Hoka was founded in 2009 in Annecy, in the French Alps, by two former Salomon product men — Nicolas Mermoud and Jean-Luc Diard — who wanted a trail shoe with enough foam and enough rocker to run downhill faster than you should. Deckers acquired the brand in 2012; by 2024 Hoka was a $1.8B line run out of Goleta, California. The Meta-Rocker geometry and oversized foam midsole remain the through-line across every model.
Speedgoat is Hoka's technical trail all-rounder, named after Karl Meltzer's Speedgoat 50K — the race Meltzer won on early Hokas before most people had heard of the brand. 5 mm drop, Vibram Megagrip with 5 mm Traction Lugs, Meta-Rocker. Speedgoat 7 moved to supercritical EVA in 2025 and shed weight to 257 g; the 6 stays on CMEVA at 283 g. GTX adds Gore-Tex Invisible Fit; the Speedgoat 5 GTX Spike adds 12 permanently embedded tungsten-carbide studs for ice. Speedgoat 5 GTX Spike — 12 tungsten-carbide studs set in Vibram Megagrip, Gore-Tex, 349 g. Ice-only.
Trail
CA$ 230
Hoka was founded in 2009 in Annecy, in the French Alps, by two former Salomon product men — Nicolas Mermoud and Jean-Luc Diard — who wanted a trail shoe with enough foam and enough rocker to run downhill faster than you should. Deckers acquired the brand in 2012; by 2024 Hoka was a $1.8B line run out of Goleta, California. The Meta-Rocker geometry and oversized foam midsole remain the through-line across every model.
Speedgoat is Hoka's technical trail all-rounder, named after Karl Meltzer's Speedgoat 50K — the race Meltzer won on early Hokas before most people had heard of the brand. 5 mm drop, Vibram Megagrip with 5 mm Traction Lugs, Meta-Rocker. Speedgoat 7 moved to supercritical EVA in 2025 and shed weight to 257 g; the 6 stays on CMEVA at 283 g. GTX adds Gore-Tex Invisible Fit; the Speedgoat 5 GTX Spike adds 12 permanently embedded tungsten-carbide studs for ice. Speedgoat 5 GTX Spike — 12 tungsten-carbide studs set in Vibram Megagrip, Gore-Tex, 349 g. Ice-only.
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Speedgoat 5 GTX Spike