Uh oh, Balenciaga’s sock shoe is back from the dead – but in mule form
The 2016 classic everyone loved to hate has undergone an extreme makeover.
It’s 2016. The Balenciaga Speed Trainer (or, as everyone knows it, the sock shoe) is everywhere, paired with light wash ripped blue skinny jeans and an Off-White t-shirt. It seemed like the trend would never end; thankfully, it did – but now it’s back, and even worse than before. Let us introduce the Speed Mule (Yep, you read that right).
The latest iteration of the notorious silhouette sees the usual knitted upper sock part of the shoe completely removed, alongside the shoe’s heel, giving us a look that’s more akin to a pair of slippers than it is socks. How long until we see people pop down the shops in a pair of these instead of sliders? The rest of the shoe remains the same as the 2016 iteration, complete with Balenciaga branding and arriving in its original monochrome colourway.
If you hadn’t forgotten, the Speed Trainer actually appeared in Demna’s debut collection in 2016, and looking back, it was certainly a huge precursor (or warning, depending on how you view the brand) on its eventual direction. The shoe was seen practically everywhere, partly thanks to the exposure it gained from the Kardashian-Jenners, rappers and influencers.
So, if, for some reason, you’d like to return to that long-forgotten era, but with a twist, Balenciaga’s Speed Mule is available for $750 – a small price to pay for nostalgia, huh?
