Every year, tens of millions of people lace up their shoes and go running. For most, it’s a passing fancy or an attempt to get in shape. Some people, however, will find something they feel compelled to chase. One’s attempt to shed weight can become an obsession with shedding time.

People of any age, gender, race, weight, or fitness level can lose themselves to the chase.

The chase has the ability to permanently alter the trajectory of a life. It affects relationships and strains careers. It affects what you eat, what you drink, and how much you sleep. Partners and coworkers watch as an otherwise normal human being chooses long miles, early starts, and timing chips over everything else.

For those lost to the chase, all other aspirations become secondary to the simple joy of movement and the earnest, eternal pursuit of their best run.

While baffling to others, some people are simply made for the chase.

It’s me, John Speedberry. 

We’re a small startup based out of Brooklyn with a proud company history which stretches all the way back to 2023. Speedberry is the culmination of a years-long love of making running shoe prototypes instead of doing our day jobs in advertising. Some of those prototypes were even good! 
As for the name, Speedberry is a portmanteau of Speed and Blueberry. Blueberry is the name of my Ragdoll cat. She loves chasing shoelaces. There’s no deeper meaning.


  • Founder/ Shoe Designer

    Speedberry was born on a chilly Vermont morning. My son Grynola was eating breakfast and said “dada, you know I love gummi bears, but they have chemicals in them so they make me feel sick. Can you make me organic ones?” I said “Son, everything is made of chemicals. You’d know that if you were real instead of an anecdote I made up to avoid talking about myself.”

    Patrick (we’re switching from the 1st to 3rd person to pretend I’m not writing this) is a fanatical runner and running shoe nerd who is occasionally fit enough to win his age group. An advertising copywriter by day, Patrick has been making running shoe prototypes since he was in graduate school. He lives in Brooklyn with his fiancee and cat, who he loves, and his imaginary son Grynola, who he despises.

    Important disclosure: Patrick isn’t that fast. His marathon PR is only 2:57:42.

  • Chief Financial Officer & Shoelace Integrity Tester

    Blueberry is a female Ragdoll cat, our Chief Financial Officer, our mascot, and half of our brand name. Blue was rescued from a breeding situation that got out of control. She lives with Patrick and his fiancée Dorothy in Brooklyn, where she spends her days chasing toy mice and the sample shoelaces that don’t work out.

  • Brand Director

    Rob is the person who takes a bunch of running shoes designed by a lunatic and turns it into a brand.

    He’s a senior art director by day.

Design Philosophy

Every shoe we make is designed with a specific use case. We don’t set out to make a running shoe: we set out to make a shoe for daily miles, race day, or tempo runs. We use the most modern technologies available to us, barring stupid gimmicks like pods. But it’s what we’re willing to leave on the cutting room floor that sets us apart.

We don’t make concessions to non-running applications. Putting something like a pull tab on a racing flat is like putting a surround-sound stereo system in a purpose-built race car.

If it doesn’t need to be there, it’s dead weight. However, that doesn’t mean we only make shoes for a certain body type or pace.

Our shoes are unsuitable for cross training, wearing to work, or the gym. They’re also deeply unfashionable. We’re proud of those things.

Everything we make is made for the chase, and made only for the chase.