The Running Event (TRE) is North America's run specialty trade show and conference, where running brands put next season's line in front of run specialty store owners and buyers. The 2026 show runs December 1 to 3 at the Henry B. González Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. Here's the day-by-day schedule, what Switchback and the Best Running Stores are, how TRE got to its 20th year, and the part most guides skip: how a running brand sets up so the futures written on the floor reach the ERP without anyone retyping them.
An independent guide by AIMS360, a consumer brands ERP. It isn't affiliated with The Running Event or Diversified Communications. Register, book and confirm hours at therunningevent.com.
December 1 to 3, 2026, at the Henry B. González Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. December 1 is the education day, the exhibit hall is open December 2 and 3, and the show closes with the Industry Awards Dinner on the night of December 3. It's the second year in San Antonio; TRE moved there from Austin in 2025.
| Detail | TRE 2026 |
|---|---|
| Dates | Tuesday, December 1 to Thursday, December 3, 2026 |
| Venue | Henry B. González Convention Center, San Antonio, TX |
| Organizer | Diversified Communications |
| Who it's for | Run specialty retailers and the brands that sell to them; outdoor specialty retailers at Switchback |
| Milestone | 20th anniversary; theme “Celebrating Run Specialty Now and Tomorrow” |
| Registration | Passes and pricing on therunningevent.com |
Exact hall hours weren't posted on the TRE homepage when we checked. Confirm them on the official site before you book flights, and plan floor appointments for Wednesday and Thursday.
The Running Event, TRE for short, is the annual trade show and conference for the run specialty industry in North America. Run specialty store owners, buyers and staff come for a day of education and two days on the show floor. Running footwear, apparel, accessory and nutrition brands come to put next season's product in front of them.
TRE started in 2006 and is organized by Diversified Communications. The 2026 show is its 20th, and it's the second in San Antonio after years in Austin. In TRE's May 20, 2026 announcement, 274 brands had already booked exhibit space, with Fabletics, Huckberry and Spiritual Gangster named as first-time exhibitors alongside early commitments from Merrell, Skechers, Bombas, Oofos, Bandit Running, Satisfy and Mount to Coast. The TRE 2026 exhibitor directory has the current list.
For a brand, the value is concentration. The independent and chain run specialty buyers who are hard to get in front of one store at a time are in one hall for two days, at the end of the year, when stores are planning what goes on the wall next. For a brand that sells through run specialty, that makes it a natural place to start the futures season. The running ERP page covers how that futures business runs after the show.
Day 1 is education, days 2 and 3 are the show floor, and the week ends with the Industry Awards Dinner. TRE's site lists the activities below; it doesn't post times on the homepage, so check the official schedule for hours.
| Day | Date | What happens | For brands |
|---|---|---|---|
| Education Day | Tuesday, December 1 | River Walk Run; a full day of education for run specialty retailers; Opening Party | Retailer education day. Good for getting in, setting up and confirming appointments; the Opening Party is the first chance to see buyers |
| Trade show opens | Wednesday, December 2 | Morning yoga or group run; exhibit hall opens; Training Camp Theater sessions all day; show floor happy hour; evening brand events | The busiest order-writing day. Book run specialty owners and chain buyers here |
| Final day | Thursday, December 3 | Indie 5K at Hemisfair Park; final hours on the show floor; Industry Awards Dinner | Follow-ups, walk-ups and the accounts you missed Wednesday. Best Running Stores honored that night |
Switchback at TRE is an outdoor specialty showcase on The Running Event's show floor, launched in 2022 and now in its fifth year. It's aimed at outdoor specialty retailers looking for new product and peers, and run specialty buyers walk it too, so brands exhibit there to reach both.
Switchback also runs its own standalone spring show. Switchback Spring is May 22 to 24, 2027 in New Orleans. For a trail running or outdoor crossover brand, that makes two outdoor specialty dates a year: Switchback at TRE in December and Switchback Spring in May. The rest of the outdoor and sporting goods calendar, including Outdoor Retailer, is on the sporting goods trade show calendar.
The 2026 Best Running Stores list has 65 stores, the same number as 2025, and the 2026 Store of the Year is named at TRE's Industry Awards Dinner on December 3 in San Antonio. TRE runs the program to recognize stores that set the standard for the industry, from building community to training staff.
Running Lab in Brighton, Michigan was the 2025 Store of the Year. New to the list in 2026 are stores including Columbus Running Company, Marathon Sports and Track Shack, and Fleet Feet Nashville is among the repeat honorees, per Marathon Handbook's coverage. The full list is on therunningevent.com.
If you're opening run specialty accounts, the list is a good shortlist of well-run stores to book at the show. They're the accounts that reorder by size all season, which is exactly where clean open to sell matters most.
