Rocks are hot right now. The campaign for On and Post Archive Faction’s final collaboration sets their Cloudsoma PAF sneaker against straight-from-the-soil rocks. HAVEN and norda’s laceless 003G+ shoe rests on a slab of stone, looking near-identical to a shot from HOKA and BEAMS’ Zen garden-set Bondi 7 ad. Photographing trail footwear on trails or, say, Satisfy’s new collection of climbing-inspired Levi’s apparel against a cliff is logical. You want to show the item in the environment it’s meant for. 

But rocks aren’t just a common sight in activewear ads. Barbour and Paul Smith’s Fall/Winter 2026 campaign, photographed in Scotland, shows a woman — sleeves rolled up on her knit sweater; waxed cotton jacket tied around her waist — holding an actual boulder over her head. Fitting, given the campaign was inspired by the Scottish Highland Games’ tests of strength and endurance. 

There’s likely a psychological connection between seeing OG gorpcore enthusiast Odysseus battle the elements in The Odyssey and noticing the number of rocks in recent fashion campaigns. And seeing product paired with pebbles and boulders and all manner of hardened sediment does hit different. 

It’s especially effective because the usual reality our clothes see — coffee runs in the maze of city streets, or slumping over laptops at an office — isn’t inspiring. What is inspiring? The humble rock, a perfectly craggy symbol of being offline. You can’t connect one to WiFi or tie it to a subscription plan. (If you can, please don’t tell me about it.) 

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Health and wellness have never been hotter, groceries are the new status symbol, and outdoor recreation is at an all-time high, according to a recent trend report by the Outdoor Industry Association. It’s only logical that the clothes we’re being sold would tap into the yearning to unplug and touch grass (or rock). 

Brands aren’t just plopping their pieces into nature and calling it a day, either. The  PAF x On Cloudsoma’s silhouette was directly inspired by rock formations, and both the HAVEN x norda and HOKA x BEAMS sneakers used natural hues to inform their colorways. 

We’re living through a cultural moment where people will literally buy a slab of smartphone-sized obsidian to reduce their screen time. So really, there’s no better time than now for fashion brands to pair their wares with a bit of rock. 

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