Altra Multibrand Fashion Story

The story begins in 1998 when Altra founders, Golden Harper and Brian Beckstead, met in highschool and have been running together ever since. Running and outdoor adventuring have been Alta major part of their lives and continues to be today.

Golden was reared in his family’s running store by two accomplished running parents. Naturally, he was a running nerd from a young age and was always trying to improve the running experience. Research and curiosity led him to create Zero Drop by heating up existing shoe models in a toaster oven, cutting the midsole out and leveling the cushioning platform so they were equal or had zero drop from heel to toe. Armed with 1000s of positive reviews from their “science experiment” shoes, they knew they had something with incredible potential and set off to create a new kind of running shoe.