Build the season in your ERP, load the iPads before you fly, set prepacks for your size runs, book Wednesday and Thursday, and make sure every order written on the floor lands as a sales order with its ship window. The show only pays off if the futures reach production planning intact.
| When | What to do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Before: build the season | Every model in the ERP with widths, half sizes, colorways, UPCs, futures pricing and ship windows, plus the apparel, socks and accessories you'll show beside it. | The line sheet, the iPad and any B2B portal all read from that one record, so prices and dates match what ships. |
| Before: line sheet | Generate line sheets from the same styles, by account if pricing differs. | The buyer sees the same price and delivery date that ends up on the order. |
| Before: load the iPads | Sync RemoteLink with the catalog, images, customers, pricing and open to sell, then switch on Offline Mode. | A weak signal in a full hall doesn't stop an order. Stock refresh and card deposits wait until you reconnect. |
| Before: prepacks | Set up prepacks for the size runs stores buy, per width, like a 1-2-2-2-1 across the middle sizes. | A futures size run goes in as one line instead of fifteen. |
| Before: barcode samples | Style barcodes on every sample in the booth. | Reps scan to add the right model and colorway instead of searching. |
| Before: book the floor | Appointments with run specialty owners and chain buyers for December 2 and 3. December 1 is the retailers' education day. | Appointments fill the order book; walk-ups fill gaps. |
| During: write futures | Orders on the iPad with start and completion dates, customer PO, terms and signature. | The ship window travels with the order, so allocation knows which futures to fill first. |
| During: the EDI question | If a sporting goods or athletic footwear buyer asks, Dick's, Academy, Scheels, REI, Foot Locker and Zappos are already on the 350+ retailer list. | You can say yes to a chain without adding an EDI vendor. |
| After: import and confirm | Reconnect, import the show orders into AIMS360 and send confirmations. | No retyping on the flight home, and the buyer has the confirmation while the show's still fresh. |
| After: plan production | Size factory POs to the futures book; let intelligent allocation commit stock and incoming production by completion date and customer priority. | Production matches what was sold, by width and size, and the best accounts get filled first. |
The same flow, with more detail on sample barcodes and prepacks, is on the apparel trade show calendar. Brands that take run specialty orders through JOOR, NuORDER, RepSpark or Faire can compare them in the wholesale B2B platforms guide.
No. TRE says that The Running Event and its official vendors do not sell attendee lists under any circumstance, and warns exhibitors and attendees not to click links in suspicious emails from groups offering them.
AIMS360 will be at TRE 2026 in San Antonio, December 1 to 3. We're attending, not exhibiting, so there's no booth to find. Book a time with our team and we'll meet you at the show.
Bring a running model with two widths and a few futures orders. We'll show a futures order written offline the way your rep would write it on the floor, the import into AIMS360, allocation against incoming production, and the same pairs shipping to a Dick's purchase order and a run specialty fill-in from one stock pool. The running ERP page has the full picture.
TRE hadn't posted 2027 dates as of October 8, 2026. The show has been held in late November or early December, and the 2027 dates will appear on therunningevent.com. We'll update this guide when they're announced.
December 1 to 3, 2026. Tuesday, December 1 is the education day for run specialty retailers, the exhibit hall is open Wednesday and Thursday, December 2 and 3, and the Industry Awards Dinner closes the show on the night of December 3. Hall hours are on therunningevent.com.
At the Henry B. González Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. It's TRE's second year in San Antonio after the show moved there from Austin in 2025.
The annual trade show and conference for the run specialty industry in North America, organized by Diversified Communications. It started in 2006, and 2026 is its 20th year. Run specialty store owners, buyers and staff attend for education and the show floor, and running footwear, apparel, accessory and nutrition brands exhibit to reach them.
Run specialty retailers, from single-store independents to chains, and the running brands that sell to them, plus outdoor specialty retailers at Switchback at TRE and industry media. Pass types and pricing are on therunningevent.com.
An outdoor specialty showcase on TRE's show floor, launched in 2022 and in its fifth year in 2026. It's aimed at outdoor specialty retailers, and run specialty buyers walk it too. Its standalone spring show, Switchback Spring, is May 22 to 24, 2027 in New Orleans.
At TRE's Industry Awards Dinner on December 3, 2026 in San Antonio. The 2026 Best Running Stores list has 65 stores, the same number as 2025, and Running Lab in Brighton, Michigan was the 2025 Store of the Year.
No. TRE says The Running Event and its official vendors do not sell attendee lists under any circumstance, and warns exhibitors and attendees not to click links in suspicious emails offering them.
Yes, if the order app works offline. On AIMS360, reps write orders in RemoteLink on an iPad against the catalog, customer pricing and the last downloaded open to sell with Offline Mode on, including start and completion dates for futures. Orders import into AIMS360 on reconnect; stock refresh and card deposits need a connection.
Yes. AIMS360 will be at TRE 2026 in San Antonio, attending rather than exhibiting, so there's no booth. Book a time with our team to meet at the show, or see the running ERP page first.
TRE hadn't posted 2027 dates as of October 8, 2026. The show has been held in late November or early December, and the dates will appear on therunningevent.com when announced.
Shahrooz “Shawn” Kohan is CEO and Co-Founder of AIMS360, the consumer brands ERP founded in 1984 in the Los Angeles Garment District. AIMS360 runs the styles, inventory, orders, EDI and B2B connections behind 600+ active brands and has helped 10,000+ brands over 40+ years, including footwear and activewear brands that sell through specialty and sporting goods retail.
We'll write a futures order offline the way your rep will on the TRE floor, import it into AIMS360, allocate it against incoming production by width and size, and ship it beside a Dick's purchase order from one stock pool.
Book a time at TRESee the running ERP
