In recent years fashionable footwear has been a bit of a free for all, with some saying we’ve entered the post-sneaker world and others enjoying a 2-year-long summer of Sambas. While low-profile sneakers aren’t going anywhere, podiatrists love this latest sneaker trend.
Comfort is cool now. As well as introducing Salomon to the city, Gorp Core, arriving at a time when many of us were amid nationwide lockdowns, has encouraged us to dress for our environment.
Coveted London menswear designer and Gorp Core poster boy Kiko Kostadinov played a pivotal role in bringing comfort to the cool crowd thanks to its collaboration with Japanese sportswear manufacturer Asics. Debuting the partnership as part of its Spring Summer 2018 collection, the relationship between the two brands has blossomed into a fully-fledged fashion line fusing technology-focused design with Kokstdinov’s workwear-inspired looks.
In a world of constant collaborations, Asics and Kiko Kostadinov make sense. Inspired by his father, who worked in construction, and his mother, a childcare worker and a cleaner, comfort and practicality have always been at the forefront of his designs. If there’s one thing Asics knows how to do, it’s make a comfortable shoe.
As utilitarianism continues to edge further into the fashion sphere, we can expect to see more fashion meets comfort collabs. Jean Luc Ambridge Lavelle’s label, _J.L.A-.L_ draws on traditional menswear codes and reworks them to create an experimental, utilitarian aesthetic. As part of his form meets function approach, Ambridge Lavelle has partnered with California-based sportswear brand, Hoka, pushing his brand and comfortable shoes into the mainstream.
The comfortable shoe revolution was solidified on the world stage earlier this year when a pregnant Rihanna performed at the Super Bowl in February wearing a red pair of Salomon x Maison Margiela MM6 Low Cross sneakers. If the future of fashion is this comfortable, we can’t wait.
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