About STRIDE
About STRIDE
STRIDE started in 2020 when Kai Nakamura and Priya Sharma got tired of the same broken promise: gear that looks great in ads but falls apart by mile three.
They pooled their savings, rented a small workshop in Portland, and started making the shoes they wanted to run in. No investors. No focus groups. Just real athletes testing real prototypes on real roads.
Five years later, the workshop is bigger, but the process hasn't changed. Every new design goes through 200+ miles of field testing before it ships. If it doesn't survive the worst conditions we can throw at it, it doesn't carry the STRIDE name.
If it doesn't make you faster, stronger, or more comfortable, it doesn't ship. Every design choice serves a function.
We test until things break, then we fix the break. 200+ miles of field testing before any product reaches you.
No artificial scarcity. No markup for marketing. Price reflects materials, construction, and fair margin. That's it.
Co-founder & Head of Design
Former competitive runner. 10+ years in footwear design. Obsessed with the intersection of biomechanics and materials science.
Co-founder & Head of Operations
Supply chain nerd. Built the sourcing and manufacturing pipeline from scratch. Believes transparency is a requirement, not a tactic.