Design· 7 min read
Inside the Tempo 2 redesign
Eighteen months, forty-two prototypes, and one stubborn heel counter. The story of how our best-selling trainer got better.
Head of Footwear Design
Maya Okafor
Portland, OR
Maya Okafor spent a decade designing performance footwear before joining Stridesole to build our design studio from the ground up. She believes a shoe should disappear on your foot, and she obsesses over the details that make that happen: heel counters, toe springs, and the exact stretch of a knit upper.
When she is not sketching, Maya runs the waterfront loop in Portland and collects vintage running shoes from the 1970s.
- Footwear design
- Materials
- Fit
- Articles
- 4
- Latest
- Oct 9, 2026
Articles by Maya Okafor
- Design
Design· 6 min read
Designing for wide feet, the right way
A wide shoe is not just a regular shoe stretched sideways. Here is how we rebuilt our lasts to fit more feet.
Design· 6 min read
Sustainable materials: our progress report
Where we are, what we have learned, and what still needs work on our path to lower-impact shoes.
Design· 5 min read
Pace Orange: the story of a color
Why our signature orange took eleven tries to get right, and why it matters more than you might think.
