Naked Sports Innovations’ line of products has evolved a lot from the popular Running Band that started it all, and this month they announced plans for their first trail running shoe, the Naked T/r. So we sat down with Naked’s President and Co-founder, Lindsay Dakota, to break down their debut model, from (laceless!) upper to outsole; the challenges of growing a small brand sustainably; the future of footwear; how the notion of “simplexity” drives Naked’s design process; and a whole lot more.TOPICS & TIMES:Starting with the Naked Running Band (5:40)“Was the Naked Band’s popularity a surprise?” (6:50)Exopower mesh & “simplexity” (8:52)Naked products on non-affiliated elites (12:49)How Lindsay thinks about fit (15:04)The importance of supporting athletes (16:11)Striving for sustainability (17:20)Expanding Naked’s line of products (21:18)What is a “cooling face fabric?” (22:43)Working with Vibram (25:26)The Naked T/r Trail Racing Shoe (26:57)Small brands & the state of trail running (46:20)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister PodcastGEAR:30 podcastBikes & Big Ideas podcast Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.