Hoka One One is reuniting with a past streetwear collaborator this month to release lifestyle sneakers inspired by the idea of a “formal running shoe.”
The top-selling Deckers brand released its fourth collaboration with Engineered Garments via Nepenthes New York Thursday. The all-gender styles are scheduled to hit Nepenthes Tokyo stores, Hoka’s U.S. and Japanese sites and select retail partners a week later, on Aug. 19.
The limited-edition collection features four takes on Hoka’s Bondi L. Each $200 colorway—black, brown, taupe and leopard print—sports calf hair and suede on the upper. The shoes also bear Hoka’s signature Meta-Rocker design, as well as a wide footbed for stability.
“For this design, I wanted to merge some of the staple elements of past Engineered Garments shoe and boot collaborations into a sneaker,” Daiki Suzuki, founder and creative director of Engineered Garments, said in a statement. “With the functionality and comfort of the Bondi L, I found it to be an open canvas and the perfect silhouette for this project.”
Engineered Garments is hardly the first fashion label to team up with Hoka on streetwear. In March, the running brand joined forces with Thisisneverthat (TINT) for a special-edition colorway of its Speedgoat 4 trail shoe. Hoka released the sneaker alongside an apparel range inspired by its Korean collaborator’s graphic- and text-heavy approach to traditional streetwear. Items included a wind-resistant hooded pullover, 6-inch performance short, T-shirt, bucket hat and performance crew sock.
Hoka One One is one of several running brands to see sales flourish throughout the pandemic. In the most recent quarter, sales grew 95.5 percent year-over-year, just enough for it to edge past its sister brand Ugg to become Deckers’ top-selling division.
The collaboration with Engineered Garments arrives just a couple weeks after the debut of another Hoka shoe, the Rincon 3. Successor to one of the brand’s most popular lightweight trail styles, the sneaker features more than 20 millimeters of underfoot cushioning and weighs just 6.2-7.4 ounces, with the men’s shoe slightly heavier. Hoka touted the shoe as having one of the best weight-to-cushion ratios on the market.