Something strange is happening around and about town. All the trainers, previously a regular size – sometimes even a bit chunky – are shrinking. They are shrinking and they are becoming slimmer, and daintier. They are becoming so dainty, in fact, that they’re almost not quite trainers. Nor are they shoes. They’re a secret third thing; the sort of nimble footwear a video game character might slip on before embarking on some kind of action-packed quest. It seems we have entered the era of the slimline trainer, which all the coolest celebs appear to be stepping into.
It’s something that Lily Allen – a long-term sneakerhead if ever I saw one, known for her ’00s dress and trainers combo – has been noticing herself. Most recently, she told Vogue, she’s been opting for Miu Miu’s viral New Balance runners, as well as the silver toe-capped ballet sneakers on Prada’s spring/summer 2025 runway, which are, in her words, “slimline and nimble, which feels very now”. “They look delicate next to the JD Sports treasures that I recently pulled out of my storage unit,” she added, “but they’re very much still about freedom.” Elsewhere, this year, we’ve seen Emily Ratajkowski in multiple iterations of the Puma Speedcat and Loewe Ballet Runners, Rihanna in Ottolinger X Puma Mostro Lows, Hailey Bieber in Onitsuka Tigers… the future of footwear, it seems, is teeny tiny.
But where did this love for slimline trainers spring from? What exactly is going on? In some ways, it feels like a ripple effect of the multiple-year reign of the Adidas Samba, which only now seems to be slowly being abandoned in favour of even slimmer, more retro silhouettes. When Bella Hadid came through with the maroon Adidas SL 72’s earlier this year, it felt like the trainers – which are even more streamlined in the flesh than they look in photos – were suddenly everywhere. And then came the creeping influence of the Puma Speedcat, which currently looks most likely to acquire the It-trainer crown from now on. And let’s not forget the recent Patou X Onitsuka Tiger collab, which had the already quite slim Tigers looking even slimmer and daintier. Or Fenty’s collaboration with Puma, the Avanti, which I’m convinced would help me run fast enough to catch any bus.
The slim trainer has its drawbacks of course. As the weather gets colder, it feels counter-intuitive to be leaving the house in trainers that are basically also ballet flats (in some cases literally, as with the Nike Air Rift or Ganni’s Mary Jane Sneakers). But when has discomfort ever stopped the likes of Rihanna from walking the streets looking like a style moodboard in human form? May the slim trainer trend last well into 2025.
