The Salomon XT-Whisper of today looks to fill a different niche to the Salomon XT-Whisper of yesteryear.

When the trail running shoe was first released, the XT-Whisper was designed for women to make their mark in trail racing. It was a response to the male-heavy skew of technical trail gear, a redesigned shoe with a softer aesthetic and a tweaked build to suit women’s feet. 

Now, the shoe is making a comeback, however, it is no longer a best-in-class trail running shoe. Neither is it only available for women.

Part of Salomon’s Sportstyle line, the French outdoorwear brand’s style-oriented division, the XT-Whisper shoe is being dusted off and brought back from the archives for its looks more than its performance. 

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Updated and modernized, the shoe has been tweaked for the modern market (it now has a wavy SensifitTM application, for example), however, the essence of the original XT-Whisper remains largely untouched. 

Part of Salomon’s XT design lineage, it has the sporty shape and sole unit of Salomon’s signature trail running models with a wavy squiggly line running along either side of its mesh underlays.

For its return to the market, the shoe arrives in a forest green base with brown, yellow, and silver detailing above, available on the Highsnobiety Shop from December 10. Future Salomon XT-Whisper collaborations, according to insiders, will include Sandy Liang and KITH. TBD!

As we’ve seen with other models that Salomon Sportstyle has recently relaunched, such as the Speedcross or Snowclog Mule, this initial release will just be the tip of the iceberg. Collaborations, full-blown redesigns, techy material upgrades… it’s all still to come for Salomon’s freshly unveiled sneaker.