Salomon's Retro Trail Sneaker Used to Whisper. Aries Made It Scream (EXCLUSIVE)
Based on the name Salomon XT-Whisper, you’d presume Aries’ collaborative new trail shoe is a quiet piece of design. However, that’s not really in Aries’ nature.
The London-based streetwear label has a proclivity for elaborate sneaker collaborations, spending a year and a half developing technical Y2K-coded designs or, as in the case of its debut Salomon release, transforming a simple clog into a neon-tinged trail sneaker.
The Salomon XT-Whisper is the latest shoe to undergo extensive Aries-fication. It’s the first trail shoe the French brand designed exclusively for women and predates most of its popular lifestyle models, like the XT-6. Aries decided to hone in on the shoe’s old-school feel.
“We wanted to celebrate ‘90s trail running culture and hero the soulful vintage materials of Salomon's archive,” Olive Pietroni, Aries’ head of design, tells Highsnobiety. “Mixing these nostalgic elements with innovative sports shoe technology, we wanted to make a shoe that feels both familiar and new.”
On Aries’ version, what is normally a sleek no-sew overlay on the XT-Whisper is exaggerated into a thick zig-zagging rubber exoskeleton.
The addition of grainy leather fabric and hairy suede gives the feeling of a trail shoe older than its years (the XT-Whisper was first introduced in the late 2000s).
But Aries' most significant intervention is the sneaker’s colors. One slightly tame option releases November 18 on Aries’ website, where orange detailing contrasts a mix of deep purple and coffee brown, while the more extravagant option is a mix of radiant red and hot pink. Even by Salomon's neon-centric standards, that's a lively color palette.
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