About two months ago, I wrote about a handful of training shoes that were rated top of the line by our very own Lion Chasers, as well as trainers across the country. My mom recently came across a line of shoes that are definitely THE latest and greatest trend for athletes everywhere (they’re on Oprah’s Favorite Things list for crying out loud!), and as a big shoe person, I can’t help but want more than one pair of these. Even after admiring these shoes, I wanted to learn more about the company and that’s where I became even more intrigued in this brand.

“Athletic Propulsion Labs unique sportswear is the intersection of technology, performance and fashion enabling athletes to maximize their potential in all aspects of life.” -APL Mission Statement.

APL was founded in 2009 by a set of identical twins, Ryan and Adam Goldston. Both men attended the University of Southern California where they were two sport athletes (basketball and football). They had this vision to create “a company providing revolutionary products symbolizing the ultimate intersection of design and performance.” And if all of that doesn’t intrigue you, their company is most famously known for having their shoe, the Concept 1, be the first shoe banned in the NBA’s 64-year history for performance reasons for “providing an undue competitive advantage.” Their shoe was giving athletes a significant increase in their vertical jump, which obviously as a basketball player is very important, but something that everyone would need to have to even the playing field. While many other companies would be outraged that their shoe couldn’t be used by the most famous athletes on the planet, APL turned the bad news into something better.

Loyal APL followers submit hundreds of thousands of photos every week in their favorite APL shoes, and every Wednesday, the company picks their favorite one, posts it on their Instagram page, and gives the winner a free pair of APL shoes. I mean it doesn’t get much cooler than that! Like I said before, I’m a huge sneaker fan, and after trying on my mom’s newest pair, I knew these were going to be my new favorite shoes. The fabric is light and breathable, similar to Nike’s flyknit material, that cushion they put in the bottom for those basketball players to dunk, yeah, I can already see that being super helpful for easy landing on box jumps and killer support when back squatting, and especially comfortable for when we have to do a BLF lap. Boy am I pumped Christmas is coming up because these are at the top of my list.Maybe I’ll see one of you and your fancy feet on APL’s Instagram soon!