In the sport of Pickleball, women have a lot of influence. Female pickleball stars continue to emerge year after year, and in doing so recruit other women to pick up the sport seriously or at the very least as a fun hobby.
If this is you, you’ll need a good pair of shoes to protect your feet, ankles, knees and the rest of your legs. So for all the Pickleball-playing ladies out there, we compiled this well-researched list of the best Pickleball shoes for women.
Best Pickleball Shoes for Women – At a Glance
| Shoe | Category | Price |
|---|---|---|
 K-Swiss Women’s Express Light Pickleball Shoe | Best all Around Pickleball Shoes for Women | Get latest price |
 Viper Court – Pickleball for Women | Best Specifically made for Pickleball | Get latest price |
 Condromly Luff 06 Pickleball Court Shoes | Best Budget Pickleball Shoes | Get latest price |
 K-Swiss Hyper Court Women’s Tennis Shoes | Best Cushioning | Get latest price |
 Adidas Barricade Parley Tennis Shoes | Most Sustainable | Get latest price |
 Allbird’s Tree Runners | Most Breathable | Get latest price |
 Asics Gel Resolution 8 Women | Most Durable | Get latest price |
What is this ranking based on?
Our team of Pickleball product analysts asked the Pickleball enthusiasts all over New York City and sifted through 100s of reviews from women on how sneakers held up after lots and lots of Pickleball play, and these are the brands and models that we came up with.
What type of shoes are the best for pickleball?
The movement in the sport of pickleball is not much different at all than tennis. In general, you’ll want tennis shoes that have durable soles. Generally speaking, the playing surfaces you’ll come across in pickleball are less well kept than the playing surfaces for tennis.
If you are playing on indoor Pickleball, then you don’t have to worry about much wear and tear. Indoor courts are especially going to be easy on your feet, ankles and ultimately the pickleball shoes you are wearing. However, most leisurely outdoor Pickleball games are played on unkept city blacktop courts, driveways, concrete and other surfaces that have been converted into Pickleball courts after minimal use. That’s not to say that there are no nice, well kept pickleball courts. But if you’re going to buy women’s pickleballs shoes that are good for pickleball in general, its best to prepare for the worst. And the best way to do that is to buy for durability in the soles of the tennis shoes you are wearing.
Can you wear running shoes to play pickleball ?
Sure, you can wear running shoes to play Pickleball. And they might even be great for you. But chances are that if you pick a pair of running shoes, on average they won’t pan out as well as a pair of shoes specifically made for racket sports. This includes not only tennis shoes, but shoes made for specifically for Pickleball (see below) or even badminton. Volleyball shoes are a decent bet as well, given the amount of lateral movement volleyball players engage in.
Here are the Best Pickleball Shoes for Women
1) Best All Around – K-Swiss Women’s Express Light Pickleball Shoe
At a reasonable price, the K-Swiss Express Light will give you a great all around shoe that looks good, and will give you fantastic performance on the court. These shoes have tons of great customer feedback specificially for Pickleball play. THese shoes will hold up for sometimes up to 2 years with regular play.
And it makes sense because of who designed them. K-Swiss was the first brand to introduce a lightweight tennis shoe specifically designed for Pickleball. This shoe is extremely lightweight and breathable. The breathability is especially impressive since it not only has a moisture wicking, permeable-but-sturdy outer layer, but also features an ortholite sock liner that provides a cooler, drier environment for the soles of your feet.
As for durability, it is solid in that respect as well featuring a 7.0 rubber compound outsole from front to back, and a durawrapped extra later on the toe if you drag your toes excessively when you play. If you are playing a lot of Pickleball and tennis these are a great all around choice. We had to give it to K-Swiss, who knows their Pickleballers feet better than any brand.
2) Best Specifically made for Pickleball – Viper Court – Pickleball for Women
It’s tough to find a shoe out there specifically designed for Pickleball. But we are delighted to tell you that there is one – the Viper
The Sketchers brand has completely transformed itself in the past 5-10 years to be much more hip and cool. One of the genius things they did is cater to the Pickleball market with their Viper court sneaker design. The Viper Court women’s come in 5 different color combinations. They feature a lace-up design with an Arch Fit® insole for those with especially arched feet. Arch Fit®is a podiatrist certified insole system that delivers arch support for those that need it.
However, The Arch Fit insole is removable however for those that don’t feel the need to keep it in. The sole also includes a lightweight ULTRA FLIGHT cushioning and a Goodyear® Performance Outsole. The upper part of the shoe is mesh and breathable. The heal is 1 1/4 inches thick as well to give your heals enough protection to bear the impact of any pickleball court surface.
