RGR Exclusive: Hands On With Reebok’s SmoothFit, HexRide

Posted on August 23, 2007
Filed Under Reebok |

Does anyone remember Reebok? They had their moment of glory in the 80s and seemed to have fizzled away in the last two decades. They’re still #3 in the athletic shoe market, but the distance between Nike, Adidas and Reebok are astronomical. Reebok does have some stellar athletes: Yao Ming, Thierry Henry, Peyton Manning, Donovan McNabb and The Answer aka Allen Iverson, so it makes me wonder what the hell is going on up in Canton, Massachusetts.

I had an incredible opportunity to visit the Reebok campus and see what effect the Adidas takeover had on the company and its vision for the future. What they showed me blew my mind. When the Spring ‘08 lineup hits stores, you’ll find me first in line somewhere in Manhattan. Two separate lines of running shoes will change your mind about the current state of running shoes and what you’ve been putting on your feet. Welcome SmoothFit and HexRide.

We’ll start with HexRide because it’s something familiar and I want to save the best for last. The HexRide line builds upon Reebok’s Hexalite technology that once only covered minute areas of the sole. Now you can get the full Hex experience across the entire sole of the foot and that’s awesome. Each hexalite cushion is ‘filled with Chinese factory air’ according to Bill McInnis, Reebok’s Head of Advanced R&D. The pods are no joke. They’ve been tested to withstand 115 newtons of pressure from a roofing nail without popping.

The HexRide is extremely comfortable and is comparable to Nike’s 360 AirMax or Adidas’ Bounce line, but SmoothFit is what makes the difference. Before we go there I’ll touch on some technical issues about the HexRide. The full sole HexRides are obviously not meant for technical running if you have a case of pronation, overpronation or supination. If you don’t then go for it. Your feet will thank you. They’re meant for comfort and they definitely deliver.

On to the goodies. I was skeptical about what Reebok was going to show me, but once I slipped on a pair of SmoothFit runners I wanted to sneak a pair away from the Human Performance Engineering lab. It was like putting on a pair of satin socks, ya know, if they actually made those. There are no stitches on the inside (there are) and it feels so good. Slip on your runners and pay attention to all the stitching and seams that are encasing your feet. Now eliminate all of that and that’s what the SmoothFit feels like. Six pieces of material are hand stitched and heat-press welded to make the upper. I wish you, RGR readers, could try them on right now.

All the performance and technical aspects of the new lines are great, but I don’t want to wear running shoes around all the time. Not only is it bad for you, but you sort of look like a tool. That’s where the Classic Leather Slim Smooth comes in. I can’t wait to get my hands on a pair of the grey ones with blue accents. Retro totally rocks my socks off.

Come Spring, around February, go to your local running store and try them on. There’s no harm in that, but it’s Your Move.

Look for great things to come from Reebok in 2008 and we’ll be here to cover it for you.

Comments

2 Responses to “RGR Exclusive: Hands On With Reebok’s SmoothFit, HexRide”

  1. Robert Banghart on August 23rd, 2007 8:06 pm

    Hi Guys:

    I’m totally impressed by what you are trying to accomplish here. The Reebok video and review are top notch.

    Subscribed!

    Oops. One thing guys. Partial feeds are unacceptable to a rather substantial number in the blogosphere. I didn’t use to be in that camp but slowly but surely I found myself more and more unwilling to click through no matter how compelling the content. After a short period of just reading the partial feed, it has been my practice to delete the feed.

    I hope you’ll swtich full to posting full feeds. Otherwise our relationship is probably doomed.

  2. Emmanuel on August 27th, 2007 4:50 am

    I second what Robert Banghart said. If there is no full feed coming to my feed reader, I’m not gonna click through.

Leave a Reply