private industry apparel founded 2002 ; 14 years ago 2002 1 founder andy krafsur 1 headquarters el paso texas united states 2 area served worldwide products athletic footwear 1 website www.spira.com spira footwear inc. best known as simply spira is an american footwear manufacturer based in the el paso texas 2 united states of america . it was founded in 2001 and is best known for their running walking and casual shoes with springs embedded under the heel and toe . 2 3 contents 1 marketing 1.1 a & e networks relationship 1.2 healthwagers contest 2 research 3 controversy 4 references 5 external links 6 see also marketing edit a & e networks relationship edit in the spring of 2013 spira was selected to be featured as part of the a & e networks project startup and initiative with the crowdfunding site rockethub to raise capital for a new lightweight running shoe . this initiative is part of a & e s real life real change 4 social campaign that showcases innovative companies through tv vignettes on the network as well as a web presence for spira on a & e s website and social media extensions . spira raised more than 42 000 by pre selling more than 800 pairs of the stinger 2 shoes to supporter and enthusiasts through the rockethub platform . the money was used to fund the purchase the initial run of inventory for the new shoe . 1 in august 2013 spira announced a line of officially licensed limited edition duck dynasty camouflage shoes . the company will introduce a running shoe that will feature the signature duck camouflage pattern sported by the robertson family who are the stars of the reality television series . the relationship between a & e rockethub and spira footwear started in the summer of 2012 when spira used rockethub s service to crowdfund its line of stinger2 shoes . with a crowdfunding project under their belt spira was chosen by a & e to align with after the network brainstormed the idea to launch a shoe line for duck dynasty . using the crowdfunding site gives spira the opportunity to pre sell the shoe allowing the company to anticipate demand and to determine proper inventory levels . this gives spira increased visibility into the demand for the shoe so this smaller company can anticipate manufacturing needs with greater accuracy . 5 healthwagers contest edit in may 2013 spira and healthwagers announced a contest where a runner who is wearing spira shoes completes a sanctioned chip timed race and the runner does not run faster than their personal record spira will pay them back for the price of their shoes . according to the rules of the contest the race must be longer than 10 kilometres 6.2 mi and must completed in the foreseeable future . 6 research edit in 2014 the northern alberta institute of technology conducted a research study on the impact of the spira shoes and technology on running efficiency . the study used 17 runners to compare treadmill performance of two spira models one for training and the other for racing to their own shoes . the study measured oxygen consumption and heart rate at a pace of 11 kilometres 6.8 mi per hour to determine the energy output of each runner . the study concluded the average person running a marathon could cut four minutes from their run time over the 26.2 miles 42.2 km distance . 7 controversy edit spira claimed that their shoes were banned from races because they purportedly did not conform to international association of athletics federations and usa track and field standards . 3 the company has offered a million us dollar bounty 3 to two kenyans if they win the 2006 boston marathon wearing spira s product . in spite of this usatf confirmed in 2007 that the shoes aren t banned because of pending litigation usatf can not comment on spira shoes beyond confirming that usatf has not examined or banned the shoe as we have publicly stated multiple times over the last year plus . 8 9 a spira shoe display at the 2013 boston marathon expo . at 2008 summer olympics in beijing china at least three athletes used spira shoes in competition . axel zeebroek used racing flats in the running portion of the triathlon and franklin tenorio of ecuador and joao n tyamba of angola both ran the marathon using spira shoes . 10 references edit a b c d flores aileen b. 24 april 2013 . el paso s spira to be featured on a & e initiative . el paso times . el paso times and medianews group . retrieved 2013 04 30 . a b c springs in their steps . runner s world . rodale inc. may 2006 . p. 30 . retrieved 2013 04 25 . a b c demello margo 2009 . illustrated eds . feet and footwear a cultural encyclopedia . macmillan . p. 287 . isbn 978 031335714 5 . retrieved 2013 04 25 . cs1 maint uses editors parameter link real life . change project startup success spira shoes . a & e television networks llc . retrieved 2013 05 21 . belzer jason 2013 08 15 . spira footwear to introduce duck dynasty running shoe . forbes . forbes publishing . retrieved 2013 08 16 . rovell darren 2 may 2013 . beat your record or your shoes are free . espn.com . http espn.go.com blog playbook dollars post id 3434 beat your record or your shoes are free . external link in publisher help ; access date requires url help can spira running shoes trim minutes off your race time . techlife http www.techlifemag.ca spira.htm format requires url help . alberta canada nait marketing and communications . 2014 . access date requires url help david monti boston publicity stunt is ultimately hollow shoes are not banned . in race results weekly . april 17 2007 weldon johnson spira shoes update the unbanned banned shoe . in letsrun.com . march 6 2008 reynolds gretchen 28 august 2008 . as seen on an olympian ; physical culture the first steps to the medal podium . the new york times . the new york times company . access date requires url help external links edit www.spirafootwear.com see also edit companies portal texas portal united states portal list of texas companies v t e running shoe brands running shoe brands adidas altra running asics brooks fila k swiss li ning merrell mizuno new balance newton nike north face puma reebok saucony spira under armour tyka related athletic shoe retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title spira footwear inc. & oldid 744128662 categories athletic shoe brandscompanies based in texascompanies based in el paso texasshoe companies of the united statessporting goods manufacturers of the united statescompanies established in 20022002 establishments in texashidden categories cs1 maint uses editors parametercs1 errors external linkspages using citations with accessdate and no urlpages using citations with format and no url navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages fran ais edit links this page was last modified on 13 october 2016 at 08 44 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view