SOLE_CRITERIA exists because almost every shoe review you can find was written about a free pair, on a deadline set by a brand, before the shoe had covered a hundred kilometres. We thought that was a bad way to spend your money.
So we buy every pair ourselves, at full retail, from ordinary shops. We run them until the foam is finished. Then we cut them open and photograph what is actually inside.
Funding. The site is paid for by reader subscriptions and a small number of affiliate links. Shoes cost us money, which is exactly why the scores are worth reading.
Corrections. If we get a measurement wrong, tell us and we will republish with the correction visible.