It’s the crossover we never saw coming. Salomon shoes and… The Super Bowl. Here’s a look at some of the latest technical ‘outdoor’ sneakers with in-built gaiters.

 

Ever thought you’d see Rihanna wearing ankle gaiters? Not me. 

I once commissioned an article explaining why gaiters were actually cool and not really lame looking, despite popular belief. Did sales of gaiters skyrocket? I doubt it. 

But, Rihanna wears one pair of MM6 low-top sneakers from Salomon’s collaboration with Maison Margiela and searches for the Salomon shoes spike 4000 percent. 

As mentioned in our write-up on the wild rise of gorpcore, Salomon was the fastest-growing sneaker brand on StockX. Clearly Salomon stock is going to take a(nother) hike. 

 

Maison Margiela/Angela Weiss (Getty)

 

These shoes are the latest in a trend of outdoor gear going ‘mainstream’.

Since outdoor sports can sometimes have a gatekeeping problem, here we’re cutting out the detachable gaiter middle man — the gaitkeeper, if you will — and attaching ankle gaiters directly to the shoes themselves. 

While clearly a fashion play — Rihanna probably didn’t need Salomon’s Quicklace system for practical reasons (although tbh it might be helpful when pregnant) — combining trail shoes and gaiters might actually make a lot of sense. Take the Salomon Slab Sense 8’s for example.

 

Iykyk.

 

Here are a few of the more outlandish Salomon options for your next hike… or Super Bowl performance.