From concept to final prototype, it took 18 months to build the Catalyst.
Before this shoe, Jake had never physically built a shoe before, and in his words, "It's a serious undertaking and a true test of patience and delayed gratification."
With the Catalyst, Jake didn't start with the last — which is usually how shoe companies start a shoe — instead, he started with an outsole and midsole mold. The old saying, "The last comes first," didn't exactly apply to the Catalyst.
To be fair, the mold process above may change for future shoes, but it's what Jake used on the Catalyst, and it worked out relatively well. Taking a non-conventional route is either going to work out or teach you a lesson, and in this case, it was both.
Why did the Catalyst start with a mold over a last? Well, this shoe's shape is proprietary and Jake wanted to make sure he nailed that first before worrying about the last.
The width through the forefoot and midfoot is crucial for the Catalyst's fit and functionality, and Jake thought, if he could nail those, then it would be easier to build an upper onto it.
To give you context for the timeline of the mold and its finalization, the mold and its final final design took around 14 months to get just right. Remember, the shoe took about 19-months — that's how much it's been dialed.
When referencing mold changes, there were multiple things Jake did along the way to get it to where he wanted for the final Catalyst prototype.
Some of these changes include:
In total, there were about 35 changes to the mold from concept to finalization. The final mold features 1.45mm deep and wide herringbone lugs, refined pivot pad and outsole lips, and minimalist Forged & Tested branding.
The rationale for this design is to ensure the Cataylst's sole flexes, moves, and grips the way it's designed to. This is a minimalist training shoe, so it needs a highly functional tread pattern that's simplistic, yet precise.
In June 2025, the last and its dimensions were in the works. The Catalyst's last was tweaked four times throughout its creation to get the volume through the forefoot, midfoot, and heel just right.
When building the Catalyst's last, we went off of both data and feelings. In terms of data, Jake looked at the averages of different feet that he scanned at his pop-up shoe store, That Fit Friend Shop, which was inside of Coalition Gym in Chesterfield, Missouri.
In the six months of his pop-up store, Jake scanned around 150 feet ranging from women's 6 to men's 16. These scans measured things like foot width, along with arch, instep, and forefoot height.
This data was HUGE for getting the ball rolling when making the initial measurements for the Catalyst's last. My looking at averages, we could try to strike that perfect "best-of-all-worlds" type of fit we were after.
As you read on about the prototypes below, keep in mind, that the outsole and midsole were continually tweaked up until the final prototype, which was settled on in December 2025.
Building a shoe is an imperfect science.
You essentially take a bunch of ideas and components that you have floating around your head and put them into a single thing, then continually pivot, change, and adapt features to flow well together.
It's like having all of the ingredients to build a cake, but not knowing how much of each ingredient you need, so you start baking, and with every cake's creation, you fine-tune and adjust to get the shape, texture, and taste just right.
Being in the review space for nearly a decade, Jake had a good idea of the "type" of shoe he wanted to build. As in, he had the components in his head, but how do they come together? That's the question.
The Catalyst is designed to be a minimalist training shoe with a low stack height that gives you the perfect blend of comfort from a modern day running shoe and stability from a modern day trainer and barefoot shoe.
The Catalyst draws inspiration from a lot of Jake's favorite shoes [read: legendary shoes] over the years. Inspiration came from aspects like appearance, ride quality, versatility, stability, the list goes on.
Some of the shoes that inspired the catalyst include the Vans UltraRange, Reebok Nano 8, Nike Metcon 4, STRIKE MVMNT Haze Trainer, Born Primitive Savage 1, Altra Lone Peak 6, Nike Nyjah, and RAD ONE V2.
When building a shoe, your early on prototypes will usually use simpler materials just to get the vibe and direction. This is done to save on cost of materials (you'll notice this in the early prototypes), as you'll use better materials deeper into your prototypes when you have more finalized directions.
Prototype 1 was about the bones. It was about getting an idea for the shape of the shoe and a feel for the width and volume. This was also a prototype that quickly showed Jake which materials would say and which would go.
For this prototype, there were about 7 core changes suggested with some of them including:
A big thing to remind yourself when building a shoe is to temper expectations, especially early on. Jake doesn't come from a "design" background, per se, so there was (and still is) some learning curve of languaging changes and direction with the factory.
Prototype was still about the bones, but now added some ligaments into the mix.
The shape and core structure was getting there slowly, now it was about bringing the structural elements together — much like ligaments connecting bones in our body.
For prototype 2, there were five core changes made to tweak some of the metaphorical ligaments, and these included:
At this point, Jake remembers feeling a little more hopeful about the project. He still very much had the looming (and still low-key does) feeling of, "Can I actually make this happen?"
Prototype 3 was about starting to strengthen and train the joints to optimize mechanics.
In prototype 3, you can start to see some of the changes that have some resemblance in the final prototype below. At this point, the concept is getting there, but there were still multiple elements that needed fine-tuning.
For prototype 3, there were 5 key changes made including:
Prototype 3 was a turning point, it was okay and getting there, but Jake felt it needed a slightly more radical change to give it more "Forged & Tested" personality.
The bones are nearly there, the ligaments are getting stronger, now let's dive into the tendons so we can flex our muscles harder.
Prototype 4 was where things really started to take shape for the final direction of the Catalyst. In this prototype, we see an even greater midfoot, upper, and heel rework.
The key changes made in prototype 4 included:
Prototype 4 was the first time Jake had felt like he had momentum. For this prototype, the factory also made a left and right to start wear testing.
