What has become of the mule? The classic open-backed, closed-toe shoe has been associated with everything from ancient Roman magistrates to Marie Antoinette; it has enchanted Manolo Blahnik with its “sexy” allure, and hung delicately from the foot in historic Rococo paintings like Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s The Swing. The mule has long been a signifier of relaxed elegance and yacht-ready footwear.

But lately, the mule has changed, its freak flag flying at full mast. The biggest mules of the moment aren’t even really mules, either. Not really. Instead of sticking to the same playbook, they’ve Frankensteined themselves into a new species of half-sneaker hybrids. 

It was only a matter of time before the standard mule’s cultural “mulement” took a sharp left toward Freakville, and 2026 feels like the year this entirely modern mutation has finally arrived. The reverse-mullet of shoe silhouettes, chopped at the back and long up front, has become ubiquitous. More than that, it’s become increasingly bizarre. 

I blink and, suddenly, a new take on the trend falls out of the sky. There’s MM6 Maison Margiela's latest Salomon XT-4 Mule, the recent Vans Super Lowpro Mule, Converse One Star Suede Mule, and a backless iteration of Anthony Edwards' hoop shoe (!). Even the ASICS GEL-1130 dad shoes have axed the heel, providing at least a bit of airflow to your little piggies that you’d miss wearing traditional sneakers. Seeing laces on a Vans shoe with no back is definitely a choice, but the skatewear brand also sells a Mountain Mule variety that looks a touch more traditional, while adidas has the Birkenstock-y “adimule” for the granola-crunchers.  

It feels like the heel-free style has touched every corner of the sneaker industry, from Nike’s squishy, unapologetically ugly Mind 001, which will make your feet look like a cartoon, to the high-end $560 Dries Van Noten option in tan suede, through to the inevitable adidas Samba Mule. 

The mass mule-ification of sneakers feels apt, given that we are in the throes of summer, and the ease of literally just stepping into a sneaker-mule monstrosity makes lacing up shoes feel like unpaid labor. But at what point is this trend going one step too far? Cutting away the security of a heel on performance footwear feels counterintuitive, like removing the floor of a sports car and padding along yourself, à la the Flintstones’ foot-mobile. And God forbid it rains?! 

Call me old-fashioned, but in my personal shoewear rotation, I’m team “give me traditional silhouettes, or give me death.” I’m all for innovation, but in this instance, I’ll leave the hybrid and mutant silhouettes to the footwear freaks. 

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