A Sneaker-Loafer for... Hiking?
Most sneaker-loafers are fun. These whimsical footwear experiments toyfully combine two entirely disparate footwear styles into one, creating an absurdist mishmash of a sneaker/shoe. That isn’t the case with Moncler’s Trailgrip Loafer.
On first impressions, the Italian brand’s all-black loafer looks nothing short of aggressive.
A sharply spiked Vibram Megagrip sole spills out from underneath the shoe and permeates the upper, its grippy rubber tread reaching all the way to the loafer’s vamp. Combine this with techy TPU spoilers and a sculpted aerodynamic midsole, and you have an almost brutalist shoe design.
The Moncler Trailgrip, a bulky and robust outdoor sneaker, has morphed into a supple leather loafer engineered for the great outdoors.
The concept of the sneaker-loafer has always been to combine a running shoe with a formal leather shoe, an unlikely pairing of polar opposites. However, as sneaker-loafers have gained traction in the past few years, spurred on by New Balance’s viral 1906l shoe, some footwear brands are taking it one step further. Loafers are becoming trail sneakers.
Stylish Italian technical label ROA was an early proponent of this outdoorsy form of formal shoe, launching a Vibram-soled leather loafer that predates New Balance’s 1906l.
Then came HOKA. At the beginning of this year, the leader in trail running sneakers unveiled a tasseled leather loafer with the same sole unit as its Speedgoat 5 shoe (a running model designed for technically challenging trails).
When a trail shoe expert starts toying with formal shoes, the concept of hitting the mountains in loafers is no longer such an absurd idea. And Moncler’s Trailgrip Loafer, available now for $780, only adds weight to that argument.
We’ve already established that sneaker-loafers aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, they've suddenly become a style of shoe offered by almost every footwear manufacturer imaginable. However, sneaker-loafers are evolving, and they’re becoming tougher.
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