The Ultraventure line has been Topo Athletic’s flagship shoe for long trail adventures, and the third iteration of this model was released last fall with a larger stack height, revised outsole and lighter overall construction compared to its predecessor. Topo has also made extensive efforts in sustainable material sourcing and manufacturing over the years, and this spring they incorporated several of their best process practices with the new Ultraventure 3 Eco. The shoe has an identical spec weight, geometry, fit and feel as the regular Ultraventure 3 and thankfully, it also has an identical price tag as Topo resisted the impulse to raise the MSRP to offset additional production costs associated with responsible manufacturing.
The Eco project represents a collaborative effort across all the internal teams (product, development and design) as well as in partnership with external component suppliers like Vibram and Ortholite. Using one of the most popular shoes in their lineup allows Topo to establish a proof of concept with the Ultraventure 3 Eco that will validate the use of more sustainable materials and processes across their product line moving forward. Of course, the biggest challenge in this proof of concept is confirming that the sustainability initiatives don’t negatively affect the shoe’s comfort, performance or durability.
That’s where we come in. We tested the Ultraventure 3 Eco for about 150 training miles before using them in our favorite kind of test lab, a mountain 50-mile race in Leadville earlier this month. The event featured long climbs and descents on rocky technical fire roads with extensive water exposure. In general terms, we felt very little difference in the Eco shoe compared to the regular Ultraventure 3, but we’ll do a run-down from top to bottom explaining the sustainable elements and how they translate into practical use.
The first and most obvious characteristic of the Ultraventure 3 Eco is their color: a brilliant and eye-catching white. With the exception of the outsole, every single component of this shoe is white, reflecting the lack of dyes for any component (the outsole color is derived from natural pigments in the source material—more on that shortly). From a material standpoint, the engineered mesh is made from 65% recycled polyester and the TPU overlays are made from 15% recycled scrap rubber.
Arrangement of the overlays is identical to the Ultraventure 3, and the mesh material has the same feel. Although it’s not a tangible distinction, one major difference between the Eco mesh and regular Ultraventure 3 mesh is that the all-white colorway attracts a lot of comments on the trail—whether this is good or bad is up to you. Even after acquiring permanent dirt-toned hues, the brightness of these shoes will attract eyeballs.
Like all Topo trail shoes, the UV3 Eco comes with gaiter attachments built into the TPU heel cup and a loop attachment at the bottom of the laces. The rear attachments are made specifically for Topo’s gaiters (sold separately), but in practice we don’t typically wear gaiters with Topo shoes because the fit around the ankle collar is effective at keeping debris out. This proved true with the UV3 Eco just as with other Topo trail models.
The first construction difference on the Ultraventure 3 Eco is in the midsole, which uses a compound made from 15% recycled scrap EVA rubber. This is a somewhat different formulation than Topo’s proprietary Zipfoam, so technically the UV3 Eco doesn’t have Zipfoam but the overall feel underfoot is very similar. After logging a lot of miles in both versions, we’d describe the Eco midsole as softer overall than Zipfoam, with more of a cushioned feel and a bit less energetic rebound. These differences are not dramatic. In fact, we’d say you have to be pretty familiar with Topo models to even notice a difference. In lab testing, the durability of the two midsoles is very similar as well. Otherwise, the geometry and volume of this midsole is identical to the Ultraventure 3, with the same stack heights, platform width and forefoot curvature. And given that the spec weights of the two shoes are identical, the modified midsole compound doesn’t add heaviness in comparison to Zipfoam.
For the outsole, Topo exchanges the Vibram XS Trek EVO of the regular Ultraventure 3 with a compound called Vibram Ecostep, which is made with a minimum of 30% recycled rubber generated during the manufacturing process of other Vibram outsoles. Application of this compound is in the same pattern as the regular UV3, using 3mm lugs with generous spacing to shed mud, plus a cutout section in the midfoot and small flex grooves in the forefoot and rearfoot. The Ecostep compound has very good durability in our testing, specifically when looking at the wear rate compared to the regular UV3 outsole. We did notice a subtle concession in traction from time to time, particularly on downhills with loose gravel or scree, as the Ecostep compound just feels slightly less grippy than what we had on the Ultraventure 3. One interesting note is that when updating from Ultraventure 2 to Ultraventure 3, Topo actually lowered the outsole lug heights (from 4mm to 3mm) as part of a larger effort to decrease stack height and weight. We suspect that some of the Ecostep slipping we experienced would be remedied with slightly taller or more aggressive lugs on future iterations.
Although we could discern small differences in ride quality and outsole traction on the Ultraventure Eco, neither of these factors prevented us from running well over the course of 50 miles in the mountains above Leadville, and we never felt like the shoes were any kind of liability for racing. We were able to push the pace with good responsiveness when needed, and control rocky terrain or tricky descents with only slightly more caution than would otherwise be required. If you’re pushing for podium spots and trying to make every second count, the performance differences might be appreciable, but for the vast majority of us just trying to cover long distances and stay as comfortable as possible while doing so, the Eco is definitely up to the task. It convincingly confirms the initial premise of incorporating more eco-friendly methods with minimal impact on function, and we’re interested to see how Topo uses these findings across the rest of their product line moving forward.
The Topo Athletic Ultraventure 3 Eco is a limited edition item, available in men’s and women’s versions while supplies last at www.topoathletic.com.
Features and Specs:
- Weight: 10.2oz men’s / 8.3oz women’s
- Stack Height (heel/toe, in mm): 35/30
- Heel-Toe Drop: 5mm
- Upper: Recycled engineered mesh
- Midsole: EVA compound
- Outsole: Vibram Ecostep compound with 3mm lugs
- MSRP: $150