MM6 Maison Margiela's New Salomon Sneakers Are Extremely Margiela
MM6 Maison Margiela's Salomon sneakers are as elderly as they are avant, keeping ahead of the general luxury-sneaker collab curve without reiterating the same ol' tropes as peers seeking to cash in on the whole high-end trail sneaker situation.
And thus even MM6 Maison Margiela's Salomon shoes timed for 2025 are joyously stuck in 2005, steeped in Y2K cues even though the models outdate the inspo by a decade or so.
But that's the clashing fun of MM6, Margiela's approachable (and arguably top-tier) sub-label, which only recently expanded its oeuvre to a co-ed collection.
Revealed as part of MM6's Spring/Summer 2025 lineup, the new Margiela-fied Salomon sneakers might look pretty familiar to particularly keen fans.
You can only slightly see 'em beneath pooled sweatpants and creased chino trousers but MM6's new Salomon collab is actually quite new, though it appears to be old at first blush.
MM6 Maison Margiela is tackling Salomon's XT-4 sneaker, yes, But there's more, too.
As recently as May 2024, MM6 introduced its first stabs at the XT-4, slicing off the shoe's heel and turning the trekky Salomon silhouette into a deliciously functional mule. It released alongside a comparatively normal take on Salomon's suitably sturdy X-Alp shoe which might have more in common with MM6's SS25 XT-4 sneakers than the mules.
The new Salomon shoes, almost bashfully obscured beneath the collection's slouchy pants, are actually totally fresh. Meet the Salomon Spectur 2 MM6, a knitted sneaker finished with a "special coating designed to age and crack over time," according to a press release.
In other words, classic Margiela, which has used the crack-with-wear paint technique since its founding.
Expect it to make more sense when handled in-person come early 2025.
They'll be accompanied by black MM6 Maison Margiela x Salomon layering pieces and caps, perhaps the simplest MM6 Salomon collaborative clothes to date — previous team-ups explored running gear, like techy vests.
There's a bit more to it all — Margiela promises reversible taped-seam Salomon bombers and raw-hemmed stretch shorts — but this is perhaps the most approachable MM6 Maison Margiela Salomon line to date.
As straightforward as this stuff is, it dovetails with the contemporary design language of MM6, which hews Y2K — 2005ish, even — with skin-tight palm-tree tops, grunge-leaning stripey tees, and baggy shorts that scrape the knees.
The Salomon Spectur 2 MM6 may be new but it has just enough elderly vibes to suit the anonymity-adjacent, stylistically-aughts ethos that's key to today's MM6, likely looking like any ol' walking shoe to the uninitiated but branded clearly enough on the toe to catch the eye of anyone who gets it.
