The new Zen Running Club FUTUREone is the latest sustainable running shoe off the ranks from the team at Zen – a brand on a mission to bring us performance shoes that do less damage to the planet than our petrochemical heavy favourites. It’s a part bio-based neutral daily trainer, the follow up to the Zen Running Club ZR01. I took it for an initial hour-long 10km, to find out how it feels on feet. Let’s get into our Zen Running Club FUTUREone first run early review.
JUMP STRAIGHT IN:
0:00 – Intro
0:27 – Details
0:51 – Shoe Whip Round
2:07 – Fit
3:01 – First Run Impressions
6:55 – Early verdict
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Hey people welcome to the Run testers And my first run look at the New Zen Running club future one this is the Latest sustainable shoe off the ranks From the team at Zen it's another shoe Brand on a mission to bring us Performance shoes that do a little bit Less damage to the planet than our Petrochemical heavy favorites I took the Followup to the ZR1 this shoe here for An initial hourong 10k run to find out How it feels on the feet so let's get Into It first up some quick details then and The stack comes in at 33 m in the heel 24 m in the 4T for a 9 mil drop on the Scales the future one weighs in at 11.2 O or 3177 G in my UK men's 8 and a half Test shoe on price it comes in at £180 I Don't have the US price at the time of Recording but I will drop that in the Caption Below okay so moving on to a quick shoe Wh round then let's start with the midso What you've got here is a mild rocked Midso with a brand new phone that's made From 60% bio content that's derived from Rape seed oil it actually also includes Enzymes that activate and accelerate the Degradation of the shoe when it arrives In landfill when you drop it into Landfill lots of shoes to stay there for Thousands of years that should speed up The process at which it decays Zen says
The foam also offers 64% rebound and improvement from the Z1 And shows only 7% breakdown in Performance over 500 km up top you've Got a full booty style knitted upper That's quite dense it's made from Eucalyptus based 10 cell lar cell that Brings a sock like fit with these flyer Wire sort of details here for added hold And security Now Beyond a heel counter And some minimal biobased TPU overlays There's not much structure to the shoe In the uppers here it's all round kind Of soft and flexible the knit is perhaps A little more tight than we saw on the Z1 you've also got these two pulls here To help you slip the shoes on if you Have highend steps like me you'll need Those there's also a cter bean based Sock liner inside to add a bit of extra Flex and rebound when you flip them over There's a generous covering of outsole Rubber across the 4ot here and in those Key heel impact [Music] Areas quick word on fit then I ran in a UK 8 a half which is my regular running Shoe size in most brands initially when I put these on the booty fit definitely Feels a little bit kind of close and Hugging maybe even bordering on a little Bit cramped when I first get them in but I have really high insteps so I always Sort of struggle to get my feet in
Initially once they're in I think they Sort of loosen off on the Run they did By the end of that hourong run they were A bit more loose and they were quite Comfortable you got the uppers are sort Hugging really nicely there's not a huge Amount of room across this section you Know across that bit behind the toe Knuckle if you've got wider feet that Might be something to figure they do Have plenty of length in the toe box and Because you've got these knitted uppers There is a decent amount of flex across The top I think if you like a roomier Feeling fit you might want to go half a Size up if you like it died in and snug And that booty fit to really hold the Foot securely then you can probably get Away with going true to size So I'm out for my first run in the Zen Running future 1 this new sustainable Shoe that I've sort of talked you to the Details of the Eco credentials now we're Out looking at the ride first thing You'll notice about this shoe is it firm It's a super firm shoe I know these are Early miles maybe that Mido will soften Up but this shoe almost Hawks back to Some of the more sort the firm of the Old birds you know the early vasia Condors and it's actually much firmer And much stiffer than you found from the Other past and running shoes which had a Little bit of softness there made maybe
A little bit more cushion for easy runs I'm just clipping along nice and easy Here and I would put this into the Bracket of a shoe I say it a lot it's One of those shoes where you need to Sort of be picking your feet fairly Quickly there's quite a lot of road Coming up through it's a little bit Slappy at times and I can feel you know There's a hardness so it's almost the Opposite to what we've seen vaser do With the pondor 3 and what we've seen Happen with the high low impact to other Sustainable shoes that have been Launched recently this one is definitely Tuned firmer than those two so in terms Of comfort on the foot you're definitely Going to have to like a booty fit in the Shoes you've got those sock likee uppers They hold very kind of snug they're very Wrapping sort of loosened off as I've Been running and they may will get sort Of looser the more time you spending Them I've got quite a high instep and I Always struggle with getting my feet Into booty F shoes when I first put them On I thought wow these are going to be Really tight they have loosened off a Bit and now they're sort of in a guys Where they're just holding nicely on the Platform you do feel hugged and overall The Comfort on the foot now actually is Really quite nice it's quite a nice sort Of wrap that you've got there so that
