Teva, founded with river-ready sandals, has produced iconic silhouettes like the Original Universal and Ember Moc. can they do it again with the Trailpeak?
I remember my brother wanting a pair of Teva sandals in the 1990s. Everyone wanted them. We lived near the Trinity River in Fort Worth, Texas. He never once put them in it.
It was about convenience. And the subtle flex of showing up to the pool with Teva Original Universal tan lines.
It’s rare for a footwear company to create a truly iconic silhouette. Some brands sell shoes for decades without ever making one.
Teva has done it twice.
First with the Original Universal. Then with the Ember Moc, a fluffy, almost 1980s-looking shoe with a texture somewhere between a sleeping bag and ALF’s nose.
I never owned the river sandals. I wear my Embers almost every day.
So can Teva do it again with the new Trailpeak trail running shoe?
No.
The Trailpeak isn’t memorable enough to become an icon. But with a brand capable of the Original Universal and Ember, I don’t think that’s an accident.
Read Inky’s take on the newest Speedland collab.
It feels supplemental, not central.
Look across Teva’s footwear and there isn’t much designed to be the most extreme version of anything. The shoes feel like tools first, wrapped in outdoor-coded colors and design.
The Trailpeak fits perfectly into that system.
I look at it and think: that looks like it’ll get the job done.
I don’t look at it and see running-meets-fashion. People will wear it around town, but probably the same people who wear river sandals to restaurants.
Granola, maybe.
TEVA | Trail Running Sandal
The more interesting shoe is the Aventrail Road-2-Trail Running Sandal.
That feels closer to Teva’s iconic roots. It’s strange. Functional. Immediately recognizable. It looks secure enough to actually run in while still unmistakably being a sandal.
Is it cool?
Not obviously.
But put it on the right person and maybe it becomes cool.
Nobody saw Hoka’s fashion play coming before 2016.
And if you say you did, I’d call you a liar.