Factories generally only start making a left and right shoe for prototypes once things are getting to a 50-60% or closer standpoint. This is to save on cost of materials
At this time in 2025, Jake was also running his pop-up store That Fit Friend Shop, which was based inside of a gym called Coalition. This was game changing because it allowed Jake to start asking [read: bothering] gym members to put his shoe on and share their thoughts.
Jake's girlfriend Katy jokes that his superpower is, "Getting people to put your shoe on, the shoe you've been wearing, without them asking questions." A useful superpower to have in this context, but let the record show, Jake wish he instead has super strength.
The foundation is there, now let's hire a coach and set some goals.
Prototype 5 was filled with "aha" moments. To be fair, this prototype felt like a breath of fresh air. It was the first time Jake really remembers thinking, "We got this," it was no longer a question of if, but instead, how and when.
This was also the first prototype that gym members at Coalition and shoppers at That Fit Friend Shop started to ask when they could buy it, and mind you, this was FAR from being finished.
Prototype 5 included a few key changes and these included:
At this point, things were really coming together, except there were two components that still irked Jake.
First, the heel TPU. Jake wanted to extend it a little forward to create a cleaner midfoot-to-heel break while also serving as a means to stability the heel and reinforced the materials coming together.
It wasn't until Matt Domney, one of the Founders of Coalition goes, "Why not just bring the lateral part up so it more closely replicates your FT?"
This was a light bulb moment for Jake. It solves the branding component AND how to better orchestrate the heel cup shape to provide better lockdown.
The second construction feature that almost drove Jake mad was the bottom eyelet. One of Jake's pet peeves with wider shoes is when the material overlaps on the bottom of the midfoot due to poor eyelet construction.
For prototype 5, the loop eyelets were implemented, but there was an issue. When pulled tight, they looked sloppy and loose.
Despite being the prototype of true hope, these were issues and fixes that kept Jake from fully feeling happy about it. It was so close, yet so far.
This is when shoe science started to come into play, along with creative ways to solve little pain points.
We are knee deep in a goal-focused program strengthening our muscles and improving our performance.
Prototype 6 was a shoe marked with clarity and consumer feedback that confirmed the changes were in the right direction. This prototype has countless features that are on the final shoe and little issues were finally getting fixed.
The key changes made in prototype 6 included:
Arguably the biggest momentum point with prototype 6 was the finalization of the upper. It had the final haptic, TPU, and boot structure.
For this prototype, we also started testing the haptic and its thickness to see which was the most durable to abrasion. We also started finalizing colorways and landed on: Maui (shown above) and Black/White.
The bottom eyelet was also starting to click in prototype 6. Attachment at the bottom of the midfoot helped prevent the overlay and gave it a nice flush feel — aha!
The only caveat with this fix was not an issue that Jake experienced during his testing and feedback phase, but more so getting ahead of something that could be a potential problem.
This was the stitching of the bottom eyelet. It's anchored on both sides of the midfoot TPU, but Jake wanted to reinforce both sides to prevent any potential issues, so a different type of thread was used.
We are dialed, automatic, and getting more specific with our training.
Prototype 7 was the prototype that turned things up a notch. It created the, "It's time to build the site, establish pricing, and build the box."
All of the little backend things that need to happen to ensure a brand and shoe can sell and reach customers properly.
This prototype only had a few "quality-of-life" changes including:
The only caveat that was still popping up in prototype 7 was Jake's concern with the bottom eyelet's durability. Again, he didn't have issues with it during testing, but he wanted to get ahead of potential things. This is where his review hat comes in handy.
To accomplish this, a box stitching technique was implemented in prototype 8 below.
Box stitching is great because it gives more areas for the thread and issue to displace pressure to prevent any premature tearing or fraying.
The Catalyst's insole was also finalized with prototype 7. When making an insole, you have to open up separate molds, as they're custom made and designed.
For the insole, a 2.5mm thick lightweight and responsive foam was used. In the first Catalyst model, Jake wanted the insole to feel like a hug for the foot versus an insole that runs overly stiff and rigid with additional foams and TPUs.
The top of the insole featured Forged & Tested branding under the forefoot and heel, and the bottom of the insole utilizes a raised "X" pattern (you don't feel them when wearing) that is designed to promote insole grip so the insole isn't sliding around under foot when you're training.
Lastly, the packaging was finalized around November. For the Catalyst, we built 50 limited edition sliding boxes and normal boxes for the rest of the first inventory.
No one tells you how many hats you'll have to wear when building a shoe, especially when bootstrapping the project.
The box's artwork was loosely conceptualized and designed by Jake and his girlfriend Katy, and Jake's good friend Brian Levine helped tie it all together.
It's time to compete. The training has been done.
In prototype 8, we're there with major construction updates. The shoe felt awesome, it's receiving positive feedback from both in-person wearers and the online community, and the final box stitch was implemented.
This would be the prototype that gets the stamp of, "Ready to go to market."
In prototype 8, there were only two changes made:
From the initial drawings/concepts, to molds, to final prototypes, the Catalyst took 18 months to build. It has been a true labor of love that has taken endless patience.
As more feet get into the Forged & Tested Catalyst, we'll continue to tweak and update things as needed based on user feedback.
We're incredibly happy with where this shoe has landed and we know there will be small things to improve upon as we go, and that's where you come in.
This Catalyst Development page will be updated as changes are made and if you submit a piece of feedback that gets used in future updates, you'll earn a mention on this page and forever seal your name into the history of the Catalyst's development.
Refined through experience, proven under pressure.
We want this shoe to benefit the community and be a shoe "for the people" — your feedback matters. We're grateful that you're here and we thank you for giving the Forged & Tested Catalyst a try.
