I’ve been lucky to receive the first pair of Frank Works shoes for review in the Uk. Thanks to Rod at Frank Works for sending a pair over for me to test.
Frank Works is a start-up shoe company with a legacy in the footwear market in Mizuno. I came across them when browsing the tennis shoe forums on the internet and reached out to Rod, the co-founder. I asked him for some insight into the brand and shoe. Here’s what he shared:
Frank Works was founded by three athletic footwear veterans – Rod Foley, Dave Lambert, and Greg Newman (a Londoner originally) – who have spent most of their careers making world-class athletic shoes with a heavy dose of them being in the running category. Shoes that combined performance and comfort that enabled people of all stripes to enjoy their sport more and more often. They realized far too many tennis and pickleball players were dissatisfied with the choices they were given for years. When asked why, the answers were consistently around a lack of cushion, poor or narrow fit, lace bite, and first eyelet pressure – in their words – uncomfortable. Frank Works set out to build a shoe players loved so they would enjoy PLAYING more and would play MORE often. The One is the result.
I was super intrigued by a laceless sock-style shoe for pickleball/tennis. I remember when Adidas produced the Stycon shoe, which needed to come with a shoehorn to put it on! It rapidly came out with a BOA lace system to help as the original was controlled by elasticated bands within the shoe: minimal adjustment options! The shoe had an ignominious debut on court with the big Adidas-sponsored players changing out of them within a set or two of their first real matches.
This kind of look has also cropped up in basketball, with the KD8 Elite having a massive sock that was superfluous once it got above the ankle. This meant that I approached this shoe with more than a healthy degree of skepticism. There’s not been much evidence of sock-based shoes being effective for performance sports bar the obsession with high-top shoes in basketball, despite them providing no more protection for ankle sprains over low-top shoes. It’s been proven that it is the design of the platform, outrigger, traction, and lace/lockdown system that’s key in this area.
The shoe arrived from the USA in four days!!! If you are going to buy a pair, you can rely on rapid service. They came in a plain brown box, which is pleasing on a sustainability front to see the lack of dyes in a throwaway item for many. I received the white colourway, with a black colourway as an option. Both colours have the same outsole colour and pattern: grey and teal/mint green.
Looking at the shoe, the most obvious thing is the simplicity of the look with its complete lack of a conventional lacing system. There is an element of the Balenciaga trainer that came out a few years ago. The upper is featured by the large Velcro/elastic lockdown system, plentiful ventilation patterns in the upper, and an aggressive visual to the midsole design. The cushion looks huge and more like a carbon-plated maximum cushion running shoe. There is more to this to be considered later in the review.
On the scales, it comes in heavy at 428g, above my preferred 400g or less in a UK10/EU45. This may suggest a clunky shoe with lockdown being vital to make sure you can be nimble fitted as it looks another bottom-heavy shoe. The true test is always on foot and on court. These fit a half size small, so I had a US 11.5 shoe to test and fitted perfectly after that adjustment.
In hand, the shoe feels premium with the knit looking to have the required blend of support and flexibility. In a sock upper, this is key as it’s a significant part of controlling the foot. Entry into the shoe is easy and once on foot, you notice the extensive padding in the heel area to lock your foot in. There’s a removable insole without branding but looks like a blue ortholite foam. There’s a pronounced shape to it and I felt supported very well by the insole: clearly thought has gone into how it integrates with the shoe design. I didn’t feel a need to replace the insole for an orthotic.
It also definitely fits wider than the normal D width male shoe so can be a shoe to have in rotation when you have issues in the forefoot with soreness or blisters. The wider fit means that as long as I’m not risking a bit of toe jam or side slippage with aggressive movement, they let me remain comfortable for longer. Sock choice can help here too: a thicker Thorlo packs the width of the shoe and helps guard against rubbing; double socking can also help.
Prior to my testing, I had a severe plantar fascia injury that took me almost completely off court for three weeks. Across all of the shoes I have in the collection (extensive), this was the only shoe I was able to wear to get on court for a number of weeks during my recovery. It speaks to the cushion, support, and design of the shoe that I was able to keep coaching and playing to a significant degree by wearing this shoe. It isn’t marketed as doing anything magical for heel and plantar issues but certainly it was offering comfort beyond my normal “speed focused” shoes for my injured period.
The big thing that everyone that has seen me in them asks is “how do you still have any ankles left?” The lack of visible structure compared to a conventional racket sport shoe is leading people to ask this. Here’s the thing: high-top basketball shoes don’t actually protect from rolling your ankles. I mentioned earlier that it’s many other facets that do the job. By featuring a decent outside flange to kick you back upright if you plant funnily, and sitting your foot deeply inside the shoe (you sit more into the cushioned midsole, rather than on top of it), you find it hard to roll over. This is why the cushion looks huge from the outside: it’s actually “scooped out” a bit, your foot sits inside the scooped bit, and the “midsole” is a support function. The strap makes sure you are cinched down, and the various tensions in the sock upper again create structure. The padding around the ankle works like a conventional shoe; it just doesn’t look like it from the outside. It’s as stable as any other tennis or PB shoe I’ve tried. The only knock on fit is that the medial anchor buckle can add a little pressure on the top of the foot. I’m a little “bony” right where that point is on my left foot, so possibly it’s a “me only” issue.
Cushion is solid: as I mentioned earlier, I was able to use this shoe whilst suffering from a really painful injury. The cushion was forgiving enough to manage those symptoms. Traction was great: a herringbone always works well on a court shoe. There’s no obvious front to back slide channels on the shoe, but then I’m not a slider, so it’s not an issue with me: your requirements may be different. There’s some side to side channels but they don’t extend to the full medial or lateral sides.
The Frank Works doesn’t feel slow or clunky at all when playing. Whilst it is 20% heavier than my preferred shoe, it doesn’t feel like it lacks performance, speed, or responsiveness. Whilst I’d prefer the shoe to be lighter, that is clearly going to compromise the structure in some way. The “bottom heaviness” of the shoe is probably a big reason how you can stay stable in the shoe: it’s sort of sucking you down to the floor, and the proprioception from the sock also makes you more conscious of ankle movement.
I’m seriously impressed by this shoe: they’ve gone in the Stycon style direction but nailed the fit, comfort, and support. It challenges so many assumptions about how a pickleball or tennis shoe should work. It’s a really fun shoe to play in, turns heads on court, and certainly worked well when I needed something different to manage my injury. It has also cleaned up remarkably well for a very white knitted shoe; I didn’t treat with anything and mud that accidentally transferred to the upper from another shoe just brushed away once dry. These look almost box fresh after hours of wear.
Post-injury, it’s my current go-to for long sessions or non-tournament play. I’ve reverted back to my lighter shoes for tournaments so far (almost certainly due to my being conservative in that choice), but I’m seriously considering trying them in an end-of-year event to see how they perform under the rigours of a full-on play event. It’s been great to try them out and to get the reactions of players around the UK to them. There’s no point entering a market with a samey shoe. Kudos to Frank Works for delivering such a great first product and challenging the orthodoxy in shoes. Can’t wait to see what the next iteration brings.