Blog Post – Altra Torin 7 Review

I’m a huge Altra fan. I’ve worn nothing but Altra running shoes for a few years now and for the most part, I’ve been happy with them. And then along came the Torin 6s. This is the first pair of Altra shoes that I disliked.

Dislike is too weak of a word. Hated is more appropriated. Detested, loathed and despised also come to mind. And this is for one seemingly small part of the shoe. The shoe itself I love. The cushioning, feel and comfort of 95% of the shoe is as always the case with Altra shoes, spectacular. The toe width has the normal, spacey room I love.

But then there’s the tongue. It’s such a small part of the shoe and it makes all the difference. Let me say that whoever designed the Torin 6 tongue should star far, far away from shoe designs. He or she could get into torture device designs as their next career. I have never had the problems ever before with a shoe tongue as I had with the Torin 6. If the over-sized tongue didn’t lay perfectly and i do mean PERFECTLY flat, it caused intense upper foot pain. On my very last 8-mile walk wearing them, I adjusted the tongue on both shoes three times! I will never wear those shoes again. And, I maybe, at the most, got 100 miles out of them.

Yes, I’m picky about my shoes, but running shoes are very expensive. We all should be picky about the huge amount of money we spend on shoes. And in turn, these shoe companies should listen to our needs and requests.

Another thing I’m concerned about with Altra, is they’re starting to make many of their models narrower in the toe box. I do not want a narrower toe box. The Torin 7 has a slightly narrower toe box. That is acceptable, but any more and I will not be able to wear them. So, back off, Altra, stop narrowing my shoes!

We Altra fans LOVE your shoes for specific reasons, one of them is the WIDE toe box. Stop messing with success. If the top box gets narrower, I’m not sure what I’ll do as I don’t know any other brands with wide toe boxes.

Any suggestions?