Outdoor Frenzy Ushers in Age of the High-Fashion Hiking Boot
Once upon a time, there were hiking boots for the trails and hiking-inspired boots for the city streets. The two rarely saw a crossover, and for some reason the less tactile “inspired” category — often a take on a combat boot style — was considered the more appropriate option to wear when one was out of the woods.
But since the pandemic, when nature got a massive clout upgrade and city-dwellers stormed national parks and protected waterways and raided the shelves of REI Co-op, hiking boot etiquette began to change.
More from WWD
“I mean what else are you going to do?” J. Crew executive vice president of women’s design, Olympia Gayot, said of spending time in the great outdoors.
Courtesy
Enter the age of the aesthetic hiking boot, a colorful intermediary that takes one between the city and park trails. They are devoid of the drab, muck colors that have plagued hiking boots’ style reputation, and have been spotted at stores like J. Crew, Bally, Zegna, Outdoor Voices and Sweaty Betty — all of which are selling fashionable takes on real hiking boots in lieu of their inspired relative.
But while their style quotient may be higher, technical Vibram grip soles, Gore-Tex coatings and ample ankle support make the boots ready partners for outdoor adventures.
“They will write books about what we have been through. The outside became the safest place to be from a health and mental wellness perspective. Just being outside has meant so much to people during the course of the pandemic. While it’s brought challenges, outside has become more important than ever before,” said Christopher Hufnagel, president at Merrell, which is responsible for the boots spotted at Outdoor Voices and, soon, at Sweaty Betty.
Courtesy
Gayot said she saw the hiking boot as fashion trend develop. “On the West Coast for a while, people were wearing Sherpa jackets and hiking boots to coffee or a meeting. On the East Coast it’s becoming a thing more recently as a part of city style.” She got to work on spearheading a collaboration between J. Crew and Italian avant garde performance shoemaker Diemme, with a collection of sunny-colored hiking boots.
An interest in Italian mountaineering extends to La Sportiva and Zegna’s recent tie-up of hiking boots and trail runners, which were released in December. Ditto for Bally’s recent Bally Hike collection co-designed by fashion stylist Robert Rabensteiner as an ode to his childhood in the Dolemites — many of them furnished in Crayola crayon color combinations.
“We have observed a shift in today’s post-pandemic consumer, with a greater demand for practicality, versatility and longevity. People are looking for dynamic comfort in a context where their lifestyle is merging between the city and the outdoors, the office and home,” Bally chief executive officer Nicolas Girotto said of the idea behind the Bally Hike collections, adding that he aims to get the company back to its performance roots, which include creating shoes for Tenzing Norgay’s first summit of Mount Everest in 1953.
Courtesy
In the pandemic’s earlier stages, outdoor gear stores like REI saw a rush of first-time shoppers — making it nearly impossible at times to track down a pair of hiking boots in one’s own size. This frenzy led executives at Merrell to consider how to evolve the company and appeal to a new flux of outdoor-goers.
“We are the authentic outdoor footwear brand, we have 40 years [of] experience on the trail. Being a leader in outdoor footwear gives us a currency other brands can’t buy. We are working to protect that, but at the same time brands need to evolve and we need to evolve as well, to satisfy our existing shoppers and reach new consumers as well,” said Hufnagel.
The company endeavored to reach more female consumers, resulting in partnerships with women-founded brands. The sold-out Outdoor Voices collaboration saw Merrell co-design a springy version of its Moab 2 hiking boot style in highlighter yellow and sand or burnt orange and pink color combinations. Merrell’s Sweaty Betty tie-up will launch March 17 and includes takes on the company’s lightweight, Gore-tex-coated Moab GTX styles.
Courtesy
Hufnagel admitted that the rush to nature means that Merrell is now “taking phone calls from brands we never thought we’d hear from that want to partner with us.” There are more collaborations on the horizon, all of which will offer boots that do not skimp on technical functionalities. “We can grow by giving products that perform,” said Hufnagel.
Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
