Karhu’s historical pedigree is second to none. That’s not poetic license either; Karhu shoes have been racking up Olympic medals since 1920. That means Karhu have expertise in athletic footwear that predates the concept of recreational running and specialized training footwear.

As late as the mid-1960s, “running shoe” still meant spikes, but as the running training methods that we know today had started to take shape, athletes demanded footwear that could be used away from the track. Faced with this demand for an entirely new kind of shoe, Karhu did what any enterprising, legendary athletic footwear manufacturers would do; they invented one.

Enter the Karhu Trampas. Named for a boisterous cowhand from the old, Western television series The Virginian, with the similarity to a Finnish slang term for marching/stomping, “trampata” serving as a thematic exclamation point, the Trampas revolutionized training footwear with its arch support and Achilles protecting padded heel collar.

The Trampas became the standard training shoe for Finland’s Olympians in short order, with 20 US colleges and universities following suit. For 2020, Karhu has brought this groundbreaking model out of the archives. Of course, by modern technology standards, the Trampas is a simple design, but the shoe once called “the best training shoe in the world” by the godfather of modern running, Arthur Lydiard, is perfectly capable of handling your daily routine. As for style, the Trampas has never been in anything less than peak form.

If a size is not listed, it is sold out.

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