Tarvas, a young Finnish maker of stylishly utilitarian footwear, quickly found itself an international audience after a couple years of unexpected collaborations and timely new designs. The latter includes the low-profile Wanderer shoe, its sleekest shape to date, which debuted this winter. You'll barely find any lines — or sole — on this climbing shoe-ish design, making it one of Tarvas' simplest shapes to date, although you may not think so based on Tarvas' latest Engineered Garments collaboration. 

Engineered Garments’ take on the Wanderer is anything but sleek. In fact, it doesn’t really look anything like the Wanderer at all.

On this collaborative model, laces are stripped away to transform the Wanderer into a slip-on sneaker. And the smooth Italian leather upper? That’s gone, too, replaced with a feral selection of faux fur, available in a choice of thick off-white, fuzzy black, and bristly strands of leopard print 

Engineered Garments' Wanderer may be so eccentric that it only looks mildly related to the original, but it retains its forebear's innate wearability thanks to the grippy and slight Vibram sole.

When Tarvas was still in its infancy, long before it started popping up on our “sneaker of the year” roundups, Engineered Garments was early in seeing its cool side.

In 2019, only Tarvas’ second year in business, Engineered Garments and Tarvas released a soft Italian suede sneaker, followed by a hiking model with its own panels of furry fabric.

The duo's latest is perhaps their wackiest design yet but the $320, currently available from Tarvas, is as real-deal useful as any Tarvas silhouette that preceded it. It just so happens to look like a slipper gone feral.

Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit HS Shopping for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.