SOMEWHERE IN the liminal space between beefy hiking boots and look-at-me sneakers, you will find Roa’s trail shoes. The 6-year-old Italian label produces fetching footwear that shouts high design more than it does high altitude. Mesh panels add shimmer to sneakers while the sides of an ankle-high boot sport curious green “grass” splotches. But the designs also incorporate trail-conquering tech like tractiony Vibram soles and water-repellent nylon. Ringing in at about $250 and up, Roa’s hoity hybrid hikers don’t come cheap.
Roa is among a handful of brands now offering elevated sneaker-boots. Last year New Balance collaborated with Japanese outdoor label Snow Peak on a space-agey $300 shoe. At slightly less gulp-inducing prices, Nike last year released the Mountain Fly, a shapely $220 Gore-Tex sneaker, as part of its outdoor-focused ACG line, and Reebok has introduced the $180 rubberized DMX Trail Shadow sneaker, inspired by archival designs from the 2000s. While less extravagant than, say, Balenciaga sneakers ($975), these shoes still cost more than the outdoorsy footwear you can pick up at any REI: from Timberland’s Mt. Maddsen boot ($100) to Salomon’s Outline hiking shoe ($130). The question arises: Is a high-price, hybrid sneaker-hiker worth the investment?
Yes, believes John Batac, 30, a digital marketing specialist in Washington, D.C. Last year he bought a pair of Roas online from Ssense, a Montreal-based retailer whose shoe section stocks rarefied brands like Marni and Burberry . The tantalizing look of the silvery Roas roped him in, but after wearing them, he was most impressed by their functionality. “The amount of utility they have is insane,” he said, adding that he truly appreciated their waterproofing while hiking through a storm. Though he considered buying modestly priced but meh-looking Timberlands or Adidas, the Roas better met his key shoe criterion: the ability to “transition from the mountains to the city and still look presentable.”
Most hikers are not obsessives who live in a tent in the spirit of “Into the Wild.” They’re weekend hobbyists sauntering along mellow three-mile trails. Such occasional outdoor-types milk more use out of a hybrid hiking shoe with the wearability of a sneaker than a hefty technical boot. James Herlihy, 30, works in luxury watch sales in Chicago, and while he recently hiked through Utah, most days this winter he was just trekking through the Chicago snow. His solid, waterproof Roas with neon-green laces kept his feet content in both scenarios.
Still, the price can be a lot to stomach. Kevin Torres-Jurado, 24, a factory worker in New York City, saved up and purchased those futuristic New Balance x Snow peak shoes last year. At first, he babied the shoes, refusing to wear them into his less-than-immaculate workplace. But Mother Nature intervened in the form of a rainstorm: Since Mr. Torres-Jurado had no other waterproof shoes, he laced up the New Balances. They performed handsomely and the insoles were easy on his feet during an eight-hour shift.
