But for many of these strange footwear choices, particularly the less sensational among them, real-life demand is high. Sneakerinas, for instance, are in demand, versionas of which made their way on to Lyst’s index of the hottest products last year.
The snoafer
There are other permutations of the sneaker. Sales of Mary Jane-inspired sneakers were “up more than 350% year-over-year in Q1 2026, which is a clear signal that this is moving beyond editorial hype and into genuine consumer demand,” Brendan Dunne of re-sale platform StockX tells the BBC. And the snoafer’s most popular take, the New Balance 1906L, “has seen more than 13,000 sales on StockX since launch”. There is, he says, “huge interest in hybrid silhouettes that blend sport, fashion, and a bit of unexpected design”.
If You Know You Know
So what’s going on? Why are fashion-lovers so intent on breaking out of the shoe-box? According to Phillips, these oddities signal something that the fashion literate like to communicate: “a deliberately awkward, hybrid or unexpected shoe can break the stiffness of an outfit and make someone look more self-aware, more culturally fluent, and less overly polished.”
There’s also an element of If You Know You Know, which has been a potent force in fashion of late. As Meg Palmer of market research agency Verve says of split-toe shoes, they are “a nod to even knowing about Maison Margiela, it… shows that you are part of an elite subculture”. Although, she points out, “it’ll be interesting to see how (and if at all) split toe shoes will continue to signal status as they become more widespread and get co-opted by different brands. Will we need even ‘uglier’ variants?”
The wrong-shoe theory
These out-of-the-box shoes came to the fore at a time in 2023 when a styling trick by Allison Bornstein, dubbed the “wrong-shoe theory”, was gaining traction on TikTok – she posited that footwear that was a mismatch or looked a little “off” was the perfect way to add personality to an outfit. And what’s more “off” than a Frankenshoe?
The snoafer (sneaker and loafer) has been described as “the footwear equivalent of the spork”
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