The sneaker market is dominated by hyped limited editions, expensive luxury numbers, and buzzy collaborations that look like ordinary shoes to everyone except the ravenous sneakerheads consuming them. They might be onto something, though: today’s most exciting shoes actually are ordinary ones. It’s just that I’m talking about the most ordinary ones.
These are the humble HOKA, Salomon, On, New Balance, and ASICS shoes that slip under the greater sneaker community’s radar, mostly because they aren’t really designed for those folks. They’re functional shoes created for joggers, trail-runners, hikers, and people seeking comfy shoes for strolling.
They’re also by far the most interesting shoes being released today.
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Today’s lifestyle sneaker market is just too densely packed with old, reskinned sneaker styles. Though the intriguing new silhouette does slip through on occasion, the most common shoe released is a familiar model simply given a new paintjob.
That’s not a good or bad thing, it’s the nature of a business seeking to capitalize on profitability. It’s far more cost-effective to iterate than innovate, so iterations are common, innovations rare.
And there are obviously plenty of people titillated by new Nike Dunk colorways, so I get it, but anyone seeking something fresh has to look elsewhere.
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I suggest perusing the realm of functional footwear; it’s where all of today’s most-interesting new stuff is coming from. Beyond the technical benefits, these kinds of shoes have never looked nearly as slick as they do now, with wild colorways and shapes unlike anything offered in the lifestyle section.
Sometimes, these performance, or “sportstyle,” shoes look so good that they successfully cross over to a wider audience.
Salomon and HOKA’s reinventions as genuinely fashionable brands has led to heightened interest in their in-line models, for instance; try finding a sneaker-savvy boutique that doesn’t carry Salomon’s Xt-6 or HOKA’s Clifton.
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Heightened interest…
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