Fashion Girls Just Traded Slim Kicks for Chunky Trail Sneakers
They're the surprising shoe trend I'm getting behind.
A change is afoot in fashion these days—and I mean that literally. After months of choosing ultra-slim sneakers, fashion girls are abandoning them for trendy options from Salomon, the French trail-running outdoor-wear brand that has taken the street style scene by storm.
Salomon's ultra-sporty offerings have become instantly recognizable thanks to a slew of chunky, gorp-core silhouettes and bold color combinations. These very combinations have captured the attention of It-girls like Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski, two tastemakers who remain at the forefront of the year’s biggest sneaker trends. Hadid has been spotted in a red-and-black style in the past, while Ratajkowski prefers a lime-green and yellow version with teal accents.
Hadid proved that she was ahead of the curve when she styled her Salomon sneakers.
The styles have also garnered a cult following online among fashion insiders who depend on them for long days spent outdoors. "I love Salomons because they are a trendy shoe that doesn’t sacrifice comfort," says Karya Schanilec, a New York-based street-style photographer who is never not wearing Salomons while on the job. "My XT-6s are my most worn pair of shoes by far."
I am a recent convert, thanks to a few buzzy collaborations with New York designer Sandy Liang, the second of which introduced the ballet-sneaker trend to the world last year. I managed to score a pink pair of Liang-ified XT-Whisper sneakers. The style was released in January 2025, sold out instantly, and became a mainstay sneaker trend on the street during the Fall 2025 iteration of New York Fashion Week. I loved them so much that I got another pair of the same style in a creamsicle-orange-and-white colorway. Consider me inspired by summer's biggest color trends.
But if you missed out on the viral girlhood-inspired pairs, don’t fret. You can still find several similar styles on the brand’s site, all of which retail for under $200. Ahead, I rounded up the cutest options. Consider the brand as the modern-day response to the wrong-shoe theory. Somehow, they just work.
Shop More Salomon Sneakers
