I recently realized that the Core is the only shoe in Skora’s lineup that I own and haven’t posted a review on. Ironically, it’s my favorite. [Note to Alanis Morissette: you’re probably sick of hearing this, but this is like, actual irony, i.e., a situation that is strange or funny because things happen in a way that seems to be the opposite of what you had expected. To wit: this is a blog where I write about minimal shoes and running in them. You would expect me to write about my favorite ones. The fact that I hadn’t yet done so is funny, or at least strange. Not like a traffic jam when you’re already late. That’s just inconvenient, not funny or even strange.]
I call the Core “the shoe that fits like a glove.” Have you ever put a shoe on and immediately said to yourself: “Self, if I could only have one pair of shoes….”? To put it another way, I wish I could wear this shoe at all times when I need to have a shoe on. I am a distance runner who runs in minimal shoes. I have sampled over a dozen minimalist offerings from various manufacturers and this shoe is by far my favorite. There’s a reason mankind has been making shoes out of leather for thousands of years. Quality leather conforms to the shape of your foot. The shoe is so strikingly well-designed that it’s the only shoe I’ve ever worn where complete strangers will ask me “what kind of shoe is that?” It’s MOMA-worthy.
These, with the neon heel, are this season’s model. I’m still kind of babying them with only casual wear. But that’s because I also have these:
These are my go-to shoes for all kinds of purposes. I wear this shoe while running – road, track, trail; at the gym while cross-training; and casually (like, if the weather isn’t nice enough for the purty ones).
The shoe is light – the leather is not that thick leather on your dad’s white New Balance “cross-trainers” (sorry, Dad). It’s goat leather. Light, but durable. It dries quickly too. The toe-box is roomy, but not cavernous. I have long since purged my closet of all the shoes – running and casual – that are too narrow in the toe box despite being the right size everywhere else. Skora’s anatomical design is refreshing and has eliminated the few foot problems I had as a minimalist runner.
These have about 100 running miles on them. However I don’t keep track of all the other miles they have on them – the gym, walking, hiking. I wish I knew how many “hours” I’ve had them on. I’m going to show you some pictures of the soles, which are holding up great for how many hours I’ve put on them. (The wear on the heel is entirely from casual wear on hard surfaces – virtually nobody heel-strikes when they walk, even barefoot).
I haven’t yet mentioned that all of Skora’s shoes are HIGHLY reflective. Especially the new Phase-X, but they all are. As I said, I’ve sampled a number of minimalist offerings in the last few years, and I was shocked to find that a lot of manufacturers – even the “big” ones, apparently don’t think that minimalist runners ever run in the dark.
As a certain very famous racecar would say, KA-CHOW!
I love the Core.
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How did the sizing work for you compared to the Phase?
Skora basically has two outsoles. Both the Core and the Phase are built on the R02 outsole, made out of Injection Blown Rubber, no midsole. Short answer: I wear the same size in Core and Phase. I think fit is more forgiving in Core, due to the leather upper, but on the level of fine-tuning. I wouldn’t go up or down a half-size or anything.
Ahhh, ok. That’s sort of bad, then. The Phase fit me too big in the upper (length was fine). Going down a half size made the length fit bad.
Guess they just weren’t designed for my foot (or at least it’s part of my theory that shoes these days, while advertised for sockless wear, are clearly designed for the volume a socked foot would take up).