Labels to Watch: Avantgarde shoe world

Especially in the menswear sector, shoe models usually rely on a simple silhouette and a reserved look. Little color and not attracting attention seems to be the motto, regardless of whether it’s sneakers, brogues or boots. But the following brands have proven that things can be different, as they impress with their unique silhouettes and definitely stand out from the crowd.

Studio Hail

Studio Hagel was founded in 2015. It is an experimental shoe design studio that develops and designs collections based on a concept that can be used multifunctionally. Hagel has worked for major sportswear and streetwear brands such as Off-White and Puma as well as luxury brands such as Coach, Moncler, Valentino and Botter.

Mathieu Hagelaars’ Amsterdam studio now also offers two of its own sneaker models, whose conceptual silhouettes make the shoe a key piece. “In everything we do, we don’t settle for the ordinary,” explains Hagelaars. “High quality” and “innovative sole technology” play a role in the models that are developed and manufactured at Ecco in Portugal.

Demon Footwear

Demon Footwear was first founded in 1963 by Girolamo Deon in Montebelluna, Italy, and was brought back to life in 2020 with a new vision by grandson Alberto Deon. The brand is still at home in the region, which has a long tradition in the production of mountain sports shoes, and also produces its modern models here. The brand can only carry out some work steps in Montebelluna because only a few specialists have this knowledge and can carry them out, explains Alberto Deon. “It’s not general knowledge; very often there are at least two or three steps that must be carried out by hand with great care.” The materials for the models also come from the region and are otherwise used for high-tech hiking shoes – the origin of the brand.

The technical know-how that is deeply rooted in the company meets an avant-garde approach that gives the rustic hiking boots a fashionable component with new shapes. The angular silhouettes meet mostly dark colors and rough surfaces, which, in combination with the brand DNA, bring a dark charisma.

“I took over the brand founded by my grandfather in 1963 to create completely innovative shoes, a mix of design, architecture, evocations of ancestry and post-industrial decadentism: a ‘post-internet archaeology’ built in a pre-existing archive of materials and craft techniques, recovering archetypes and essential forms and reshaping them according to a new lexicon dictated by new technologies, through the most extreme experiments that liberate the Italian aesthetic from the nostalgic image: Made in Italy can be ultra-contemporary – it must be “Be,” Deon almost said.

Deon worked as an architect for the architectural firm Claudio Silvestrin Architects and at that time was involved in projects such as the Yeezy Campus, a ranch owned by the artist Kanye West in the US state of Wyoming, as well as Giada and Armani stores.

Rombaut

Rombaut is a vegan-oriented shoe and accessories brand that uses plant-based materials, recycled fibers and faux leather – including apples. The Belgian Mats Rombaut, whose label is currently based in Paris, finds inspiration in cultural stereotypes, which he uses in crossing classic shoe types. The silhouette of a sneaker blurs into that of a cowboy boot and a racing bike meets a suit shoe.

Viron

The Paris-based label Virón also uses vegan materials for its boots. The leather alternatives the brand uses are made from apples and corn that come as waste from the food industry. Materials made from recycled synthetic products are also used. In this way, the brand tries to minimize the use of new materials.

The brand wants its products to be recyclable through its own recycling program "loop" push ahead, where customers can send back their used shoes and these will then be processed into new shoe soles from the brands.

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