Hiking Boots, Trail Shoes, and Outdoor Footwear: AI Market Discovery Index

Tracking how AI platforms recommend hiking boots, trail shoes, and outdoor footwear. Updated monthly since July 2026.

By Mark Huntley, J.D.Growth Strategist & AI Discovery Analyst

6 minutes read

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On this page

01Benchmark Summary
02Current Benchmark at a Glance
03Current Brand Standings
04How to Read the Standings
05Recommendation Coverage Movement
06Largest Increase: Altra
07Largest Decline: Columbia Sportswear
08Additional Significant Decline: Vasque
09Category Leader: Merrell
10Recommendation Placement Snapshot
11Buyer-Intent Distribution
12Historical Measurement Record

Benchmark Summary

Merrell remained the category leader in September 2026 with 82.3% valid recommendation coverage, little changed from August's 84.5% and within normal month-to-month variation. That reading continues a gradual pullback from the July baseline of 85.6%, a two-month decline that has not crossed the threshold for a significant movement. Salomon held second place at 81.1% in September, narrowing the gap behind Merrell to 1.2 percentage points, down from a 2.3-point gap in July.

The month's clearest movements were declines. Columbia Sportswear's valid recommendation coverage moved beyond normal variation on a July-to-September basis, falling from 18.0% to 13.9% (down 4.1 points). Vasque also moved beyond normal variation over the same span, falling from 4.4% to 2.0% (down 2.4 points), and its August-to-September drop (6.2% to 2.0%) was itself beyond normal variation. Altra recorded the largest coverage increase across the full series, rising from 49.5% in July to 54.4% in September; that cumulative move sits within normal variation, but its August-to-September rise (48.7% to 54.4%, up 5.7 points) was beyond normal variation.

The benchmark produced 742 qualified observations in September 2026, down from 755 in July 2026.

AI recommendation trend

valid recommendation coverage, Jul 2026 to Sep 2026

Merrell82.3%
Salomon81.1%
HOKA72.8%
Altra54.4%
La Sportiva54.4%
KEEN46.4%
Oboz30.6%
Danner28.4%
Columbia Sportswear13.9%
Vasque2.0%
Columbia0.0%

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Measure	Jul 2026	Sep 2026	Movement
Qualified benchmark observations	755	742	Down 13
Tracked brands	10	10	No change
Qualified surface breadth	6	6	No change
Recommendation-shaped answer share	55.9%	50.1%	Down 5.8 points
Valid recommendation shortlist share	86.1%	86.0%	Down 0.1 points
Leader by valid recommendation coverage	Merrell (85.6%)	Merrell (82.3%)	No change

Qualified surface breadth counts the AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation among the six canonical families: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. All six families were represented in July and September 2026.

August 2026 saw marginal movement between the two bookend months, with Merrell at 84.5%, Salomon at 83.8%, and HOKA at 73.5% before the September figures settled.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Hiking Boots, Trail Shoes, and Outdoor Footwear

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Current Brand Standings

This table is the primary current-month benchmark view, sorted by valid recommendation coverage.

Brand	Presence rate	Valid recommendation coverage	Top-three rate	Rank-one rate	Net sentiment
Merrell	97.8%	82.3%	58.5%	17.9%	0.9
Salomon	95.0%	81.1%	61.9%	41.1%	0.9
HOKA	89.2%	72.8%	43.1%	10.2%	0.9
Altra	69.1%	54.4%	12.3%	1.6%	0.8
La Sportiva	67.5%	54.4%	12.4%	2.3%	0.9
KEEN	63.3%	46.4%	12.3%	2.4%	0.8
Oboz	40.6%	30.6%	3.1%	0.7%	0.8
Danner	40.8%	28.4%	3.6%	0.1%	0.7
Columbia Sportswear	24.7%	13.9%	2.7%	0.4%	0.6
Vasque	4.3%	2.0%	0.3%	0.0%	0.6

