The ugly Bondi sneaker favoured by presidents, media moguls and Britney Spears
At sunrise on Wednesday morning, 250 people ran along Sydney’s Bondi Beach with barely a swoosh in sight. Runners and athletic influencers had been summoned to meet the French co-founder of a US label with a New Zealand name, whose top-selling sneaker was inspired by Australia’s most iconic stretch of sand.
Hoka (pronounced Ho-Ka), taking its name from the Maori term “to fly”, moved into the North Bondi Surf Club to launch the latest iteration of its top-selling Bondi sneaker with the brand’s co-founder Nicolas Mermoud.
The co-founder of Hoka sneakers Nicolas Mermoud at North Bondi Beach for the launch of the Bondi 9 sneaker.Credit: Rhett Wyman
“I love them because they’re the underdog in the sneaker world,” says fashion stylist Donny Galella, who skipped the run. “You want to support the smaller brands.”
With the front of the surf club clad to resemble the shoe’s signature puffy foam soles, Mermoud is abandoning underdog status. The 16-year-old Hoka is now seen as strong competition for established brands such as Nike.
“We have gone far beyond being the underdogs,” Mermoud says. “Look at this building. Just look at all the people who are part of this community.”
The image upgrade could have occurred when former US President Biden started wearing Hokas, when Rupert Murdoch sported a similar style at his fifth wedding last year, or when Britney Spears included them in her social media posts.
“We haven’t paid anyone to wear them. Although we did give pairs to French President Macron and his wife Brigitte.” As for the newly inaugurated US president? “He seems to have his own sneakers.”
While footwear giants have failed to express interest in acquiring Trump’s limited edition sneakers, launched last year with 1000 pairs, in 2013 Mermoud and co-founder Jean-Luc Diard sold Hoka to Deckers, the owner of Ugg and Teva.
Hoka’s underdog status has been sent deeper into the doghouse by Deckers’ financial results in October, with a 34.7 per cent growth in sales to $US570.9 million ($911 million) for the second quarter of the financial year.
Demand for the Bondi 9, the latest incarnation of the sneaker launched in 2011, helping to drive the ugly shoe trend, should support future growth. It already has a step-up with an extra 2mm in stack height on its generous 43mm heel.
“When I first saw Hoka I though OMG that is an ugly, chunky, dad shoe,” says former champion beach sprinter Katie Williams, wearing Bondi 9s. “Now, it’s such a fashionable shoe and such a functional shoe, built on running.”
The shoe’s name was inspired by Mermoud’s experience taking part in the City2Surf run, but this is the first time a Hoka shoe has been launched in Australia.
“It’s far from the Hoka birthplace in Chamonix or the company home in Santa Barbara, but we have never done anything like this,” Mermoud says, taking in the waves. “Everyone dreams of Sydney and Bondi and Australia in America and Europe so we named the shoe the Bondi B.”
“I think we got it right.”
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