The Barely-There Hiking Sandal Is the Official Shoe of the Summer

During the fall 2026 couture presentations, magazine editor and actor Blake Abbie slipped into a mere whisper of a sandal to hit the Jean Paul Gaultier show; just a thin sole and some dainty leather rope to secure the foot between him and the floor.

“You feel like you’re out there,” Abbie says of his footwear choice, a collaboration between the running brand Literary Sport and Xero Shoes, an active shoe brand that seeks to mimic the feeling of going barefoot. I’m so naked, he recalled thinking. “There’s a bit of freedom,” he says, “and a feeling of being grounded.”

“Plus,” he adds, “it’s hot, and my feet looked good in them.”

After the torrid mania surrounding the flip-flop, the next new It-shoe is poised to be even less obtrusive: The skimpy little sandal. Not only was it spotted on the Celine men’s spring 2027 runway, but also on the exposed toes of some show-goers during men’s fashion week in Paris. In addition to the Literary Sport collaboration, Xero—whose popular Genesis sandal features just a 5.5 mm (0.2 inch) rubber sole and corded rope fastenings—recently partnered with J.Crew on versions with specialty rope colors or a gingham-printed footbed. Vogue Fashion Fund finalist Jamie Haller, known for her handsome loafers, has jettisoned all the bulk for summer, too, with her aptly named String Theory sandal. In comparison, Loeffler Randall’s Mika sandal, while beguiling and bare bones, looks downright chunky! And when I dropped into the showroom of the buzzy Paris-based label Rier two weeks back, I noticed that they, too, had a sandal with just a membrane of a sole and some slim bindings. Everywhere you look, the sandal is getting whittled away to its bare essence.

“There’s a history in the running sandal, which was why it felt appropriate when we started styling with it,” says Jackie McKeown, a creative director at Literary Sport, on how the Xero collaboration came to be. Since the brand’s inception, they’ve styled their sleek performancewear not with chunky-soled running kicks but the refined, delicate Genesis. “For me, as someone who runs but works in fashion, I’m never just in running clothing, it’s not so prescriptive. There’s always that in-between. There was this energy where you would be wearing sportswear as your daily uniform.”

Indeed, while these styles take their cues from crunchy-granola hiking sandals (think hearty Tevas or cumbersome Keens), they impart on them the tenets of minimalism, reducing them to their purest, most essential form. We are in something of an era of diminutive footwear (see: Low-profile sneakers, ballet slippers, even Chanel’s half-shoes—not to mention the aforementioned flip-flop), but these pare them down even further, in some ways pushing the boundary of what can even be considered a shoe. They are minimalism at its most vital ideal—no frippery, no excess. I find it telling that Literary Sport photographed them with a bottle of water, putting them in conversation with something so undiluted and fundamental, but also essential.

Of course, they also touch upon the ongoing dalliance between fashion and sport, which has expanded its reach from popular sports like basketball and soccer to more niche activities—running and trail hiking among them. Basketball shoes, even running sneakers, are a bit on the nose, whereas a riff on the hiking sandal is unexpected. “I think they’ve always informed one another,” says McKeown, “but it’s trickling up because running is having such a huge moment, and it’s bled into the fashion space that it’s now influencing how even the styling and how people are putting looks together.” She mentions the way it was presented on the Celine runway, where slim, running tight-adjacent pants were paired with these sandals. “That’s becoming a different character in the menswear world now,” she said. “That ‘elevated sports’ person.” It also has a clear precedent in Miuccia Prada’s spring 2024 Miu Miu collection, where prepster clothes were paired with these exact style of rope sandals (plus bandaged toes).

With Literary Sport, McKeown and her partner Fran Miller have sought to upend traditional sport aesthetics, forgoing aggressive, flashier apparel design for something unexpected—emphasizing gracefulness, restraint, even elegance. Here, they apply that same thinking. Instead of showing their gear with built-up, cushioned running sneakers, which would be obvious, they go the other direction. The result is a kind of austerity that fundamentally changes the accepted silhouette of a running outfit. “The trend with running is to go up, but we go the flip side—we’ve strayed away from the bulky shape,” she says. “Because it feels like there’s something more refined to this.”

“It’s almost like you don’t even want the footwear to be visible,” she says. “As little shoe as possible is, I think, the energy right now.”

And while this particular trend easily traverses the male-female binary, it feels especially novel for guys. “From a men’s perspective, I think it gives just another dimension to footwear that we really haven't had before,” says Abbie. “Women always had the chance to play—I’m looking at a woman right now, she’s literally just in a little strap and a thing around her toe. Women always have their feet out. So, maybe we’re being a bit more open to this ‘natural living,’ not being so formalized around men's dressing, which I think is a generalized trend. But, having a new thing in terms of the type of shoe is interesting.”

For some, that means taking this trend to its natural conclusion—no shoe at all. “Anything to make going barefoot more ‘mainstream’ and acceptable is fine by us,” writes “Barefoot Chris,” a moderator at The Society of Barefoot Living, in an email. As the name implies, the organization champions a lifestyle where shoes are used sparingly, if at all. “We do see a lot of ‘minimal’ sandals with very thin soles and not much external foot support being sold as running or hiking shoes. These can be a useful transition for people whose feet are not yet adapted to more challenging terrain. Still, with a little practice and (re)conditioning, a natural foot can do just fine on its own in the vast majority of situations.”

A look from Rier’s spring 2027 lookbook.

“We also see ‘barefoot sandals’ of the truly soleless kind, more akin to foot jewelry than a shoe,” he continues. (They should consider an anklet!) “Some of our members have differing opinions on this, preferring to keep their feet completely free and natural without any adornment of any kind. Others appreciate the decorative look of a barefoot sandal, which provides some style and flair while still leaving the soles free to contact the ground. Some others, myself included, like such footwear for navigating social situations that may be less receptive to a completely barefoot person (restaurants, etc).”

Of course, even in their simplicity, there is some element of design at play, a tip of the hat to ancient Greece or Rome (and great timing for the film The Odyssey). And in their use of delicate strings, there’s also an undeniable sensuality, playfulness, and maybe a hint of BDSM. Even the Literary Sport pair, in its simplicity, has a small flourish: A shiny pebble hanging on one of the leather cords. Amid the less-is-more design, it makes a big impact. Taken together, these styles all transmit a certain discernment and elegance of restraint.

And at the end of the day, that’s what counts, isn’t it? “I've gotten so many compliments on them,” said Abbie. “From men, women. People are like, ‘I went and bought those shoes today because I saw you wear them.’”