ITThe Hoka Phenomenon
We’ve all seen them around on a friend, a teacher, a runner, and eventually in our own closet, HOKA has had phenomenal success in the past few years.
I have strong opinions on this brand as I was first introduced to it by my very own father - who knew that he would be such a trend setter. In early 2022, my father purchased these sneakers because he had a bad knee, and as the patriotic French man that he is, he wanted to support a local brand, and decided to purchase Hoka sneakers. Even though Hoka had been acquired by Deckers in 2013 and could officially be considered an American brand. A few months later, he got in a motorcycle accident, worsening the condition of his knee, which meant that the only shoes he was able to walk in comfortably were his Hokas. Thus came the decision to add to his grey and neon green pair, a more subtle black pair for his everyday activities. As the judgemental and strong minded family that we are, he of course got his faire share of nasty comments on the aesthetic of these shoes. We were strongly opposed to him wearing them with regular pants, as if they weren’t solely running shoes.
A few months later I went back to school in New York and could not believe it when I saw my marketing teacher with the exact same black pair of Hokas as my father’s. I immediately reported this to him telling him that maybe he was onto something with this brand. As time passed by the brand totally burst and Hokas could be seen in every street of New York. On long shifts at Anthropology, greeting people in the store, I used to play a game of counting how many pairs of Hokas I’d see walk by - the numbers were frightening, almost one in three.
I’m intrigued by the sudden popularity in Hokas. It was founded in 2009 and bought by Americans in 2013 so why did it take them so long to shine through the shoe market, to differentiate themselves? How did their popularity rise so exponentially in such little time?
Now, Hoka is multiplying its collaborations with fancy fashion brands and reaching out to a much wider market. I recently saw their collaboration with Reformation, which gave me the idea to write this article. It seems to be the perfect representation of what fashion has become nowadays, comfort before aesthetic. You can have Hokas in hundreds of different colors or textures, but the core shoe is and remains a running shoe. What is interesting is that people have accepted and wear these shoes with pride, wether in athleisure wear or in skirts, dresses, smart pants - transforming a running shoe into a stylish sneaker.
In a way, when I noticed that brands like Reformation were collaborating with Hoka, I felt a bit betrayed by fashion, almost like these brands were collaborating with hot trends, prioritizing capital over the essence of Fashion and the art it creates. When I see and analyze the products that come from these partnerships, I don’t feel like I’m observing art, a unique pair of shoes or a sleek pair of shoes, just a common pair of snearkers. Maybe Hoka was the drop of water that made my glass tip over. I crave the fashion of the olden days, the big designer brands that made pieces of art not for confort but for the confidence the products exuded. Now I see fashion shows and long for the eccentric, the crazy pieces mixing colors and textures, just as much as I crave the sleek, elegant looks that leave you breathless - the fashion shows that would never dare step close to sneakers.
I may be totally biased, having grown up in Paris with a fashion icon as a mother, but I choose not to believe that the confidence that exudes from wearing a pair of Vintage heels is the same confidence that results from wearing white Hokas. I’m really intrigued in the endless amounts of trends and in their fast turnovers, but sometimes it gets too much. So many trends pop up on a weekly basis, that we don’t even know where to look. This is what I feel about Hokas, it seems their success came from trends and made the brand into much more than a sneaker brand, but into a true fashion trend. I suppose what irks me with this particular trend is that it supports the idea that fashion has become comfortable over beautiful.
-COSIMA