The Ubiquity of Hoka One One

The world of running shoes has long been dominated by three or four of the top footwear brands. While the identities of these brands ranged from something as relatively niche as Brooks, who makes shoes solely for runners, to Nike, the biggest apparel brand in the world, the number of choices seemed very limited. That is until one day, when I was a senior in high school and I saw a fellow cross-country runner wearing a chunky, almost lumpy shoe that I didn’t recognize, the name “Hoka” emblazoned on the outside of the heel.

Now, Hoka One One (pronounced on-ay on-ay) seems to be inescapable. A brand that began making a product purpose-built for the most hardcore runners out there has now permeated and woven its way into the general zeitgeist, so much so that even my father has a pair. With this newfound and widespread success came a slew of collaborations and brand expansions, some that make perfect sense and others that, like the success of Hoka, come completely out of left field.

While the hype cycle of streetwear and the world that the average Hoka consumer lives in are very far apart, the recurring collaboration between Hoka and Outdoor Voices, an Austin based activewear brand, lives on the edge of the two worlds. I remember when the first iteration of their collaboration came out in fall of 2019 and I ignored it, writing it off as an uninteresting, Lululemon level product. But, in the coming months, just walking around campus, I could see the massive popularity of the collaboration amongst, to generalize, a very Lululemon, yoga mom-esque consumer.

On the opposite end of this strange fashion spectrum that I have created is high fashion, something that Hoka is, pretty expressly, not. However, they do two other very popular ongoing collaborations with Engineered Garments, a New York menswear label, and Opening Ceremony, another New York fashion label and stockist. These two, for me, were a little more interesting, but again I had doubts about who would buy them, wondering where the intersection between technical running shoe and $500 pair of trousers lay. But of course, Hoka continued to surprise me, as both of the collaborations were released not only to significant anticipation but sold incredibly well also.

I had cornered Hoka in my mind as I had to brands like Brooks or Saucony as a brand that would really only succeed in their niche of hyper-technical running shoes and, although they may try, not find any success trying to branch out. Of course, I had underestimated the power of one of the simplest tactics in marketing, and especially in footwear. Form plus function can’t fail.

They had proven themselves as the master of the running shoe, and even created a unique silhouette in doing so, so attaching either a big brand name in the case of Outdoor Voices, or a more niche, esoteric name in the case of Engineered garments could only amount to success. Hoka has found the perfect way to break out of their position in the market by giving themselves some sort of mainstream credibility by attaching their name to other reputed brands, knowing that their shoe could impress anyone, from the sorority sister finishing her Orange Theory workout to the Brooklyn fashion bro who hasn’t had to run since he left his credit card in Odeon at closing time.