Salomon is an outdoor sports manufacturer based in the small Alpine town of Annecy, France, founded in 1947 by François Salomon. The brand is best known for its high-quality Salomon trail running shoes, hiking boots, and winter sports equipment for skiing and snowboarding.
Primarily known as a performance brand, Salomon is no stranger to collaborations and has accelerated its relevance and sneaker designs in the fashion footwear segment in recent years. Salomon XT-6, initially designed for performance, has become a fashion staple with various collabs.
Gorp core hype has made people think differently of Salomon street-style sneakers, edging into luxury streetwear with their technical running shoes. What started as an ultra-comfy functional running shoe has become the go-to shoe for city folk, including Bella Hadid, Rihanna, Kanye, and A$AP Rocky.
Salomon shoes are known for their high-quality outdoor footwear, trail running shoes, and durable boots. Additionally to the top-notch footwear, the Salomon clothing line features a variety of categories, including accessories, shirts, outdoor jackets, backpacks, and winter sports equipment.
The 70-year-old hiking brand has become famous for its Salomon street style, utilitarian, functional, outdoors-inspired gear, namely, Gorp Core. Salomon’s trail running shoes have been at the forefront of the hype, doubling up as a fashion statement shoe for a city stroll and a mountain hike.
As with many other brands, Salomon sneakers are produced in Asia but the brand hasn’t officially stated where its shoes and clothing are made. However, Salomon has recently brought a part of the production closer to home and opened a new Advanced Shoe Factory in partnership with a local textile company Chamatex in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France in 2022.
The new Salomon factory has automated production, which will speed up production and the go-to-market process. Bringing the product closer to demand will also minimize its carbon footprint.
Whether Salomon shoes run small or not ultimately depends on the style. For example, we’ve noticed Salomon trail running shoes to be relatively snug and can be a little tight from the toes. On the other hand, Salomon hiking shoes are generally true to their size and are more accommodating.
Salomon hiking boots are one of the best in the world, and when it comes to specialist hiking boots, they truly deserve their position at the top of the list. Made out of top-quality, durable materials, whether for winter sports or mountain hikes, Salomon keeps innovating via new shoe technology in their designs.
Salomon sneakers are perfect for hiking and outdoor conditions. However, not all Salomon footwear is waterproof. For example, Men’s trail running shoes such as Speedcross 6 Gore-Tex or women’s trail shoe Alphacross 4 Gore-Tex are designed for various terrains with a waterproof upper.
Salomon is owned by Amer Sports, a Finnish sporting goods subsidiary of China’s Anta Sports. The outdoor sports company Salomon was bought from Adidas AG in 2005 for nearly $500 million. Adidas had owned Salomon from 1997 until 2005 but decided to sell the business as it moved away from producing ski clothing and equipment.
You can buy Salomon shoes directly at the Highsnobiety shop.
Salomon brand was founded in 1947 in France, in a small alpine village called Annecy in France. Set up by Francois Salomon with the help of his wife and son, it was a family-run business that started as a small workshop making specialized ski equipment at the time.
Salomon developed another product, “Atlas,” a safety binding, and filed a second patent. Followed by its success, the company hired more employees and expanded its product range.
Merely 19 years after starting the company, Salomon bindings made it to the 1966 World Alpine championships in Chile, growing worldwide interest in its products.
After a wider success of Salomon’s innovative binding technology, the “Atlas” safety binding, and the self-release heel piece, Salomon became a world-leading and preferred ski bindings supplier.
Salomon launched its first ski boot, the “SX90,” using plastic molding and more technical materials and textiles. The boots were first launched only to the France consumer market, and following its success, worldwide.
By 1980, Salomon had become the leading manufacturer of ski boots after launching the Système Nordique Salomon (SNS) binding system.
Salomon also launched their first Japanese subsidiary.
Ten years later, Salmon developed their product range further and released their first ski called “S9000”.
1992 was important as it marked a moment when Salomon started producing hiking shoes, focusing on the active and outdoor adventure customer segment with the Adventure 7 model.
Salomon introduced snowboards, including shoes and apparel, under a new brand called Bonfire. Moreover, inline skating became popular, and Salomon extended their range.
Salomon was acquired by adidas.
The brand released Salomon XA PRO, a trail running shoe pioneer.
Salomon is bought by sporting goods company Amer Sports.
Beginning of the trail running boom develops Salomon skin bag design for minimal equipment for hiking and running.
Salomon Quest walking boots are released.
In 2013, the Salomon XT-6, originally designed for long-distance trail running shoes, was released, marking the beginning of Salomon street style as a breakthrough among the urban and fashion audience.
In October 2016, Jean-Philippe Lalonde joined Salomon as a lifestyle footwear program manager.
Jean-Philippe Lalonde accelerates Salomon’s opportunities in the fashion segment. Brings innovation to Salomon’s product design and started merging fashion and performance in Salomon footwear designs.
Salomon starts to win over city dwellers with their Palace x Salomon collab.
Salomon opened an advanced production facility in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in France to make the shipping and production process more sustainable, partnering with textiles supplier Chamatex.
The brand celebrates its 75th anniversary with Salomon XT-6 Expanse, RAID WIND, and XT-QUEST fall capsule.
The first shoe off the production line from Salomon’s new factory in France, Salomon Captiva ASF 4.0 hiking, is released.
Salomon collaborates with XT-6 Salomon x And Wander.
Salomon becomes a true contender in the sneaker industry’s fashion and gore-tex space with the new Salomon XT-6 “GORE-TEX” design.
Salomon continues to break away from performance sports releasing streetwear collabs GR10K X Salomon, MM6 Maison Margiela X Salomon, and revealing MM6 X Salomon for SS23.