Salomon's low-top trek sneakers are culturally on fire, hotter than ever even after years of compounding hype. And, yet, emerging Italian label RIER elected to collaborate with the French outdoor brand on perhaps its most tactical shoe, the XA JUNGLE boot.
Clearly, you can tell that RIER doesn't play to trends.
The RIER x Salomon XA JUNGLE boot is pretty straightforward: Salomon produced a special edition of its tall sneaker-boot, a model typically utilized by militaries, to RIER's taste.
That meant retaining the usefulness inherent to the shoe but reimagining its exterior in tonal Castlerock grey, a utilitarian hue appropriate for the subdued palette of RIER's Fall/Winter 2024 collection.
A casual glance at RIER's output might lead you to assume that it's some sort of quiet luxury hangers-on, some fresh-faced Johnny-come-lately popping up to tap into an existing movement. It's not an unfair generalization, necessarily — RIER's clothes certainly are understated and they are objectively luxurious — but it's incorrect.
RIER was patiently producing humbly excellent clothing years before the broader culture got hip to the idea of sophisticated timelessness. Its aims haven't changed; the world has simply shifted around it.
A 2021 LVMH Prize semi-finalist, RIER was founded by industry vet Andreas Steiner, who'd previously gigged at the likes of Miu Miu and Louis Vuitton. In an interview with Highsnobiety, he described his tenure Prada as "a great school" — where better to learn the importance of quiet quality?
Its tasteful co-ed collections are produced ethically throughout France, Italy, and Steiner's native Tyrol, a tiny Austrian town with an outsized influence on fashion. The shoes worn by Tyrolean mountaineers inspired the moc-toed design made famous by shoemakers like Paraboot, for instance, and the tough clothes necessary for life amidst the Alps inspired generations of outdoor gear.
That's really the best way to think of RIER: immodestly beautiful modest-looking clothes steeped in Tyrolean traditions, in terms of both craft and design, riffing on age-old silhouettes utilized to combat mountain chill.
Hence why RIER elected to partner with Salomon on the XA JUNGLE boot, a shoe that's pretty far-removed from the contemporary yen for Salomon sneakers.
This is a functional shoe, firstly and foremostly, and though you can't deny that it looks surprisingly suave in monochrome the point was to tap a shoe that'd be as useful for Tyrol strolls as RIER's ready-to-wear
Really, the Salomon shoe is like a cherry on the top of RIER FW24, the young brand's best collection yet.
