French outdoors brand Salomon has become a force in streetwear thanks to shoes like the Speedcross 4, a sleek, teched-out trail runner co-signed by everyone from elite athletes to Palace Skateboards.

If the Speedcross is like a Ford F-150—functional, accessible, handsome in its own right—then the XT-4 is a Ford F-150 Raptor.

Designed by Salomon’s high-performance S/Lab group, the XT-4 Softground LT ADV (hereby known as “just XT-4”) is a lightweight, durable stability runner with the grip of a hiking boot. In many ways, it’s a hard-er-core Speedcross. Compared to its little brother, the XT-4 has more stability, a higher build quality, and TPU film welded uppers for increased durability in high-abrasion areas like rocky trails. An overbuilt outsole made from Salomon’s ContraGrip rubber compound rounds out the shoe.

XT-4’s make a great choice for those who prefer light hiking shoes, or those who want their weekday wardrobe to pull double duty for weekends on the trail. Seriously. Thanks to a 2018 collaboration with Paris retailer The Broken Arm, the XT-4 is now a bonafide fashion shoe. While the original red and green pair from that drop are long sold out, a similar flare pattern was unveiled by Salomon just this season.

“Ho-kah. Oh-nay. Oh-nay.”

A cult brand with a bizarre name. If the shoe fits, right?

Hoka One One is a California running brand, specializing in ultra-cush shoes for elite marathoners and trail racers alike. While founded over a decade ago, Hoka—long a favorite in the running community—broke into fashion just last year thanks to a series of high profile nods from the likes of Engineered Garments, Opening Ceremony and Outdoor Voices, along with co-signs from stars like Kanye West.

But it wasn’t just any Hoka shoe that caught their attention. Kanye West, Opening Ceremony and Engineered Garments overlapped on one specific model: the Hoka Tor Ultra.

The Tor Ultra WP is a super-comfortable trail shoe lined with an eVent waterproof membrane. It’s also, like all proper Hoka models, essentially a platform shoe (i.e. that ultra-cush sole rises a full inch off the ground).

Available as both a high-top boot and a low-top tech sneaker, the Tor can best be thought of as Hoka’s approach to a hybrid hiking shoe. The Low gets our nod thanks to its superior agility. With a waterproof lining and a partial leather upper, the full boot can often feel like overkill. But the Tor Ultra Low WP—especially in its once-Japan-only “JP” colorways—hits just right.

Arc’teryx didn’t always make shoes. In fact, it took until 2015—over 25 years since the brand got started—for the legendary gearmaker to lace up. But like everything Arc’teryx, an obsessive design approach made sure it hit the ground running.

Four years later, Arc’teryx launched its take on an ultralight trail sneaker: the Norvan SL GTX. The Norvan SL GTX (meaning “Super Light Gore-Tex”) is a fighting-weight version of the brand’s Norvan LD (“Long Distance”) trail runner. It’s comfortable. It’s packable. It’s also one of the lightest Gore-equipped shoes ever launched.

That last point is the important one. The Norvan SL GTX weighs a mere 235g. For what it was designed for—racing down single-track trails—it is magnificent. This design for speed means cruise missile aesthetics which, in black-on-black, look right at home in any tech-inspired fits. What it doesn’t mean, however, is a fully enclosed hiking experience. You will feel rocks through the bottom.

In short: this is not the shoe for your App Trail through hike.
It is, however, a brilliant travel hiker for those who value style.
If weekend hikes (and weekday rooftopping) are more your speed, the Arc’teryx Norvan SL GTX is the speediest option on this list.

The outdoor sub-brand of—well, adidas—Terrex joins the tech and aesthetics of the Three Stripes with the design thinking required by the great outdoors. Naturally, because it’s adidas, the shoes come first.

The cornerstone of the Terrex line is the Free Hiker: a Boost-equipped, PrimeKnit-draped high top hiking boot best thought of as an Ultra Boost on monster truck tires.

Part sneaker, part backpacking boot, the Free Hiker was torture-tested with a through-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, a 2653 mile footpath from Washington state to the border of Mexico. A single hiker needed just 3 pairs of shoes to make the journey. One pair—now held at adidas HQ in Germany—even clocked over 1000 miles before it became unwearable.

While adidas certainly specializes in sneakers, it’s unmistakable that this is a legit hiking boot. It’s also the subject of multiple Kith collabs. Two seasons of Kith Winter collections saw the silhouette step out in combinations of multicolor and monochrome—half gallery art piece, half Jamie XX album cover. The adidas Terrex Free Hiker is a boot in sneaker’s clothing. As the most capable hiking boot on this list, everyone from backpack hikers to backpack rappers should have it on their list.

Speaking of capable hiking boots with sneaker features: it’s the Danner Mountain 600.

Founded in 1932, American bootmaker Danner is famous for its high-quality heritage hikers, particularly the menswear-forum-favorite Danner Mountain Light. While the Mountain Light was an innovative lightweight boot in 1979, the years (all 40 of them) have not been kind on its features set. So, in 2017, Danner came up with a solution.

