This Hoka Trail Shoe Has a Little Detail Only Some Runners Might Notice

Hoka just brought back an old-school trail runner, along with a detail the brand stopped using in 2021.

Published August 5, 2024

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When Hoka first released the Stinson Evo in 2012, running looked — and certainly felt — a little different.

Hoka, then called Hoka One One, was only a few years old at the time and still trying to break into the US market. Shoes that mimicked running barefoot were all the rage. And here came a little-known brand from the French Alps preaching maximalist cushioning to the masses.

Now, the Stinson Evo is back. And Hoka is a billion-dollar business, with accolades on both the road and trail. Jim Walmsley broke the 50-mile world record in 2019 wearing a pair of Hokas, and he recently became the first American to win the prestigious UTMB in a prototype of the upcoming Tecton X3.

Hoka Stinson Evo OG

$175 at Hoka

High on cushion, low on weight

The Stinson Evo wasn’t the first or only shoe to catapult Hoka to the top of the shoe chain. But it had all the hallmarks of what we’ve come to expect of a typical Hoka shoe: massive amounts of foam and a reasonable heel-toe differential. Perhaps most notably, it weighed less than 11 ounces, giving it one of the best cushion-to-weight ratios on store shelves.

red hoka shoe — The new Stinson Evo OG is a faithful reissue of the original.

What’s more, the Stinson Evo, with its dramatic TPU overlays on top of a mesh upper, was ugly as sin — a quality that might be the reason Hoka actually decided to revive the silhouette for 2024.

So-called “ugly shoes” are in, and they have been for a while. Dave Powers, the former CEO of Hoka’s parent company, Deckers Brands, famously embraced the term.

“You’re owning something distinct. It’s a little off, but there’s something interesting about it.”

“I don’t mind the ugly moniker,” Powers told Bloomberg in 2022. “It basically says you’re different. You’re owning something distinct. It’s a little off, but there’s something interesting about it.”

A faithful reissue

The new Stinson Evo is a faithful rerelease of the original, TPU overlays and all. Hoka built the shoe to the same overall geometry and even included some of the more thoughtful details, including a microfiber toe cap and speed-lacing system (also present on newer models like the Transport Chukka GTX).

In a nod to the past, the heel reads “Hoka One One” — a detail sure to tug at the heartstrings of any early Hoka adopter. (The brand officially dropped One One from its name in 2021.)

The Stinson Evo OG is available in two colorways, black and Habanero red, and retails $175 — the same price you would have paid for the shoe in 2012.

Though Hoka now considers it part of its growing Lifestyle collection, the Stinson Evo OG would certainly hold its own on dirt. So no one would blame you for taking a pair onto the trails for old time’s sake.