Blister Brand Guide: Nnormal Running Shoe Lineup, 2022

Brand Background: Nnormal

When Kilian Jornet, the most celebrated mountain runner of a generation, left his longtime sponsor, Salomon, last year, speculation as to exactly why flooded trail running discourse. Outside of the spectacle of racing, which can at times take on the arc of a Roman tragedy, professional trail running has remained relatively insulated from off-the-course storylines. If the NBA and all of its towering personalities, public feuds, and parody resembles reality TV, ultrarunning deals mainly above board; what you see is what you get. Kilian’s falling out with Salomon, however, was unexpected enough to punch through the sport’s placid demeanor, giving rise to rumors about his potential retirement. Given his prodigious ultrarunning tenure — he’s exhausted pretty much all there is to do on trails at this point — stepping away from competition to pursue his interest in alpinism, or to just spend more time attending to his domestic life, were both credible theories. Fortunately for his fans, and perhaps to the chagrin of his competitors, Kilian’s next move would only push him closer to the nucleus of the sport.

After some uncharacteristic teasing on social media from the bashful Spaniard, Kilian announced the birth of his new project, Nnormal, last year. In collaboration with Camper, the Spanish footwear giant, Nnormal represents a marriage between Kilian’s credibility as an athlete and his work as a climate activist. The young brand, which debuted its first shoe, the Kjerag, earlier this summer, is explicit in their sustainability goals. One can rightly imagine that the footwear industry is anything but kind to the environment, dependent on huge amounts of rubber and plastic as it is; most shoes are also notoriously difficult to recycle. With Nnormal, Kilian is attempting to offset this cycle of waste by embracing the mantra, “reduce, reuse, repair, recycle,” even if that hurts the company’s bottom line.

The two principal models NNormal has released to date — their narrower-fitting racer, the Kjerag, and their maximal, wider-fitting generalist, the Tomir — are highlighted by their ambitious claims about both versatility and durability. Instead of specializing in one distance / terrain, both shoes are designed with a wide range of use-cases in mind, from Vertical Kilometer races to 100-milers to technical hiking, which, in principle, could reduce the number of shoes runners need to buy to fill their quiver. The theory also goes that it’s better for the planet to replace shoes less often, so Nnormal prioritizes hard-wearing materials like “Matryx” fabric and Vibram rubber in their manufacturing process in hopes of extending the lifespan of their products.

In this brand guide we’ll go over the Kjerag and the Tomir, as well as the Tomir’s two waterproof versions, describing their features and intended purpose as we go. As always, shoes are organized in descending order from most cushioned to least cushioned. Nnormal takes a unisex approach to their sizing, so weights will be based off of a US Men’s Size 9.