Paris Menswear SS26 Proved That Sneakers Are Still Indispensable on the Runway
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Designers continue to anchor sneakers within their Fashion Week collections, and the recent Paris Menswear SS26 showcases were drenched with moments that signal sneakers remain very much a central event to the sartorial detailing and accessorisation.
With some shows dotted with their own sneakers, the city pulsed simultaneously with peripheral energy marked by sneaker brands staging immersive activations and drops. What was once the understudy to the heel or loafer is so commonplace that we can hardly remember a time when sneakers at fashion week were controversial.
To consider how far this silhouette has travelled is kind of mind-bending; the sneaker has outpaced its own origins. Born from functionality, adopted by subcultures, and now sanctified by luxury, its journey is one of the most telling in fashion history.
It was the skaters, basketballers, and hip-hop heads who first infused sneakers with attitude, transforming them into totems of non-conformity as comfort. Then came the seal of luxury: the 2010’s Raf Simons’s cerebral adidas collabs, Ye’s Yeezy empire, and Virgil Abloh’s poetic Off-White x Nike collabs, followed by his time at Louis Vuitton. Suddenly, sneakers were relegated to cult-status from the streets to the runway, and now they’re integrated into couture houses like Dior as a commonplace product season after season.
To us, sneakers are a powerful expression of cultural literacy.
They quote the past while forecasting the future; telling deeply personal stories while speaking to global shifts. At Sneaker LAB, it’s clear that our love for sneakers lies in their tactility, emotion, and the way they hold both memory and momentum and this season, we had our eye on a couple of drops.
Firstly, the whisper of pink in Joe Freshgoods’ latest drop for New Balance. Joe presented the “Everything Comes From Pink” ABZORB 2000 at an intimate event in Paris; replete with joy. Wrapped in varying shades of pink pastels and featuring an olive green insole bearing the mantra "Everything Comes From Pink," the silhouette is a continuation of Joe’s long-standing collaboration with New Balance – replete with injecting tenderness into menswear that is beautiful to witness. Then, in another corner of the city, Shanghai-based cult fashion label SHUSHU/TONG’s continued their collaboration with ASICS; the fourth year since 2021, and once again honouring the feminine expression embedded in their brand codes. We love to see ASICS’ continued prioritisation of the women’s category, and their commitment to playfulness. The GEL-Kinetic Fluent is reimagined with girly exuberance; lace overlays, ribboned pull tabs, and a palette of pearlescent whites and powder blues. Much like the brand’s ready-to-wear, the shoe embodied a kind of armoured femininity — yes, please.
Meanwhile, Grace Wales Bonner continues to prove that collaboration can be sacred. Her relationship with Adidas has long been the gold standard: reverent, intelligent, and richly layered. This season’s offerings went beyond the Samba, introducing a new silhouette with Y-3. The collection referenced her Afro-Atlantic lineage; rich browns and electric blue stripes finalised Wales Bonner’s looks with a sense of ancestral futurism.
Pharrell Williams, in his second full menswear season at Louis Vuitton, presented the Buttersoft. As the name suggests, this low-top is an exercise in indulgence, crafted in buttery leather across richly dark colourways and pastels of baby blue and peony pink. Pharrell, ever the polymath, reportedly laboured over the foam-to-leather ratio for months to perfect the cushion; the result is a sneaker that is a chunky antidote to fashion’s current mood for slim and sleek silhouettes.
Firstly, the whisper of pink in Joe Freshgoods’ latest drop for New Balance. Joe presented the “Everything Comes From Pink” ABZORB 2000 at an intimate event in Paris; replete with joy. Wrapped in varying shades of pink pastels and featuring an olive green insole bearing the mantra "Everything Comes From Pink," the silhouette is a continuation of Joe’s long-standing collaboration with New Balance – replete with injecting tenderness into menswear that is beautiful to witness. Then, in another corner of the city, Shanghai-based cult fashion label SHUSHU/TONG’s continued their collaboration with ASICS; the fourth year since 2021, and once again honouring the feminine expression embedded in their brand codes. We love to see ASICS’ continued prioritisation of the women’s category, and their commitment to playfulness. The GEL-Kinetic Fluent is reimagined with girly exuberance; lace overlays, ribboned pull tabs, and a palette of pearlescent whites and powder blues. Much like the brand’s ready-to-wear, the shoe embodied a kind of armoured femininity — yes, please.
