Finally! Cool Hokas! It's a Marni x Hoka Collab!

The Hoka x Marni collab launches this spring with pre-orders available starting April 3rd, 2025.

As a personal stylist for women, the most common request from clients is “comfortable shoes.” That means something different to every woman. For some, a four inch heel is comfortable and for others, they feel like the only option is an orthopedic shoe.

Typically, the answer is somewhere in between. I struggled with foot pain on the ball of my foot for years. It seemed to come and go and it wasn’t clear if specific shoes made it worse. Several doctors seemed to think the answer was to start wearing Hokas. After all, as a stylist, I think they just assumed that I wear very high heels everyday… which I do not. Assumptions are called that for a reason.

So sure, as someone suffering with foot pain I was open to wearing Hokas for a period of time. But when the response was that I’d be wearing some version of these shoes forever, I went on the offensive. In a very kind but direct way, my typical response was, “have you ever seen Nicole Kidman wear orthopedic shoes? No? That’s because there is a solution to this problem and wealthy people know what it is. So, let’s find that solution please. It’s not Hokas.”

In the end, Dr. Grierson at Seattle Spine and Sports Medicine discovered that I had tight calves. Yup. Tight calves. This is why the pain would come and go and wasn’t obviously connected to a pair of shoes. The more pain my feet were in, the softer shoes I wore. According to Dr. Grierson, soft shoes made it worse. So the answer was to wear shoes with a harder sole and stretch my calves.

In the midst of the foot pain and before I discovered the genius Dr. Grierson, I knew I had to buy some Hokas, if not just to wear for walks. But, let me be clear, the vast majority of them were simply not an option. I really just couldn’t do it.

I’ve been wearing these for walks for several years now. Up until the Marni collab, these are the coolest Hokas I’ve seen.

Until I found the solid yellow suede Bondis. Truthfully, I still hate how they impact my outfits. But in the grand scheme of Hokas, I feel grateful to have found this pair and have been wearing them for more than 5 years for walks and some days when I’m working from home.

Fun Fact: Hokas are a French company. And during my weeklong stint in Paris last fall, I only saw one person wearing them and he was in his late sixties. But here, they are wildly popular. Designer brands and celebrities continue to collaborate with athletic sportswear companies, especially on shoes. Think Bad Bunny X Adidas.

Fortunately, Marni is pairing up with Hoka to do the best that can be done for the brand. These are cool. If you’re already wearing Hokas or you’re on the hunt for the right pair, I vote for these.

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