About Sole & Stride
Sole & Stride is an independent editorial publication about footwear, written by Alex Carter.
Who is Alex Carter?
Alex Carter
Alex Carter is a writer who covers footwear full time. He started Sole & Stride because he kept seeing the same problem: shoe advice online was either a sales pitch or a list of specifications copied from a press release, and neither helped a real person choose a shoe that fits. He writes for runners, walkers, people who stand all day, and anyone who has ever bought a pair of shoes that hurt by lunchtime. He lives in the United States and tests shoes on pavements, trails, and city streets in all four seasons.
How Alex researches products
Every guide starts with a question a reader actually asked, or a problem Alex has run into himself. Research begins with the manufacturer's own specifications: materials, construction, stack height, drop, weight, and outsole design. Alex compares those specifications across brands and models, reads published materials science and podiatry guidance where it is relevant, and talks with running shop staff, walkers, and runners about what actually holds up in use. Where a claim cannot be verified, the guide says so. Alex buys most of the shoes he writes about with his own money. When a shoe is provided for review, that is disclosed in the article itself, and it never affects the conclusion.
Editorial independence
Sole & Stride is editorially independent. No brand, retailer, or advertiser can pay to have a product recommended, to have a criticism removed, or to influence a conclusion. This site currently contains no affiliate links at all. If affiliate links are added in the future, they will be clearly disclosed at the top of the relevant pages, and they will not affect editorial judgment. See the Affiliate Disclosure for the full statement. Corrections are welcome and are published promptly: if you spot an error, please use the contact page.
What this site is not
Sole & Stride is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or the official site of any shoe brand mentioned on this site. Brand names are used for editorial discussion only. We do not sell shoes, and we do not provide medical advice. If you have persistent foot pain, please see a podiatrist or a doctor.
Alex's background
Alex has spent years buying, wearing, and writing about shoes, and he has learned most of what he knows the slow way: by walking in them. He has worn running shoes through marathon training blocks, walking shoes through long city days, and boots through wet winters, and he has made most of the mistakes this site warns about — buying too small, buying for looks instead of fit, and trusting a brand name over a fitting. Those mistakes are part of why the guides are written the way they are: practical, specific, and honest about what a shoe can and cannot do. Alex has no formal medical training and does not present himself as a podiatrist; where a guide touches on foot health, it says so, and it points readers to a professional for anything that looks like a medical problem.
How a guide is made
Each guide follows the same process. First, Alex defines the reader and the problem: who is this guide for, and what decision does it have to help them make? Then he reads the manufacturer's own specifications — materials, construction, stack height, drop, weight, and outsole design — and compares them across brands and models. He reads published materials science and podiatry guidance where it is relevant, and he talks with running shop staff, walkers, and runners about what actually holds up in use. A draft is written in plain language, with the numbers that matter and the marketing words translated. Before publication, the draft is checked for three things: is every factual claim either verifiable or clearly labelled as an estimate, is every price given as a typical range with a date, and does every recommendation follow from the evidence in the guide rather than from a preference? After publication, guides are reviewed when a model changes, a price range becomes stale, or a reader reports an error. See our How We Research page for the full method.
Photographs on this site
We do not use brand logos or official product photographs. The photographs on this site are independently taken photographs published under free licences on Wikimedia Commons, credited to their photographers at the foot of each page that uses one. A photograph shows a real shoe of the model named in its caption; it is not an official brand image, and it does not imply that the brand endorses this site. Where a photograph shows a generic shoe rather than a specific reviewed product, the caption says so.