Although it is an outdoor brand at heart (its name comes from an Italian hiking spot), what has made ROA so distinctive in the function-focused world of outdoor gear is its close proximity to the fashion world.
The brand’s blending of fashion and function has taken it to places your typical outdoor-wear label won't go and its latest release, the Passage Capsule, is a testament to that.
A four-piece footwear drop, the capsule consists of two models that have received distinctive upgrades courtesy of fabrics sourced from an Italian LWG tannery (ensuring minimal environmental impact).
The Katarina shoe and the Rozes sandal are re-interpreted with the option of a rich deep blue leather or an exclusive brown pony hair version.
The textured pony hair and pebbled leather contrast against the otherwise rugged materials on both footwear models — they certainly aren't what you find on typical GORE-TEX hiking shoes.
And, they also introduce ROA to a growing trend in the sneaker market: hairy shoes.
It’s been five months since adidas and Wales Bonner created flappy-tongued Samba sneakers with synthetic pony hair uppers, and since then, I’ve been seeing hair-covered footwear with increasing regularity.
To name a few of the most notable bristly-textured releases from the last five months: Nike and Devin Booker made sneakers that replicate his dog's fur, Song For The Mute has given adidas’ popular Country sneaker a hairy upgrade, and fellow outdoor footwear specialist Merrell 1TRL has even been getting in on the action.
Now that ROA has entered the hairy sneaker chat, it gives the trend added weight.