That's fine this sort of reasonable Disappearing feel on the foot once You've get moving in them initially it's Not necessarily the most comfortable Shootter foot on first stepping but that Is booty fit for me anyway maybe you Like that if you do you're going to like These shoes one of the big benefits to That firm platform per is that you've Got a nice wide base here and it offers A lot of stability I've taken it on Roads nice and slow I'm doing a bit of Mild off-road here along the temp every Where I normally run and no problems With stability you've got a really nice Reliable platform to land on here from The shoe from the midfoot all the way Back into the hills you're not going to Get that cushion spring that you might Find from some other shoes if you think About the vager Condor that shoe Actually started to get into the Realms Of a you know of like a nimus so it had Energy to the mid so it's quite sink and A bit of return these shoes are all About kind of stiffness and response and You're going to have to be moving with a Fast foot turnover to get the best out Of them I Think so I've just finished 10K 1 hour First run in the Future1 and I have to say towards the End of those miles I start to feel that Kind of sort of firmness quite a lot
These shoes are not very forgiving Overall particularly when you compare Them to a lot of the other daily Trainers we've seen come out more Recently with their kind of soft stacks And high stacks and really protective Foams and that little bit of extra Spring this is almost at the other end Of the spectrum if you like running in What would be I describe as a more Traditional kind of more old school sort Of firm ground contacy platform you know You know it's not a minimal shoe but it Has that kind of yeah that old school Ride to it then you know you really Going to like these cuz that's what they Deliver this is one that doesn't allow You to have lazy feet for sure the other Thing that I got towards the end of that Is I've got a bit of heel slipping going On and I've a bit of the backs of my Heels in the shoe so maybe I need to Adjust the lock down for that we'll see That on sort of future miles so yeah Overall I'd say it's been a little bit Of a mixed bag for those first six miles Obviously I always want to do more Testing sometimes the midsoles can Soften up you get a different feel of a Shoe and you know you can adjust the way That you're lacing them down for future Run so we'll test that for the full Review and I will do my verdict back in The office right now
As ever this first run sum up comes with A big caveat these are some very early Thoughts on the shoe and more testing is Absolutely needed before we deliver a Full verdict on the future one but from That first hour I would peg this shoe at The firmer end of daily trainers is Certainly not quite as cushioned as the Zen running ZR1 which was a really Lovely shoe to cruise along slow with Your head up and enjoying kind of the Scenery that kind of shoe what you get Here is a stable and more responsive Ride overall it's stiffer and more Snappy but but it really performs best When you're moving with fast and light Feet I've recently tested some other new Sustainable shoes and by comparison it's Not as cushioned as the Vasa Condor 3 It's not as Punchy as the Hyo impact and Perhaps it rides a little more Traditional but there is really good Stability here the booty fit is snug but It has a nice kind of wrapped comfort And if you like a sock like upper fit You'll really enjoy this that's exactly What you're going to get here I spoke to Zen and they said there is a running in Period and that the Mido will soften and Liven after you've logged a bunch of Miles so I'm Keen to see what happens With that if it does soften it will Definitely improve that overall kind of Accessibility I think for more Runners
But for now I'd say you'll definitely Need to like a firmer stiffer more Responsive ride to enjoy these if you're After that cushion springy propulsive Feel underfoot I didn't quite get that Here maybe it will come though the other Thing to say is that 180 pounds the Future one goes up against some really Stiff competition in the neutral daily Trainer space it's going to have to go Some in the upcoming test to rival the Other big hitters in this space like of The speed 4 the Max 6 the NOA blast 4 There's many many shoes at that price or Much cheaper that do a really good job So it's got stiff competition to live up To so there you have it that's been my First run look at the New Zen running Club future one I hope you found it Useful if you're interested in Sustainable shoes I'm going to pop two Videos up on the channel now that you Should definitely dip into otherwise Thanks for stopping by and we hope to See you again soon on the Run testers Happy running people
