Trail Glove 2

The Merrell Trail Glove 2 airing out after a run.

 

I love the Merrell Trail Glove. I think it’s one of the greatest shoes ever made, and my personal selection for the role of “best minimalist shoe to date”. I love it so much that I almost did what I swore  never to do. When I heard the Trail Glove 2 was coming out, I almost bought a bunch of the original TG just in case the TG2 sucked. I  normally hate these shoe squirrels, because they find one shoe that works for them and then close off their minds to the rest of the marketplace, because it “might not be as good”. I was delighted to find that the Trail Glove and the Trail Glove 2 ARE THE SAME FUCKING SHOE! Holler.

Really the only differences are some cosmetics along the upper (angled ribs vs curved) and the removal of the omni-fit lacing in the forefoot (where it matters least). You could put them both on me, blind folded and I would have no idea I was wearing different shoes.

The Merrell Trail Glove arrived on the market at a time when the most successful minimalist shoes all had toes. I believe that in order to be a truly successful minimalist shoe, you need to 5 have things.

1. A thin, flexible sole. How thin? Up to you.
2. Little to no arch support.
3. Little to no heel drop.
4. A wide toebox to accomodate toe splay.
5. A snug fit throughout the midfoot and heel to accomodate a barefoot wearing of the shoe. (Although what’s snug on me, will be constricting to a wide footed person and I’d be swimming in theirs.)

Apart from fivefingers, there really were no competitors that did all of this well. And among the very few that did, they all seemed to have some major draw back.

The trail glove has all of this with a forefoot rock plate, which means you could run through a parking lot of legos and be ok. If you’re coming over from another ultra minimalist shoe, such as the VFF KSO or See Ya, you may notice the rock plate when you first put it on. Many people feel a slight ridge along the front of the forefoot and immediately discard it as an option. To them I say, calm your tits. I assure you, this breaks down almost immediately. And the shoe as a whole starts to feel much more flexible after only a day or two of wear. You’ll be walking along in the total comfort and slipper like fit of the merrell trail glove 2

One particularly interesting idea, that merrell has used in the past is the omni-fit lacing system. I say they’ve used it in the past, but you may not have heard of it because it’s never worked as well as it does in the trail glove. Instead of eyelets cut into the shoe, a piece of webbing runs through an eyelet, across the tongue, and on the other side. This functionally creates a one piece upper that can expand and contrast to fit a wide variety of feet. Normally this is a bit of a flop because you have some skimpy webbing fighting against the beefy uppers of hiking shoes, but with the barely there feel of the TG2, it actually does something. While it may be a little stiff at first, you’ll find that after a few wears, it starts to conform to the shape of your foot.

A lot of customers have rejected the Trail Glove because either
A.) It doesn’t look as pretty as the New Balance Minimus
B.) It doesn’t have the same ultra-plush liner that the Minimus has.
C.) Marketing.

But I promise, the durability will beat the minimus every single time. The liner in the trail glove, while not as plush, is fine, especially with a thin pair of socks (I recommend Darn Tough’s ultralight running mini-crew). Fuck Marketing.

What amazed me about this shoe is the durability. I’ve had shitty luck with merrell’s in the past, even having multiple pairs break in the store. I was skeptical about Merrell producing a minimalist running shoe, especially since their running department is kind of a cluster fuck. Before the Trail Glove, I defy you to name a Merrell running shoe… *cricket cricket*  But I’ve never actually worn through a pair, I’ve worn them down to “road running shoe” status, or decided I just want a new pair, but no holes, no delamination, no popped stitches, the upper breathes well and hasn’t received any noticeable snags.
I really just fucking love this shoe.I often times think they just got lucky with the trail glove. It’s beauty has not been recreated in any convincing manner throughout the rest of their line. But then I tried designing a shoe myself, and I realized what a true work of art the trail glove is. This literally lead me to a “creationism vs randomish evolution” type debate. Did the trail glove arise because there was this one Keanu Reeves in the merrell design labs who mozarted the shit out of a shoe, or was the shoe a random assortment of ideas thrown together? Did they add the rock plate because they recognized the need in the barefoot market, or did they look at the features list and decide it was too short? Is the Z on the bottom a beautiful nod to the different strike zones of the minimalist runner? Or was it a design idea intended to look snappy and allow them a transition to show off different random tread patterns? Where the beautifully made ribs along the side intended for structural support, or did they flip some Nike Swooshes upside down to make the shoes look fast?

These are the questions that keep me up at night.

Pros
*Fits the 5 minimalist shoe necessities
*Rock plate helps dull the sharp pointies while still allowing a proper barefoot form.
*Omni-fit lacing finally works
*The price is right
*Durable as all hell.
*Haven’t had the stank to the same degree that I do in previous shoes)
*You can pick up a pair of the original Trail Gloves for almost nothing.

Cons
*Not as immediately comfortable as the Minimus (but still perfectly comfortable, and after 5 miles, the things are fine.)