Published by SEVENSTORE for Norda
Author: Millie Throp
Between Montreal and Eastern townships, founders of norda Willa and Nick Martire are set free by ultimate exploration and propelled by a shoe of equal ambition. Beyond espousal, the two are unified by the thrill of bodies ascending mountainous regions – trail running. Far from the predictability of pavement, an 160km stretch between the adjacent sides of Quebec is part of their regular route. Such a distance is not anomalous to this pair of trail-runners, its Canadian remoteness a testament to their ambition and tenacity. As such, crafting a shoe that reflected this was a necessary feat amongst a past of trying and testing flawed footwear. Charmed by the challenge, the Martires set out on an unwavering pursuit to craft the world’s finest trail running shoe, the norda™ Dyneema 001 Sneaker. In defining norda’s exploratory approach, SEVENSTORE picked the minds of Founder Nick Martire, fellow Founder and Designer Louis Martin Tremblay and Brand Ambassador Giuliano Inesi to determine the intricate pragmatics of norda footwear, and how this facilitates their shared, unpredictable pastime.
Founded in the first blushes of 2020, the dynamic nature of norda far outweighs their primitive age. Where sturdy soles are imperative to alfresco escapades, norda champions a respect for the earth. Sculpting shoes that bound upon it in responsibly sourced materiality, they act not to disrupt the peaceful ecosystem of a rock-ribbed playground. From shoe fabrication to the greener ways in which wearers receive them, norda’s strive to marry earthly pledges with progressive manufacturing is nonstop – the norda™ Dyneema 001 Sneaker, for example, became the first of its kind to use the material in this way. Marking unparalleled strength and weightlessness, the fibre is but one telling feature of a brand that live and breathe trail-running, a brand that understands the crucial role of an assured shoe in the liberation felt amongst rippling landscapes. A meddling of revolutionary, sustainable materials fulfils the brand’s ethos of progression, planet, and play – facing design with an inherent devotion to exploration.
Amongst Nick Martire and his fellow Founder and Designer, Louis Martin Tremblay, passion is a common theme. Their shared ardour for the earth goes hand-in hand with a sport that requires it to remain healthy and stable. “Being avid trail runners for years definitely had an influence on how we have decided to build the brand,” Tremblay highlights, affirming running amongst earthly landscapes as a point of motivation for the label. In order to channel an equal consideration of their pastime and the planet, the brand partners looked within themselves. “The consumer perspective of the amount of shoes you end up buying yearly was part of our personal experiences we all wanted to tackle,” Tremblay states, combatting sustainability concerns by conceptualising a shoe that lasts. “We knew that better compounds than the ones being used in most modern athletic footwear existed and we knew how to make better shoes,” Martire explains. “One of the first feedback that people gave us was that they wouldn’t even change shoe during a whole race, which was a first for them,” Tremblay tells of their revolutionarily sturdy silhouette. “As athletes ourselves, we knew that they also wanted the finest products; they wanted to run with “Porsches” on their feet,” Martire states, presenting peer-feedback and their own empathy as an integral element in their progression.
Priding themselves on ‘a shoe made for runners, by runners’ could seem albeit simple. Though, considering the brand’s participation in an activity whose nuances are anything but simple, it becomes clear just how crucial this mutual understanding is. Entailing rigged surfaces and drawn-out distances, the norda shoe was made to replace effort with enjoyment. “We had in mind to create a shoe that allows you to get in a flow state…so light and responsive that you forget you are wearing them after your first few steps…well into a 100k,” Tremblay explains. Making lightwork of an activity so taxing could seem impossible if it wasn’t for a brand so taken with banishing impossibilities, notably in their use of stoic fibre combinations never seen in a running shoe. “We broke the historic boundaries of performance and sustainability,” exclaims Martire. “You have to be inspired with such an amount of firsts in the running industry,” Tremblay continues. Yet their inspirations seem to always run back to the empress Mother Nature and her presence in Canada. “The outsole design is inspired by the Canadian Shield which is among the oldest rock formations on earth. Its slanted layered rock look led to the lines that cross the lug patterns on the outsole,” describes Tremblay, once more highlighting the shoes roots in localised alpine adventures, making it the ideal accomplice.
Set within the context of his own immediate surroundings, Brand Ambassador Giuliano Inesi’s ushering into trail-running could be compared to the technique in which the sport adopts: gradual yet intentional. As a fragment of the global ‘norda fam’, he began the all-encompassing activity in his Italian home, “from Mount Conero overhanging the Adriatic Sea;” he explains, “I moved on very slowly to running and fell madly in love”. Where traditional running is concerned with speed and distance, the trail diffusion relies upon dynamic movement and careful solutions.
For him, it is not the known coastal towpaths or spectrum of summits found locally that underpin his need to run. “If there is something I really love, it’s changing… exploring new routes, reaching new peaks, often including some scrambling” he explains. It is the landscapes unlocked and the secluded surpassing of rockfaces that animate his passion, showcasing why norda devotees find themselves empowered by a brand built around the freedom to explore, and shielded by a shoe that considers every eventuality.
At peace with mind and body, Inesi finds balance in the buoyant repetition of a good run. “I get lost in a time frame…where all the feelings about the motion – the good ones, but all the pain too – blend into a more smooth and floaty psychophysical state” he explains, affirming the brand’s hopes to induce a ‘flow state’ with their shoes. Of a more subconscious intent, Giuliano describes a recent experience shared with his norda shoes. “This summer after climbing the Majella I was supposed to rest in the Amalfi Coast…I decided to take the path to my home by running”, an instance he defines as a “pure instinctive act”. With head and heart at one, as they were intended, Inesi affirms “this headspace keeps me looking forward”, indirectly answering norda’s tagline ‘what do you run for?’.
For trail-runners, the urge to run is instinctual. With an impulse that beckons at siesta and dusk, pragmatic features of the norda™ Dyneema 001 Sneaker are forced to flourish. Iridescent panelling is laced atop uppers seamlessly woven with bio-based Dyneema®, reflecting light and repelling precipitation. Its exclusive Formation sole engineered with Vibram® Litebase® technology, it allows blessed energy reserves to be spent besides the weight of a heavy shoe. Vibram® Megagrip® rubber works in cohesion, upholding traction in front, back and lateral grip, a velcro to the crevasses of cliffs. With a silhouette so silent, built in a fibre with the lowest carbon footprint, it leaves no trace on countryside or climate. Tranquil and timeless tones set the pace for future forays, disrupted by the norda X Ciele Athletics Dyneema 001 Sneaker’s streak of coral. The gravel edition sneaker is a nod to paths comprising stone and soil, flaunting a fruitful collaboration with a likeminded Montreal performance label. Where upcoming collaborative offerings are concerned, Martire’s ambitions are sleepless. “Stay tuned, we have some massive collabs dropping in 2023, and we’re going to freak you out,” he promises.
Amongst transcending time and topographies, a good choice of footwear is often the only staying element. With this considered, Inesi tells of a recent trail race where he was accompanied not only with his norda footwear but with norda friends. “Being included and knowing the rest of the norda fam was something truly special as I felt in the right place with the right people”. His regard is felt not only by other norda ambassadors but by the founders themselves. “People fall in love with brands, not just with shoes. Building the norda fam is our primary focus in parallel. We get goosebumps every day and that is what motivates us”. Felt by consumer and creator, norda provides support even beyond the arch, but through the heart and soul, its widespread community bonding people and place, from Canada to the world.