If the Mountain Light is the “lifestyle” boot, the Mountain 600 is the heritage mixed with modern technology; in other words, the form was mixed with the function.

The Mountain 600 takes the one-piece upper of the Mountain Light and joins it to a cushy Vibram midsole. Billed by the brand as “Performance Heritage,” the resulting shoe is a Visvim-adjacent hybrid packed with outdoors features. A waterproof upper and a Vibram MegaGrip outsole are just some of the reasons that it won “Best Hiking Boot” in the Digital Trends Outdoor Awards the year it was released.

Will it ever replace the venerable Mountain Light? In a menswear context, probably not. But as a tried and true hiking boot, the Mountain 600 brings an element of heritage style to an otherwise “techy” category.

Inspired by a motorcycle’s front wheel and the “running tribes” of Mexico, the Nike Terra Humara is a vintage trail runner with a seriously big footprint.

Originally designed by Peter Fogg—the Swoosh signore responsible for hits like the Hyperdunk—the Air Humara was meant to embody “technical precision.” According to a May 1998 Vogue feature, Fogg took the “precision” direction as license to examine precise systems. A 1995 rabbithole involving the disc brake system of a motorbike became a design inspiration. Not long after, the webbed (some might say spoked) Humara hit shelves—first as the roadrunning Air Humara, then in an off-road-ready Terra model.

Perched on a rugged Goatek outsole and built for maximum trail stability, the Terra Humara bridged the space between Nike’s running and outdoor units.

The brand’s ACG line launched in 1989, giving the Swoosh a toehold in the outdoors. Fogg joined Nike in 1995, ostensibly as a running footwear designer. While not a part of ACG, the Humara—named after Mexico’s famous Tarahumara tribe (the protagonists of 2009 bestseller Born to Run)—gave trail runners all the stability of a hiking shoe, while roadrunners saw it as a beefed-up version of the standard Air version.

It was a two-way runaway success, with a precision design so eye-catching it would get its own Vogue feature. Years later, Supreme would even retro the Air Humara for Fall/Winter 2017. Not bad for Fogg’s first Nike shoe. While the Supreme versions are more sneaker than trail shoe, their legacy alone makes them worth a mention. Today the Air Humara has been succeeded by the Terra Humara 18; it’s the more commonly seen iteration of the sneaker, with slight tweaks (but the same spirit) of Fogg’s original Air Humara release.

Japan’s own Asics has long been a staple of the street space, from Ronnie Fieg collabs at the beginning of the decade to a recent string of must-haves courtesy of Kiko Kostadinov. While the brand’s Gel-Fujitrabuco 7 G-TX (hereon referred to as “Gel-Fuji”) may be a general release, it’s a capable trail sneaker that retains the same tech-packed aesthetic as some of the brand’s biggest collabs. Only here, that aesthetic comes from a real-deal packing.

Gore-Tex uppers numb the elements. Proprietary GEL tech numbs rocky earth. A full-length Flytefoam midsole keeps it cushy. All that’s left is some seriously electric colorways to numb whatever’s left.

More recently, if you’re after a more monochrome look, 2019’s Asics x Beams collab drapes the Gel-Fuji 7 in a striking “Glacier Grey.”

An Autobot, or a Gamer Tag? A fighter jet, or an anime series? For a trail runner, the name “Ultra Raptor” certainly checks the “extreme” in “extreme sports.”

The flagship runner of Italian mountaineering brand La Sportiva, the Ultra Raptor is a beefy, durable, borderline boot with all the spring of a trail shoe. A full-length EVA rock guard fights off jagged edges. An oversized outsole keeps planted feet still. And here’s the best part: the whole package weighs just 12 ounces (343 grams). While that’s 50 percent heavier than the Arc’teryx Norvan SL GTX, it’s about the same as the Salomon XT-4. The difference between the two comes mostly to the Ultra Raptor’s increased rigidity. Well, that, and the color.

La Sportiva’s Ultra Raptor comes in the brand’s famous black, red and yellow colorway. On a full-sized mountaineering boot, the Sportiva livery just looks right—like it leaped out of an Everest documentary, all there in its hi-vis colorway, accents included. On the Ultra Raptor: its bulky shape and interesting colorway feels wrong in the best way possible.

Draped in black, with red pops like cartoon bat eyes, the Ultra Raptor defines aggression. While Hoka One One and Salomon may get the most trail-sneakers-as-fashion buzz, take it from A$AP Nast: the Ultra Raptor is a high-function hit.

If pure heritage is more your style, Vasque’s Skywalk GTX makes a compelling case for the old ways. Founded in 1964, the American bootmaker is responsible for some of the most famous hikers in history. The Sundowner, for instance, was one of the first boots to feature a Gore-Tex liner. Given technological shifts, however, it’s actually the Skywalk that stacks up with trail shoes today.

The Skywalk GTX is a Gore-Tex-lined mesh and leather hiking boot. Plopped on a rugged Vasque Pyrenees outsole, the shoe has no shortage of traction—but it’s the retro ’80s paneling that really grabs you.

