Mary Janes aren’t the dainty, cute, strap-wielding leather shoes they used to be. They’ve become everything from extra-thick stompers to elderly dad sneakers to bloke-core-coded adidas shoes. The sneaker-ization of Mary Janes knows no end!

And Merrell, a 45-year-old maker of hiking boots, has taken things to the wildest extreme yet. 

At the beginning of last year, the American shoemaker released the trail shoe of the future — the mega-stacked, award-winning, nitrogen-infused SpeedARC Surge — grounded by a huge sole unit comprising two sets of dual-density foam pillars split apart by a nylon plate. “It works a lot like car suspension,” Merrell’s senior design director explained to Highsnobiety, comparing how the doubled-up midsole and energy-returning plate interact like the components in car suspension. 

Now imagine all that hefty suspension on the bottom of a Mary Jane. Even at a time of peak Mary Jane mutation, it sounds like a wild idea, but Merrell makes it all look surprisingly sleek.

The trail label created an elderly-yet-sporty velcro Mary Jane upper with lace mesh forming flowery patterns, akin to what you find on wedding dresses. And while the huge sole unit remains as huge as ever, it blends in nicely since it's the same color as the lacey upper, which arrives in either caramel brown or all-black. 

It’s all strangely cohesive for a shoe with so much going on. Merrell might’ve made the Mary Jane with the wildest technology, but the brand’s biggest achievement is that it somehow doesn’t look too wild. 

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