illustrator training and Photoshop courses, we take great interest in these latest designs.

The inspiration for these shoes comes from the passionate feelings the Boston Marathon evokes. For more than 100 years it’s been a city-wide event, with young and old, the students from the local universities, the jocks and non-athletes all come out along the entire race course to cheer on the more than 25,000 runners. All 26.2 miles are lined with spectators urging the runners towards the finish line. The last several miles see crowds that are five to 10 people deep, and this inspiration and its’ 100-year legacy is what shoe designers tried to capture with these shoes.

Three of the four shoe companies that released these Boston Marathon inspired speakers have major operations in the Boston area. The fourth may be headquartered thousands of miles away, but they serve the running community which knows and loves the Boston Marathon like no other running event anywhere.  The other three firms from Boston are filled with sports enthusiast and runners alike.

Headquartered just outside Boston, New Balance created the Limited-edition Fresh Foam Zante Boston sneaker. This running shoe pokes fun at the Boston accent, which often lacks of the letter r, by placing the word Fastah on the bottom of the shoe. These are available in limited edition around the Boston area, but due to the limited number of shoes being made, expect them to sell-out quickly.

Boston-area shoe company Saucony turns to Boston’s Irish history for their themed shoe. Yellow and green with the word Boston on the middle of the sole, and shamrocks on the rear side of the shoes. The name for this sneaker is the Kinvara 6 Boston Edition running shoe, and the designers have captured the essence of Boston’s history with this shoe.

Adida’s Boston Supernova Glide Boost 7 can be fully customized to include the race logo from the Boston Athletic Association, the group that puts on the Boston Marathon. Colors and text can also be added and customized as well. As an official sponsor of the event, and with their sister-company Reebok headquartered in suburban Boston, their official running shoes include the race colors and can even have your own country’s flag added to them.

Shoe company Brooks may be based in Seattle, but they know running, and they’ve done well to capture to spirit of Boston with their Lobster Launch 2. These shoes include pictures of small lobsters, and fisherman-rope inspired shoe laces.

These four different shoes each take a unique approach to their designs, gathering inspiration from the history and legacy of Boston.