INSPIRED BY CANADA'S TOUGHEST CONDITIONS.
The story of norda™ began with a run. Naturally. But it took many more miles for the complete norda™ mission to take shape in the minds of the two founders.
For runners. By runners.
Willa and Nick Martire have been going together for as long as they've known each other. It's her thing. Most of her trips are focused on outdoor running adventures. Or at least that's how they always seem to end. While running together, they can exchange ideas, let off steam, laugh and sometimes even dream.
Over the years of raising a family, running a business and traveling the world in the footwear industry, a dream kept coming back and accompanying them on every run until it became an obsession. They wanted to create the ultimate technical trail running shoe. A shoe that combines high performance and sustainability. Without compromising on both.
In early 2020, the pandemic allowed Willa and Nick to take the time to make their shared dream a reality. As passionate shoe lovers, they organized Zoom meetings with athletes, craftsmen and material specialists from around the world, leveraging their global shoe network to find out what was possible (and what was possible even though everyone said it wasn't possible).
They assembled a team of equally tenacious, passionate and talented people. Louis Martin Tremblay, Head of Design, and Gerard Cleal, Brand Development, joined as partners, bringing their own shoe know-how and uncompromising attitude. Together, the four began developing the first norda™ prototypes using the world's most advanced materials.
Although experts from Italy, the Netherlands and China were involved in this creation story, norda™ is proud to be Canadian. Our home is the paths that lead through the fields and mountains between Montreal and the Eastern Townships. This is where the norda™ dream began and where the first prototypes were tested in the harshest Canadian conditions imaginable, from -35°C to +35°C and everything in between.
The norda™001 is the result of over sixty years of combined footwear experience, hundreds of thousands of miles run, and the unwavering belief that the world doesn't need another trail running shoe. She needs someone better.
