Buying new sneakers today is a genuinely unpleasant experience. A completely snobbish observation to start with: everyone wears the same brands. It’s soul-crushing to see the ambient lack of originality, the absence of personality in the 2026 consumer. Nike, Adidas, Salomon, Hoka, Saucony, Mizuno, Asics and Veja. Whether you’re a rich kid working in communications or some poor guy sleeping rough, you’re wearing the same semi-technical sneakers as the person next to you on the subway.
These sneakers are sold at ever-increasing prices, they all communicate on technical features using buzzwords and expressions that sound like they came out of my seven-year-old daughter’s imagination: “SpeedCross”, “contaGRIP”, “MetaRocker”, “ProFly”, “HUBBLE Heel”, “ReactX”, “ZoomX”, “FlyPlate”. We’re expecting “UltraBoost PowerFlex ProShield” next season. The goal is to use the draw of nature to sell hiker-grade technical specs to consumers who lack experience, backed by the kind of professionalizing discourse that makes everything sound more serious than it is.
The gorpcore aesthetic (a blend of “gorp”, the English nickname for the nuts-and-raisins mix hikers have been carrying for decades, and “core” to denote a style: wearing technical outdoor gear outside its intended context) has finished the job of making the outdoors and technical trail clothing fashionable. Alpine-inspired shoes are worn by rich kids who only see the mountains through Arc’teryx’s Instagram account.
But the real scandal is elsewhere: online, it is practically impossible to find out where shoes are made. Most websites simply don’t mention it. Even storied brands like Garmont in Italy, Millet in France or Mammut in Switzerland don’t communicate the country of manufacture on their product pages, which is itself a signal — because when that country isn’t China or Vietnam, where 85% of global production is based, they’re usually quick to say so. It's worth noting that the same is true of some very expensive, marketing-heavy names like Satisfy, The North Face, and Haglöfs. There’s an interesting paradox worth exploring here: the brands that communicate the most about their Moutain heritage (French Alps, Italian Dolomites, Bavaria) are often the ones whose production is the most offshored — and whose product pages are the most silent on the subject.
In France, online sales are now the primary distribution channel for sneakers and walking shoes, and I cannot understand why brands aren’t required to indicate where their products were made. Personally, it’s a major factor for me when I’m about to pay. I won’t go back over the working conditions of factory workers here because if you don’t care, you wear Nike, Adidas or Salomon, and if you do care, you are already looking for alternatives. Nor will I lecture on the level of pollution generated by a company based on the other side of the world because if you don’t care, you wear Nike, Adidas or Salomon; if you do, you’re already trying to wear clothes made, at the very least, in Europe.
In Europe, a handful of historic and newer brands committed to local production have managed to survive. Three strongholds have kept production facilities running: Bavaria in Germany, the Veneto in Italy, and Spain. But you can also find something to wear in France, Spain, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia.
Because yes, I’m team gorpcore and I love technical gear made for the outdoors ; but I don’t like being taken for a fool. So here is a selection of fourteen fantastic, under-the-radar brands for heading into the mountains as well-shod as possible.
Lundhags — Tived Trail Shoe M
Lundhags has existed since 1932 in the Swedish region of Jämtland. The brand still produces in Sweden for its top-of-the-range models, and in Europe for the rest of the line. The Tived Trail Shoe M is made in Europe with Italian leather and is, in my view, one of the most handsome shoes in this selection.
