Best Sustainably designed Trail Runner

We’re excited to hike more in the On Cloudvista, a more-sustainable-than-average trail runner of Swiss design. After surveying the marketplace, we believe On is a leader in transparency, and while no trail runner is perfect, they state that Cloudvista is made of 15% recycled material in total volume, and the upper is 70% recycled. We will continue to be on the lookout for more trail runners and hiking shoes made with even more recycled material.

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• Price: $150
• M’s Weight: 10.1 oz | W’s Weight: 8.4 oz
• Heel-Forefoot-Drop: Stack heights not listed, drop 9mm
• Lugs: ~3-4 mm | Rockplate: No
• Width: Average to slightly narrow | Overall Fit: Small
• Wide Sizes Available: No
• On Trail/Off trail? On Trail
• Pros: Sustainable design. High energy return foam.
• Cons: Light traction.

Features

The Cloudvista is designed with their flagship high energy return Helion Foam, which is lightweight, comfortable, and looks super fancy but probably isn’t a huge value-add for hiking. Perhaps it adds some spring to your step, but either way, we’d put this in the medium cushion level, medium comfort level.

On Cloudvista has a typical 9mm drop, which is basically what you would expect from the average trail running shoes. That said, we do prefer a slightly lower drop for hiking specifically, though it’s largely personal preference.

From a sustainability perspective, we love seeing white shoes because manufacturing it uses less dye and creates less waste water. But for trail runners, boy they get dirty quickly. We’ll leave color selection up to you.

As hiking shoes go, the fit is small and narrow, so make sure to size up. It’s a euro thing.

Of all trail running shoes on this list, Cloudvista probably has the least aggressive tread. The lugs are squares not chevrons, and well their height in mm isn’t listed, we’d guess it’s closer to 3-4mm below the bottom of the outsole. That said, less aggressive tread lasts longer and is more durable, so it’s not all downside. Needless to say, this is not the trail runner we would recommend for super gnarly terrain, mud, or snow, but it should do more than fine on 99% of trails.

Verdict

The On Cloudvista is a comfortable, lightweight, simple trail runner that is more sustainable than most, and we hope it serves you as well as it serves the environment.

Read about more great trail runners for hiking in our guide to the best hiking shoes of the year.