Back then, “breathability” meant the “convertible” approach to design: cut the top off of your footwear, and let air rush in. Mesh panels up the neck of the Skywalk once served this exact function. They also kept the boot looking fly, and compared to the all-leather Sundowner, just a little more limber.

For Fall/Winter 2018, Ronnie Fieg added his signature touches to the Skywalk, creating a Kith x Vasque boot he called the “Skywalker.” If an ’80s boot named “Skywalker” does it for you, pure heritage might just be your style after all.

Last but not least, there’s the boots for #DoingThings.
In 2019, Millennial fitness brand (and New Yorker profile subject) Outdoor Voices linked up with bootmaker Merrell on a special edition of the latter’s Moab 2 Mid. Outdoor Voice is no stranger to the gorpcore collab space: in the past, it had collaborated with Hoka One One on some retro-inspired Bondi runners. The Moab 2, however, is different.

A purely-functional product, the Merrell Moab 2 Mid is the sort of boot one sees at a mountain town pub or a University “parents and family” weekend...and precisely nowhere in between. It’s a bang-up hiker—lightweight, agile, and accessibly-priced. Enter Outdoor Voices.

Outdoor Voices decks out the Denver dad shoe in a radical green and cream colorway, made wilder by a unique “faded” treatment applied to the Moab’s Vibram sole. The result is an acid-dipped throwback that flips the most mundane parts of the Moab on their heads. That sloping ribcage so often hidden under brown-on-brown earth tones? In a stunning emerald, it’s now the star of the show.

While Outdoor Voices’s touch-up of the Moab may not sway the most style-conscious, its functional features (and cool new paint job) make it a solid contender.

This year, Japanese outdoor-equipment brand Snow Peak teamed up with New Balance to create a truly unique footwear concept, called the Nobium. The concept was created by a New Balance-owned incubator called Tokyo Design Studio, which has been responsible for a number of noteworthy New Balance releases over the course of the last year. The Nobium is a modular and adaptable footwear design, which can be adjusted and worn in a multitude of ways.

The versatile design can be worn as is, or dismantled into waterproof boots, outdoor sandals or slippers. Furthermore, the waterproof boots come with a fastener that allows gaiters to be attached with ease. Borrowing outdoor references from camping and fishing, the Nobium is equipped with the familiar sole unit from New Balance’s MT801 trail running shoes, and was accompanied by a small apparel collection, also created by Tokyo Design Studio.

The Nike Air Humara made its debut back in 1997. Created as a functional trail running shoe by famed ACG designer Peter Fogg, the Air Humara shares its name with another Fogg design, the Terra Humara (which, despite the similar name, is a slightly different design).

The Air Humara was actually Peter Fogg’s first shoe design after joining Nike. The shoe was conceived and designed in 1995, yet didn’t make it to market until at least a year later. The name Humara itself comes from the Tarahumara people living in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The Tarahumara are known for describing themselves with the term Raràmuri, which roughly translates to “runners on foot” or “those who run fast.”

After its release in the late ’90s, the Air Humara faded into obscurity, before the silhouette was reignited by a Supreme collaboration in 2017. Later general-release colorways followed, re-establishing the Air Humara as a fashionable and technically-savvy trail running shoe.

In 2019, adidas Originals introduced a tongue-in-cheek series, dubbed the "Gardening Club" collection, featuring apparel and footwear as a humorous riff on outdoor designs. One of three footwear designs included in the collection, the Response Hoverturf features a technical construction that includes Adiprene cushioning, as well as an array of technical textiles on the upper like ripstop, ballistic nylon, and two gauges of mesh.

The look and feel of the shoe hearkens back to ‘90s and early 2000s outdoor designs from adidas’ Terrex division, rooting it in pragmatic and practical design ethos.

Italian footwear brand (as well as an affiliate of Italian distributor and retailer Sam Jam) ROA was founded in 2015, and has since established itself as a go-to name for boots and shoes that sit on the fence between performance and lifestyle. Since its founding, ROA has also collaborated with names such as Brain Dead, Matthew Williams and Stussy.

Part of ROA’s seasonal catalog, the Oblique is made in high-top and low versions, in a multitude of materials and colorways, from white-on-white to military green. Standard features include a reliable Vibram outsole for slip-resistant grip, a heel tab for ease of slipping on and off, and a subtle ROA logo on the toe. For a style that’s somewhere in the middle between a hiking boot and a techy trail sneaker, this is a top-tier choice.

Another model from adidas’ outdoor-oriented Terrex collection, the Terrex Agravic is a fast and light train-running shoe. Based on the Agravic model, the Terrex Agravic was introduced during the Terrex revamp of 2019 and 2020. The updated runner combines both new and old three-stripe technology like Boost cushioning in the sole unit, as well as a Continental outsole from the Ultra Boost series. More recent models have also come with a waterproof Gore-Tex membrane, while a seamless construction on the upper lends the shoe a modern feel.

Over 2019 and 2020, a handful of Terrex Agravic collaborations were released through adidas’ Terrex and Consortium programs, including partnerships with Norse Projects, Livestock, Kith and more.