Last summer, I detailed the rise of sneakers from Salomon—a French trail-running and outdoor brand—amongst fashion’s best-dressed insiders. I saw the styles as outliers in the sneaker world at that time, which was largely dominated by ultra-slender styles made less for workouts and more as alternatives to loafers and sandals. But now, a new hiking-adjacent trend is bubbling up, proving that the vibe shift is here to stay. Meet the approach sneaker.
I say “hiking-adjacent” because, typically, approach sneakers are designed to be worn, as the name suggests, in the approach to the mountain that hikers are about to climb. Key tactical details like a protective rubber toecap and laces that run down the entire front of the silhouette guarantee the best fit, giving them a downtown-cool-girl-meets-techy-hiker vibe.
