Have your trainers gone mega?
With this season’s It-trainers costing more than ever, Chloe Mac Donnell looks at why your standard (and comfy) sporty kicks just don’t cut it any more…
Take a look back at street style and celebrity shots from the past decade and you’ll notice a steady decline in skyscraper heels. It’s a shift that traces back to Phoebe Philo, the pied piper of many of the biggest trends of recent times. Ever since the former creative director of Céline took her bow for her autumn/winter 2011 show in a pair of crisp white Stan Smiths, legions of fashion aficionados have been following suit. From New Balance to Nike Flyknits, suddenly a rubbersoled revolution was under way and whether you were sitting front row or on the school run, everyone could look on-trend for under £80.
Fast forward to 2018 and the trainer takeover is showing no signs of abating, but there’s a very particular kind to be seen in now. Namely, a chunky, turbo-charged sneaker with a price tag as elevated as their musthave status. And while until now, this has mostly been a trend confined to twentysomething fashion super-fans, the trend is now going age-fluid.
Last week, Brigitte Macron was pictured during an official state visit to Finland trialling the mega trainer trend with her usual skinny jeans and blazer. Touring Helsinki, the 65-yearold French first lady chose to wear a pair by Louis Vuitton, the French house that dresses her for many of her official engagements. Dubbed “The Aftergame”, her chosen style features a chunky sole, which means it resembles the “Dad” trainer of the Eighties and technical fabric embossed with the house’s signature monogram.
Retailing for £585, they cost almost 10 times as much as a sports brand, but compared to the rest of the trainers currently trending, this price point is not extreme – Christian Louboutin’s crystal-embellished trainers, for example, come in at £1,625.
Elsewhere, there’s Balenciaga’s Triple S. Taking its name from its triple-stacked sole, it’s been a global sell-out success, with prices starting from around £615. At Matchesfashion. com they’ve been one of the topselling items of 2018 so far, with the trainer searched for on the site more than 135,000 times and counting.
Cassie Smart, head of womenswear buying, says that one particular drop of the sneaker sold out in three hours, a record-breaker for the site. Trainers are incidentally one of the most important categories for luxury retailer this year, representing around one third of its total shoe buy, while sales are up nearly 100per cent year on year.
It’s a similar story at Selfridges in London, where earlier this year, in order to keep up with demand, the store launched a new space dedicated to trainers. Every time the Triple S is restocked, it sells out within hours thanks to an ever-growing waiting list – because of this, the store has doubled its order and also introduced a pre-registration system for other Balenciaga launches. This month it was in place for the release of its Track sneaker, which meant only those who had registered in advance on a special website were able to pre-select one of four colourways, which they would then receive in an assigned time slot.
This drop model is common on the streetwear scene, where brands such as Supreme do weekly registrations, but it’s the first time we’re seeing it in more mainstream stores. Similarly, sneaker geeks are nothing new but instead of focusing on limited edition sports trainers, we’re now witnessing a whole new coterie obsessed with luxury iterations. Using shopping services such as Threads Styling and resale sites including Vestiaire Collective (where Triple S styles regularly resell for closer to the £900 mark), devout fashion fans are willing to go to any length to purchase a pair of covetable trainers. Indeed, it seems that even Madame Macron was lucky to get her hands on a pair.
Monikh Dale, a London-based stylist/blogger, says that she has been thinking about Balenciaga Triple S trainers for several months. She’s currently on the hunt for pair in black, but after discovering she’s one size smaller in the style, she’s yet to slip her feet into a pair that fits.
Alexis Foreman, a mother of three who blogs under the moniker Style Memos, found the Triple S out of her price range, so she bought a pair of white “Manhattan” trainers from Acne Studios for £390. “They’re still pricey, but I’ve worn them so much that it’s been worth it.” Having previously worn the adidas Yung 1 (£100), the Brighton-based creative says that surprisingly, the cheaper style is much more comfortable. Leanne Turner, a nursery teacher and self-confessed trainer addict, also agrees that a high price tag does not guarantee comfort. “My Balenciaga Race Runners are the most expensive pair I’ve ever bought at £495, but definitely the most uncomfortable annoyingly as they’re quite slim-fit.”