It took a long time to create Forged & Tested. But what feels like the culmination of over a decade of learning and work proved to be life’s funny way of coming full circle. We may not know where we’ll end up, but we can know where we’re going next.
I was 10 years old when I realized my passion for shoes and clothes. The first time I shared this dream outloud was to my dad and uncle, in their truck, on the way to a fishing trip. They looked at each other and laughed out loud, then turned to me and said, “What are you, a girl?”
I grew up in the midwest, in a competitive, sport-driven household. My folks didn’t have “fashion designer” pegged as a viable career path. But when someone told me I couldn’t, all I heard was, “Okay, sit back and watch me do it.” It wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when.
Fast forward through high school and college, I found myself pinballing through life pursuing two passions: fitness and journalism.
If I could learn how to be a better coach, then couldn’t I bring that knowledge to my writing? Instead of reaching out to experts for quotes, couldn’t I learn the trade myself and provide better, first-hand context?
So I completed my Bachelor’s in Exercise Science and Master’s in Sports Science, and landed my dream job working at BarBend in 2016. At BarBend, I learned the ins-and-outs of creating and publishing reviews. Anything weight lifting adjacent was fair game, but specifically I was drawn to writing the reviews on performance shoes, like cross-training and weightlifting shoes.
Shoe reviews were the perfect amalgamation of my two passions: fitness and journalism. But they also scratched an itch that 10-year-old Jake had buried after that conversation with his dad and uncle. They blended my love for shoes and their designs with my exercise science background. I found I could talk at length about how a shoe’s design influences an athlete’s biomechanics.
After four years at BarBend, I left to start my own shoe-focused review platform. I was burnt out from working in a corporate setting, and from the grind of living in New York City. But most of all, I wanted to build a platform that was mine and mine alone, and would adhere to my ethos: crafting honest and transparent reviews without the BS or fluff.
If you've ever searched for a review for a cross-training, barefoot, or weightlifting shoe, then chances are you’ve encountered That Fit Friend. What started as a small YouTube channel and website quickly became one of the frontrunners for niche performance shoe reviews.
It took over five years of steadily building That Fit Friend for the pieces to fall into place, and building a shoe became a real possibility. Connecting and building relationships with countless shoe companies, it was only a matter of time before I forged a relationship with a friend who runs his own shoe factory. And we got to talking.
That Fit Friend's community craves quality gear that allows them to perform their best. They love to compare shoes, and nerd out on the nuances and connective tissue between shoes and athletic performance.
After five years of building consistent review content and interacting with a highly engaged community, I started to notice trends within the feedback I would get from the athletes who were wearing the shoes I was reviewing.
The feedback loops became so repetitive that it felt like I had a duty to the That Fit Friend community to create the Forged & Tested Brand. What started as a childhood dream became a reality. Through a plethora of indirect, but closely related steps, a shoe company became a reality.
My first shoe, The Catalyst, took over 18 months to build and bring to market. It’s a shoe built entirely from the ground up, and my first ever foray into design. It’s a product of your feedback and over a decade’s worth of testing and reviewing shoes, borrowing some of my favorite aspects from some legendary cross trainers.
The Catalyst is Forged & Tested’s first flagship model. It was built to be a "transitional" training shoe, a shoe built to be a bridge between barefoot shoes and mass-market trainers.
I appreciate you being here and rocking with us from the start. Forged & Tested will only continue to iterate and improve over time and with your feedback, and you'll play a critical role in that never-ending process.
Thank you for being here,
- Jake, Founder and CEO