Generally speaking customer feedback has indicated that these shoes are extremely comfortable and even in some cases have removed knee pain experienced from playing pickleball with other shoes (e.g. running). Customers have even stated that after several hours of Pickleball play, these their feet still feel great in these shoes.
3) Best Budget Pickleball Shoes for Women – Condromly Luff 06 Pickleball Court Shoes
The Condromly’s are our choice for most affordable coming in at less than $50 dollars. These shoes hold up as decent shoes designed specifiically for Pickleball. They have high density rubber soles that grip well to any court. The shoe also features nifty technology to meet decent standards for consumers with regards to comfortability, breathability and conformity to the shape of your foot. The midsole is made from foam materials that will give you cushioning and protection when jumping or high impact sprinting to chase a ball down. All around, a thoughtfully designed Pickleball sneaker at a good price.
One thing to be wary of however before you decide to purchase the Comdromly shoes is the width of the shoe. These shoes run wide in the front, and many customer reviews have indicated that they were no good for narrower feet. Make sure to use the measurement chart to pick the correct size for your foot
4) Best Cushioning – K-Swiss Hyper Court Women’s Tennis Shoes
This iteration of one of K Swiss’ best selling shoes is even better now with the new and innovative sole technology that has been added. The Hypercourt 2’s feature K Swiss’ surgelight technology. This midsole material makes the shoe even lighter and more comfortable than its predescessor. Additionally, the brand introduces Durawrap Flex, giving the shoe more support with no break-in period. The new upper design instantly makes the model fresh and modern looking which will impress current and new tennis players who wear the shoe.
The only consistent knock we saw on this shoe was the durability of the shoe. There were many reports of the shoe falling apart after 6 months or so of consistent use, which at the 6 month mark is not the worst for regular play. But ideally you would want your Pickleball shoe investment to last at least 1 year.
5) Most Sustainable – Adidas Barricade Parley Tennis Shoes
If you happen to both be here to save the Earth AND play a ton of high quality Pickleball, then look no further than the Barricade Parley line from Adidas. The Barricade Parley tennis shoes make good use of plastic waste in the ocean. The whole upper part of the shoe is made from recycled materials. The first 50% of the upper is made of Parley Ocean Plastic where the other 50% of the upper is made of recycled polyester. Oceans are becoming unacceptably polluted, so if this is a cause you care about (as we do) then this is a good shoe to consider.
As for the performance of the sneaker, the Barricade Parley is designed to have rock solid stability on any court, including a pickleball court.
The only downside may be that a small minority of buyers mentioned that they were varying levels of discomfort. So if you like the ecofriendly nature of the shoe design and brand, and you don’t want to take any risks, make sure you can return these shoes if they aren’t to your standard of comfort.
6) Most Breathable – Allbird’s Tree Runners
Have you ever hung up eucalyptus in the shower? Or maybe you’ve done one a eucalyptus cleanse somewhere in nature. Well, if you done one, or even both, you’ll get excited for this super-breathable sneaker. The Allbird’s Treerunners are made from eucalyptus, creating an extremely breathable mesh fabric that surrounds your foot. These are create for the especially earthy (AKA sweaty) pickleballers out there.
The great thing about htese shoes are that they are solid for Pickleball, but also double as casual shoes as well.
The couple criticisms we heard repeated about the Allbird Tree Runners however were that there were many accounts of the shoe wearing down quickly or getting holes in them. So if you are looking for a more durable shoe, you may want to consider….
7) Most Durable – Asics Gel Resolution 8 Women
These slick looking Asics shoes not only look good, but are engineered to withstand lots of court-sports play.
What makes these kicks so durable is the engineering that goes into them. The combination of Asics AHAR® that works in tandem with the PGUARD™ toe protector simultaneously gives you great traction, and reduces wear and tear on the outsole better than pretty much any tennis shoe out there. The other features of these tennis shoes are no slouch either. The combination of Asics GEL-RESOLUTION®, FLEXION FIT®, DYNAWALL™ technologies provide women with amazing comfort and stability.
We found that customer feedback was overwhelmingly positive in terms of the stability and quality the shoe provides during play. The only consistent downside we saw was that for those with feet more on the wide end of the spectrum, the Asics Gel Resolution 8s were very tight fitting. Again, best to try before you buy, but unless your feet are wide it should be okay.
Conclusion
Chances are whichever pair of pickleball shoes you pick out of this list will do you well. So long as they are made for quick, lateral movement and are comfortable and breathable, you should have a winner. Athletic footwear is tough because everyone’s feet behave differently when manuevering on different surfaces, so make sure you do your best to try befreo you buy. The future of Pickleball is bright, so its safe to say that Pickleball shoe lines will grow and become much more competitive in the future.