How to Read the Standings

All figures in this table use the qualified benchmark observations as the denominator (742 in September 2026; 755 in July 2026).
Presence rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand appears in any form in the AI response.
Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations where the brand is named in a clear, actionable recommendation.
Top-three rate is the share of responses placing the brand among the first three recommended options.
Rank-one rate is the share of responses naming the brand as the single best option.
Net sentiment reflects the balance of positive over negative mentions in the response text.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Brand	Jul 2026	Sep 2026	Movement since baseline
Altra	49.5%	54.4%	Up 4.9 points
Columbia Sportswear	18.0%	13.9%	Down 4.1 points
Danner	29.7%	28.4%	Down 1.3 points
HOKA	75.2%	72.8%	Down 2.4 points
KEEN	51.1%	46.4%	Down 4.7 points
La Sportiva	57.1%	54.4%	Down 2.7 points
Merrell	85.6%	82.3%	Down 3.3 points
Oboz	28.3%	30.6%	Up 2.3 points
Salomon	83.3%	81.1%	Down 2.2 points
Vasque	4.4%	2.0%	Down 2.4 points

Altra and Oboz were the only brands to increase coverage over the full series. KEEN posted a larger raw point decline than several brands flagged below, but that movement remained within normal variation for KEEN's series.

Largest Increase: Altra

Altra recorded the largest coverage increase across the full series, rising to 54.4% in September 2026 from 49.5% in July 2026. That cumulative movement sits within normal variation, but the underlying month-to-month path was uneven: Altra's coverage eased slightly from July to August (49.5% to 48.7%) before rising 5.7 points from August to September (48.7% to 54.4%), a move beyond normal variation. Altra's presence rate also rose to 69.1% in September 2026 from 63.4% in July 2026.

Largest Decline: Columbia Sportswear

Columbia Sportswear's valid recommendation coverage fell to 13.9% in September 2026 from 18.0% in July 2026, a decline beyond normal variation. The brand's presence rate also dropped to 24.7% in September 2026 from 29.9% in July 2026. Notably, the data series reflects a naming inconsistency across months: August 2026 measurements for this brand were recorded under the canonical name Columbia before reverting to Columbia Sportswear in September 2026.

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Additional Significant Decline: Vasque

Vasque's valid recommendation coverage fell to 2.0% in September 2026 from 4.4% in July 2026, a decline beyond normal variation. The brand's presence rate dropped to 4.3% in September 2026 from 7.1% in July 2026. Vasque recorded no rank-one placements in September 2026, down from 0.3% in July 2026.

Category Leader: Merrell

Merrell remained the category leader at 82.3% in September 2026, down from 85.6% in July 2026, within normal variation. Merrell's top-three rate rose to 58.5% in September 2026 from 50.9% in July 2026, even as its overall coverage eased.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Placement rates reveal where brands sit within the answer.

Brand	Sep 2026 top-three rate	Sep 2026 rank-one rate	Jul 2026 top-three rate	Jul 2026 rank-one rate
Salomon	61.9%	41.1%	56.3%	35.8%
Merrell	58.5%	17.9%	50.9%	15.9%
HOKA	43.1%	10.2%	37.0%	8.7%

Salomon holds a markedly higher rank-one rate at 41.1% in September 2026 versus Merrell's 17.9%, despite a narrower gap in overall coverage. Similar coverage levels can hide very different first-position rates.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in each month fell into the Brand Recommendation class, reflecting shoppers seeking direct brand suggestions.

Buyer-intent class	Jul 2026	Sep 2026
Brand Recommendation	755	742
Pricing & Value	0	0
Multi-Brand Comparison	0	0
Total qualified observations	755	742

The current public series measures brand-recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the pricing or comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Measurement	Qualified observations	Coverage leader	Leader coverage
Jul 2026	755	Merrell	85.6%
Aug 2026	754	Merrell	84.5%
Sep 2026	742	Merrell	82.3%

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, or private or sponsored channels. A movement in a metric alone does not establish causality.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how AI search engines discover and recommend brands across a category each month. The benchmark measures brand presence, recommendation coverage, placement prominence, and sentiment across the six canonical AI/search surface families. Findings presented here reflect observed measurement and are not a substitute for company-specific analysis.

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