Running Experience Survey 2025
8: Running shoe choices
Running is famously a sport with a low cost of entry, but running shoes can be a significant investment. The RXS included a handful of questions designed to identify the most important factors in shaping which shoes runners buy.
As well as summarising responses to these questions, this page also explores how running shoe choice varies by gender, age, motivation, and the kinds of races runners take part in.
8.1 Key trainer choice factors
Top factors - all respondents
Runners were asked to rate each of five factors in terms of their importance in making decisions about which running shoes they buy.
We converted responses into numerical values, the averages of which are shown here as scores out of 100.
Clearly comfort is the big winner, with impact on performance a solid second. Style and ethical considerations were rated as relatively unimportant.
Gender differences
There are some modest variations in the importance of different choice factors by gender, as shown here.
Despite being quite small, all of these differences are statistically significant. The biggest and most significant difference though, is style: Women were almost 50% more likely than men to rate this as very important or essential.
Change with age
There is relatively little change in the importance of different choice factors between age groups.
The one fairly consistent trend is a steady decrease in the importance of shoes’ impact on performance as runners get older.
This probably reflects the decreasing interest in competition among older age groups, as discussed in part 3.
8.2 Shoe choice for different running groups
Choice factors by cluster
This chart shows the relative importance of each factor to four different motivational profiles (as defined here).
Shoes’ impact on performance show the biggest differences, with Community Enthusiasts and Competitive Achievers placing substantially more emphasis on this factor.
Proportionally, style and ethical considerations also show big differences, with Community Enthusiasts scoring highest on both, and Pragmatic Joggers scoring the lowest (as they do across all five factors).
Specific motivations associations with shoe selection factors
The following charts show the relationships between shoe choice factor and the motivation with which it has the strongest connection.
Each chart looks at a different shoe factor, with its importance level shown on the vertical axis. On the horizontal axis is the strength of the motivation that best predicts it.
For instance, the first chart focuses on AFFORDABILITY. It shows that the most closely related motivation to this factor is ‘taking care of my mental health’ (MENTAL HEALTH on the chart). The gradually climbing blue line indicates that the higher the level of mental health motivation, the more likely a runner is to place a high value on affordability.
Motivation key (survey question wording):
MENTAL HEALTH: Looking after my mental health
GREAT EXPERIENCES: Having great experiences
RUNNING FAST OR FAR: Running as fast or far as possible
CHARITY: Raising money for good causes
Shoe choice factors by race type
Finally, this chart shows some subtle variations in the importance of different shoe choice factors depending on which type of race people have taken part in most recently.
- Affordability and ethical considerations are marginally highest among fell runners
- Comfort is most prized by trail and park runners
- Style is rated highest by road runners, lowest by fell runners
- And performance is by far most important for track competitors
Running Experience Survey
© Neil Baxter 2025
Please always cite using: Baxter, N. (2025). Running Experience Survey. Running Studies. https://runningstudies.co.uk/running-experience-survey