Meanwhile, Grace Wales Bonner continues to prove that collaboration can be sacred. Her relationship with Adidas has long been the gold standard: reverent, intelligent, and richly layered. This season’s offerings went beyond the Samba, introducing a new silhouette with Y-3. The collection referenced her Afro-Atlantic lineage; rich browns and electric blue stripes finalised Wales Bonner’s looks with a sense of ancestral futurism.
Pharrell Williams, in his second full menswear season at Louis Vuitton, presented the Buttersoft. As the name suggests, this low-top is an exercise in indulgence, crafted in buttery leather across richly dark colourways and pastels of baby blue and peony pink. Pharrell, ever the polymath, reportedly laboured over the foam-to-leather ratio for months to perfect the cushion; the result is a sneaker that is a chunky antidote to fashion’s current mood for slim and sleek silhouettes.
Sneakers mirror something deeper about fashion’s own identity crisis and expansion...
Martine Rose’s continued collaboration with Nike is a masterclass in subversion, and murmurs had been spreading about an update, as reported by Highsnobiety’s Morgan Smith, “The London-based eponymous brand confirmed new colorways of its Nike Shox MR4 collaboration during its Spring/Summer 2026 presentation. The off-schedule runway show featured a white pair with red and grey accents.” It’s still unclear when the new Shox will drop, and in what colourways, but we await in anticipation for one of the wildest sneaker collabs to date.
Then there’s the 1890 from New Balance — a drop that’s making the rounds online, with little official confirmation about its actual release. Taking cue from the Clarke’s Wallabee silhouette and teased by the brand’s Boston-based marketing executive Lee Stuart, the silhouette nodded to old-school runners but was built like a loafer, complete with snakeskin overlays and sleek midsole tooling.
Willy Chavarria’s partnership with adidas keeps levelling up, as he staged an emotional show in Paris. From the pointed-toe Jabbar revival to a wild, alien-esque Megaride boot and rose-toed Superstars, the designer also expanded into apparel too, reworking adidas classics into oversized, silhouette-forward track sets and wide-cut shorts. Chavarria’s touch is unmistakably rooted in his Mexican-American identity, and the partnership demonstrates collaboration on the runway as totally possible, without losing one’s essence as a designer.
Finally, the most anticipated show of the season – JW Anderson’s debut at Dior – came through with unexpected hybrids, like the standout pair of floral Vans-style sneakers, alongside the new Roadie silhouette; a mid-top that feels part skate-shoe and ski-boot.
Sneakers mirror something deeper about fashion’s own identity crisis and expansion: the desire to connect, to resonate, to mean something beyond trend cycles and luxury inflation, while existing in contradiction as the very expression of trends and luxury. The sneaker’s elastic power means that they can be worn into the ground or displayed in a vault; they can belong to a 13-year-old on a skateboard or a billionaire on the front row. We reckon they’re arguably the most important footwear of the 21st century and as fashion’s most democratic artefact, in Paris this season, we were in awe.
[All image credits to respective brands and sources mentioned.]
Then there’s the 1890 from New Balance — a drop that’s making the rounds online, with little official confirmation about its actual release. Taking cue from the Clarke’s Wallabee silhouette and teased by the brand’s Boston-based marketing executive Lee Stuart, the silhouette nodded to old-school runners but was built like a loafer, complete with snakeskin overlays and sleek midsole tooling.
Willy Chavarria’s partnership with adidas keeps levelling up, as he staged an emotional show in Paris. From the pointed-toe Jabbar revival to a wild, alien-esque Megaride boot and rose-toed Superstars, the designer also expanded into apparel too, reworking adidas classics into oversized, silhouette-forward track sets and wide-cut shorts. Chavarria’s touch is unmistakably rooted in his Mexican-American identity, and the partnership demonstrates collaboration on the runway as totally possible, without losing one’s essence as a designer.
Finally, the most anticipated show of the season – JW Anderson’s debut at Dior – came through with unexpected hybrids, like the standout pair of floral Vans-style sneakers, alongside the new Roadie silhouette; a mid-top that feels part skate-shoe and ski-boot.
Sneakers mirror something deeper about fashion’s own identity crisis and expansion: the desire to connect, to resonate, to mean something beyond trend cycles and luxury inflation, while existing in contradiction as the very expression of trends and luxury. The sneaker’s elastic power means that they can be worn into the ground or displayed in a vault; they can belong to a 13-year-old on a skateboard or a billionaire on the front row. We reckon they’re arguably the most important footwear of the 21st century and as fashion’s most democratic artefact, in Paris this season, we were in awe.
[All image credits to respective brands and sources mentioned.]
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