There once was a time, not all that long ago, when you walked into a footwear store and were confronted by two options: Swoosh or three stripes? Nike and adidas dominated the market for years, and years, and years. They were the Celtic and Rangers of the footwear world – sure, other brands existed, but the chances of them ever breaking through? Incredibly unlikely.
Every January that rolled around, there was only one debate worth having: did the forthcoming year belong to Nike or adidas? Each brand would come to dominate certain areas of footwear, trading blows through athlete endorsements, reissued silhouettes and whatever other advertising they could get their hands on. And in the midst of it all, the two giants got comfortable. They began to ignore what was going on outside their battle, and in the meantime, disruptor footwear brands started to get their feet under the table.
Fast forward to now, and it’s evident that the world of two-pump politics is over. The streets are awash with tongues fronting brands you’ve never heard of, let alone know how to pronounce. Nike and adidas are still very much present, but their chokehold has undoubtedly loosened.
This shift can be attributed to so many things, and to simply say that Nike and adidas got lazy would be lazy in itself. COVID-19 happened, people started learning more about the shoes they were wearing, then there’s the whole outdoor boom. And, through all of that, there’s the familiar constant that people want things other people don’t have.
One of the easiest ways to stand out was to start wearing something unfamiliar on your feet. Something that would cut through the hordes of stripes and swooshes. As a result, a new footwear brand seems to pop up each and every day, and while some aren’t worth the time it would take to pick them off the shelf, it’s nice to live in a climate where they can be there in the first place.
Here are our favourite disruptor footwear brands that have started to get a foothold in recent years.
1. KEEN
How did they disrupt? By getting to the approach shoe before the approach shoe was cool. KEEN’s Jasper has been quietly blurring the line between climbing and everyday footwear since 2008, but in the midst of the current approach shoe boom, KEEN suddenly feels more relevant than ever.
With its instantly recognisable styling of funky lacing and rubber toe caps, KEEN’s Jasper and equally the Jasper Zionic looks like it was designed for today’s streets – even if KEEN got there years ago. In short, KEEN didn’t jump on the outdoor trend. They were already there – and that holds authenticity in abundance.
2. Salomon
How did they disrupt? By prioritising the trailhead and then slowly shifting their focus towards the city. Salomon spent decades building footwear for people who actually needed to run up mountains, before realising that the same obsession with grip, stability and technical performance could good on the pavement, too.
Nowadays, the brand’s XT-6 model is prolific: a shoe designed for trail running that found a second life on the streets, helped along by tastemakers, collaborations and an ever-growing appetite for outdoor-inspired footwear. Rather than chasing the footwear world, Salomon simply kept doing what they were doing, and before long the footwear world was chasing them.
3. ANIMA
How did they disrupt? ANIMA disrupted by asking a simple question: what if your old pair of trainers could actually become your next pair? Rather than treating sustainability as a nice-to-have, ANIMA has built their entire brand around it, developing a mono-material construction that allows its sneakers to be shredded, melted down and remade for the next generation.
Their mantra of “Wear. Shred. Remake” just about sums it up. In a footwear world still largely built around making, wearing and eventually binning, ANIMA arrived with a different idea – that the end of a sneaker’s life could actually be the beginning of another.
4. Village PM
How did they disrupt? Because they understood people wanted something different to anything else on the market. Village PM took the grip and construction of a climbing shoe, fused it with the shape and attitude of a skate shoe, and ended up with something that felt entirely different from what was already out there.
Originally aimed at skaters, Village PMs silhouettes have stretched far beyond them, tapping into a wider appetite for footwear and fashion that doesn’t look quite like everything else on the street. In a world of Swooshes and stripes, for Village PM, being different was more than enough.
5. ON Running
How did they disrupt? By putting performance first, without making performance the only selling point. ON took a minimalist aesthetic and paired it with genuinely technical running technology, creating shoes that looked as comfortable on the street as they did on the track.
The result was a brand that could appeal to serious runners without alienating the mainstream consumer – helping usher in an era where athletic footwear is no longer confined to the track, trail or gym, but is an everyday part of what we wear.
