HOKA's Most Stylish Hiker Went Full-On Dad Shoe
HOKA's Mafate Speed 2 is not the first thing you think of when you hear "HOKA sneaker" but it also kind of is. Vaguely tech-y? Yes. Chunky AF? Duh. Quietly stylish? Easy.
But the Mafate Speed 2 also a left-of-center HOKA shoe, hardly as common as a Bondi running sneaker or Ora recovery slide.
So when I see that HOKA is allowing one of its slickest sneakers to let it all hang out and go full-on dad shoe with a darn fresh silver colorway, I say yes! Yes, please, even!
HOKA's Mafate Speed 2 shoe is one of several delightful trail-ready chunksters to recently bear the Mafate title but it's always been a little more fashion-savvy than the comparably beefier Mafate Three2.
Even when it first released a few years ago, the Mafate Speed 2 emerged in a wildly gorgeous colorway so outré that it practically looks like a sneaker collab overseen by a particularly wild-minded designer.
This new iteration of the Mafate Speed 2 is a little more pedestrian by comparison but is still a real head-turner.
The best thing about it, really, is that HOKA allowed the beefy shoe to reflect the brand's core DNA with a delightfully dandy colorway, reflecting most HOKA shoes' dad shoe adjacency with a silver colorway that really feels elderly in a good way.
You actually don't get a ton of these HOKA hikers in more streetwear-y colorways so this is a pleasant shift, though we've seen similar stabs in recent years.
Plus, even though the Mafate Speed 2 is a bit too tough to actually look like a proper dad shoe, some of the other pleasantly unpleasant colorways currently available online for $170 come close.
Still, even compared to some of HOKA's actual fashion partnerships as of late, this Mafate Speed 2 feels refreshingly uncool. No nonsense, just a satisfyingly not-so-ordinary-looking shoe.
