This Designer Boiled His Basic Sneakers
The entire point of Hed Mayner's thoroughly squashed Reebok sneakers is that they're wrong. As the designer's typically evocative show notes point out, "The wrongness of it all is perfect." Of course, they're talking about the intentionally warped proportions typical of Mayner's gorgeous, huge clothes but it applies to his latest Reebok shoes as well.
Debuted at Pitti Uomo 109, where Mayner is a guest designer alongside deservingly lauded Soshiotsuki, Mayner's Fall/Winter 2026 collection is another lineup of dynamic proportions warped within the realm of convention. As always, his clothes are challenging but wearable, a fresh stroll through well-tread terrain — like someone walking backwards down the sidewalk.
Frankly, Mayner's blousing blazers and elephantine trousers speak for themselves so let's focus on the action underfoot.
As part of his ongoing Reebok partnership — which supposedly had an expiration date but apparently (and hopefully) can go on forever — Mayner has recued the undersung NPC Insignia sneaker from obscurity. The retro tennis shoe and its tall boot counterpart are revived in ultrasoft leather and suede, a sumptuous textural extension of Mayner's fabric-packed garments.
But whereas the designer's clothes, from his sculpted coats to snipped blousons, achieve a rumpled effect through volume, the Reeboks are an example of material innovation.
The show notes explain that the otherwise clean white shoes were "heat-washed" — boiled shoes! — to look sufficiently worn, a trashed rebuttal to Mayner's comparatively urbane, if inflated, clothes.
Part of what makes Mayner's work so fun is this exact tug of war, though, where semi-formal forms are rendered tremendous and wild, resulting in collared shirts that reach the knee and pleated jeans cut so loose that they look more like harem pants. This is the biz-cas uniform blown up into a nomad's easy-breezy wardrobe.
Like Mayner's new Reebok shoes, his clothes are recognizable old friends gussied up unlike you've ever seen them before. But don't worry: Mayner's new shoes are also available unwashed.
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