Can La Sportiva Keep Its Soul?

By

American trail running changed what it asked of a trail shoe. The sport got longer, faster, and more runnable. Cushioning increased. Road-running technology moved onto the trail. And a company built around precision, protection, and technical mountain terrain had to decide what should change and what shouldn’t. This film follows La Sportiva through that transition, from the Bushido III to the Prodigio family, and the tension between nearly a century of mountain heritage and a new generation of trail running.

Featuring Anton Krupicka, Giulia Delladio, Tobias Pschera, Sam Winebaum, and Julian Carr.

00:00
01:37 | The Bushido III
02:54 | What a Modern Trail Runner Needs
04:26 Betting on the Prodigio
05:19 The Prodigio Pro
06:36 Winning Over American Runners
07:08 What Couldn’t Change
08:42 Reinventing La Sportiva
09:37 We Still Want the Mountain

Continue Reading:

Written by Josh Rosenthal

Josh Rosenthal is the founder of Borderlands, an editorial media company built around trail running, ultrarunning, and the culture surrounding the sport. Through essays, films, interviews, and the Borderlands Trail + Ultra Running Podcast, he is building Borderlands into a media institution for deeper stories, sharper counterpoints, and a fuller celebration of trail running. His work brings taste, curiosity, and cultural analysis to a sport often covered through race results, gear, and athlete-led narratives.