At Forged & Tested, we do small batches for shoe orders.
This is great for a couple of reasons:
For pre-orders, timelines can vary and said timelines will be explicitly stated when you're placing your order.
We try our best to be realistic with our customers and IF ANYTHING changes with shipping timelines during a pre-order, we will update everyone who's placed an order accordingly and in a timely manner. We appreciate you understanding.
When you pay for a pre-order, you're securing the shoe you're after in your size and it locks your place in line.
For example, if we only make 50 size 10s for a colorway and you're able to place an order without a product being sold out, then congrats, you've locked your place in line with the other 50 athletes and consumers.
If you ever have questions about pre-order timelines or decide to cancel your order, please reach out to use through the Contact Us page!
In re: Physical location: Not yet!
We are exploring the idea of building a mobile shoe store and partnering with various gyms around the country to bring a Forged & Tested sponsored pop-up shop to them.
We'll have more details on this come Q2 of 2026 and will have a schedule posted if we decide to take this route! If you want this to happen, be sure to let us know!
In re: Selling In Stores: Nope!
Forged & Tested are exclusively sold through our site. We do this by design to keep our operation small and tight knit so we can focus on delivering the best customer service and product possible.
GREAT QUESTION.
On the Catalyst product page, we have a sizing guide, sizing recommendations, and a toe box shape image to help you contextualize how our shoes will fit prior to buying.
You can also check out our, "How to Measure Your Foot" page for more details on nailing your sizing.
If you have additional questions before ordering, please reach out to us via our Contact Us page!
For the first few batches of the Catalyst, we opened 10 sizes. Men's 5-14/Women's 6.5-15.5.
Truthfully, we did this because it's incredibly expensive to open new sizes ($1,500 a mold/size) and we wanted to start with less to gauge feedback, then add more sizes accordingly based on requests.
We're a bootstrapped business that was started out of pocket, so we had to be mindful of this during our true start-up phase.
As a new shoe brand, we also understand the construction updates and tweaks may be needed early on, so starting with a smaller size pool also helps us better control this to adjust things faster if needed.
Yep! The Forged & Tested Catalyst runs on unisex sizing. We're strong believers that men and women don't need different lasts (molds) for their shoes.
Our shoes convert on a standard US 1.5 sizing difference. For example, a men's 5 will size like a women's 6.5.
The concepts and designs for Forged & Tested shoes are made in Arizona.
The shoes themselves are then built in two places: Hong Kong and Shenzhen (China).
Jake (the founder of Forged & Tested) works with one of his friends in Hong Kong who runs a shoe making factory in Shenzhen.
If you're new to training shoes, generally speaking, China and Taiwan are the two main hubs for getting training shoes built, especially if you want shoes built with the best quality and latest tech and materials.
To be candid, what we've learned during the shoe making process is that the association between "cheap" and "China" solely comes down to the companies who elect to use cheap materials when building their gear.
At Forged & Tested, we intentionally use the highest quality materials available for our footwear — even when that cuts heavily into our margins — and we're constantly working to improve, test, and fine-tune our craft. From the start of creation, we've purposely worked to set the tone with our factory for the quality that we want to adhere by and uphold.
If you ever have questions about this topic, please feel free to ask and reach out. We want to always be and remain transparent with our customers.
Not yet! Forged & Tested will offer international shipping by the end of 2026. We wanted to dial in our systems with the first batch of shoes here in the states before tackling international shipping. Visit the shipping and returns page to learn more.
Need additional help with an order or have general questions for the team? Reach out below!
