D2| Saturday/Sunday, September 7 - 8, 2019 ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.**
STYLE & FASHION
1. Slam Jam / Milan
Seek out curiosities like
Roa’s burly-soled trail
shoes and Camperlab’s
tire-tread sole sneakers
at this 30-year-old Ital-
ian sneaker institution.
2. Solebox / Berlin Its
range includes everything
from your basic Air Force
Ones to a rainbow-col-
ored pair of Asics made
in collaboration with Brit-
ish designer Vivienne
Westwood.3. Sneakersnstuff /
Stockholm Opened 20
years ago, this discerning
boutique now has out-
posts in six cities includ-
ing Los Angeles, Paris
and New York.
4. Bodega / Boston This
New England shop (the
outside actually looks like
a bodega) peddles Salo-
mon trail runners, Reebok
basketball shoes and
hard-to-find leather
sneakers from Japan’s
Hender Scheme.5. Atmos / Tokyo With
locations around Japan,
Atmos became re-
nowned globally for its
envelope-pushing collab-
orations with Nike, New
Balance and Reebok.
WHILE NIKE and Adidas
remain the dual titans of
the sneaker industry, via-
ble alternatives are on the
rise. “Small brands are re-
ally growing much faster
than the large brands,”
said Matt Powell, the se-
nior industry adviser for
sports at market research
firm the NPD Group. He
pointed to classic but rel-
atively unsung labels like
Fila, Puma and Reebok
that not only feed into the
retro trend, but also serve
as an antidote to Nike-
and-Adidas overload.
Another factor that
could threaten the status
quo: the startups that
frame themselves as the
Warby Parker-esque dis-
rupters of the sneaker
world. Most visible is All-
birds—whose $95 merino-
wool sneaker (the self-
proclaimed “world’s most
comfortable shoe”) has
inspired a think piece inthe New Yorker. In Janu-
ary the San Francisco
brand was valued at $1.4
billion. Labels like Greats
and Atoms also sell sleek
direct-to-consumer
sneakers. “They offer a bit
more of a value because
they’ve taken the middle-
man out of the equation,”
said Mr. Powell.
Allbirds’s wool runners
and Veja’s trainers, both
pitched as being good for
the environment, appeal
to consumers hoping to
make virtuous choices.
“There’s a huge amount
of social meaning that we
already infuse into our
footwear,” said Bata Shoe
Museum senior curator
Elizabeth Semmelhack.
That said, the big
brands are no slouches in
this department, either:
Nike has been one of the
more responsible apparel
giants when it comes to
using recycled materials.The Non-Nike Contenders
Two giants—Nike and Adidas—have long ruled the sneaker business in terms of both
design and stature. These upstarts could potentially loosen their gripTHOUGH TECHY running brands like
France’s Salomon, Japan’s Asics and
Richmond, Calif.-based Hoka One One
once catered to serious (mostly off-
road) runners, they’ve lately found
themselves in fashion. This year, Salo-
mon collaborated with the Broken Arm,
a Paris boutique, on a few shoes; Hoka
One One has created sneakers with
New York’s Engineered Garments and
millennial-favorite workout brand Out-
door Voices; and Asics have appeared
on the runway at Bulgarian designer
Kiko Kostadinov’s fashion shows.
How did advanced running sneakers
become stylish? According to Nord-strom’s Sam Lobban, vice president of
men’s fashion, they embody multiple
current sneaker trends including chunky
soles, bold colors and the profile of
throwback “dad” running shoes. Add in
the popularity of working out, or at
least dressing as if you’re liable to,
among a younger generation and it’s
clear why tech running shoes are racing
to the top of the trend pyramid. They
immediately signal “I’m outdoorsy“ for
poseurs, and for actual runners they do
double duty. As Mr. Lobban pointed out,
“If you’re a guy that’s into fashion and
you also run a lot, all of a sudden you’ve
got a shoe that can do both.”Trail Runners Take Off
True sneakerheads are always digging for the next
unexpected trend. A current, curious one: off-road hybridsIn a shopping landscape increasingly driven by
e-commerce, here are five worthy destination storesA CLEANER
SNEAKER?
From left: Veja and
Allbirds sneakers, which
project a more sustainable
design ethos, are keeping the
big brands on their toes. Veja
V-10, $150, veja-store.com ;
Allbirds Tree Runners,
$95, allbirds.comZOOM SHOES Hoka One One Rincon, $115, hokaoneone.com ; Salomon S/LAB
XT-4ADV, $223, havenshop.comStores Worth the Flight
CATCHING THE WAVE The interior of Atmos in Tokyo is aptly architectural.BRYAN GARDNER FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, STYLING BY ANNE CARDENAS (SNEAKERS); GETTY IMAGES (CELEBS)
Sneakers &
Celebs: A
Love Story
Kanye West
isn’t the only
megastar
collaborator1986The Forerunners
Run-DMC and
Adidas After
rapping about the
brand, they joined
forces with it.The High Roller
Reebok and
50 Cent He has
boasted about how
much cash he
made from kicks.The Trailblazer
Missy Elliot and
Adidas Her line is
a touchstone for
female
sneakerheads.The Creative
Rihanna and
Puma Her Creeper
won Shoe of the
Year in 2016 from
Footwear News.The Athlete
The Rock and
Under Armour
The buff star was
photographed
working out in
this gear.The Cult Icon
Travis Scott
and Nike The
rapper’s shoes can
resale for over $1k.200320042015201620182019The Queen
Beyoncé and
Adidas She
announced the gig
on Instagram lying
on a sea of sneaks.