Merrell Trainers & Trail Shoes

Merrell has been making trail and hiking footwear in the United States since 1981, and the range here is the running and fast-hiking end of it rather than boots. The Agility Peak is the long-running

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About Merrell trail shoes

Merrell started in 1981 in the United States making hiking boots, and spent its first two decades known almost entirely for them. The trail running side came later and is now where most of the interesting work happens — shoes light enough to run in but built with the grip and underfoot protection a boot would give you. That is the part of the range stocked here.

The thing worth understanding before choosing is that trail shoes are not road shoes with knobbly soles. The outsole compound is softer so it grips wet rock, the upper is reinforced where scree would cut through, and there is usually a plate under the forefoot to stop stones bruising your feet. All of that costs weight and wears faster on tarmac, which is why a trail shoe used mostly on pavements is the wrong purchase.

Merrell Agility Peak trail runners

The Agility Peak is the model most people arrive for and there are three versions here. The standard Agility Peak 5 is the everyday trail runner. The Trek SE is the same platform in a more considered colourway, in black and chalk. The Agility Peak 6 adds a GORE-TEX membrane, which is the one to take for British winter trails where the ground stays wet for months rather than hours.

GORE-TEX on a trail shoe is a genuine trade-off rather than a straight upgrade. It keeps water out in wet grass and light rain, but once water comes in over the collar it stays in, and the shoe breathes and dries more slowly. For summer running most people are better off without it.

Merrell ProMorph and MTL Adapt Matryx

The ProMorph is the lighter, less aggressive shoe of the group, in black and beluga, and the easiest of these to wear on mixed ground where you are as likely to be on a path as on a hill. The MTL Adapt uses a Matryx upper — a woven fabric with high-strength fibres run through it, so it resists abrasion without needing the layers of overlays a conventional upper would use. It is the most technically interesting shoe on the page and the brightest.

Browse all trainers at Yards Store, or see what we have in our Manchester and Sheffield shops.

Merrell FAQs

Three things. The outsole uses a softer, deeper-lugged compound that grips wet rock and loose ground. The upper is reinforced against abrasion. And there is usually a plate under the forefoot so stones do not bruise through. All of that adds weight and wears down faster on tarmac, so a trail shoe used mainly on pavements will not last as well as a road shoe would.

For British winter, probably yes — wet grass, mud and standing water are exactly what the membrane handles. For summer, probably not. A GORE-TEX shoe breathes less and takes considerably longer to dry once water gets in over the collar, and on a warm day a draining mesh shoe is more comfortable.

They share the same platform. The Trek SE is a version of the Agility Peak 5 in a more restrained colourway, which makes it the easier of the two to wear off the trail as well as on it.

Some of the range is carried in our Manchester and Sheffield shops, though what is in store varies from what is online and changes through the season. Worth calling ahead if you want a specific model in a specific size.