This Sneaker Trend May Be the Boldest Thing a Man Can Wear Right Now

A soft entry in a loud sneaker world

In a world where sneaker drops are governed by algorithmic frenzy and the pantheon of retro silhouettes reigns eternal, a stranger revolution is afoot—graceful, almost balletic in its execution. This season, the sneaker scene, long the domain of maximalist soles and chunky “ugly” shoes, is flirting with something altogether more svelte: ballet sneakers. Yes, really.

They’re soft-spoken, low-profile, and vaguely subversive. Ballet sneakers—more ballet-inspired than ballet-functional—are now pirouetting onto the soles of fashion-conscious men. This isn’t just a niche trend hiding in the recesses of Instagram moodboards; it’s manifesting in the mainstream, with names like Adidas, Puma, and Onitsuka Tiger suddenly obsessed with what is, essentially, a ballerina’s silhouette, reconstructed for the street.

At the center of this phenomenon is the Adidas x Bad Bunny Ballerina—a shoe as unexpected as it is inevitable. The sneaker is an elegant frankenstein of forms: one part Taekwondo flat, one part ballet slipper, and three parts pop star co-sign. It arrived in neutral black and white, as well as a Bruce Lee-coded gold, immediately igniting a frenzy. Maybe it was the novelty, maybe it was Benito’s name stitched across the side, but the appetite was clear: people are tired of being weighed down. They want to glide.

Designing for the foot, not the feed

The Ballerina is not alone. Adidas doubled down on its daintier inclinations with the Mei Ballet, a stripped-back version of the Taekwondo silhouette that pulls no punches about its inspiration. A long lace window reveals a provocative sliver of foot, a vulnerability rarely associated with menswear, let alone men’s sneakers. It laces like a corset, wraps like an ankle brace, and walks the fine line between athleticism and affectation. It’s strangely sexy.

Elsewhere, Puma’s Speedcat has undergone a transformation, emerging in a ballet variant that swaps laces for cross straps and pares down its motorsport origins into something lithe and whisper-thin. Onitsuka Tiger has performed a similar reduction on the Mexico 66, another heritage silhouette reinterpreted with a dancer’s sensibility. Both are currently billed in women’s sizing, a relic of how gendered the market still insists footwear must be. But any man who’s worn a Mary Jane or a mule lately knows: sizing is a suggestion, not a rule.

The real intrigue, however, lies not just in the sneakers themselves but in the cultural recalibration they hint at. For the better part of the last decade, sneaker culture has been stuck in an aesthetic inertia—reviving, remixing, and reselling the same few silhouettes until they lose all meaning. The dad shoe had its day. Trail shoes became techwear tokens. Even Crocs had a moment. But ballet sneakers? This is something else entirely: understated, intimate, almost romantic.

And just as the culture begins to pivot toward lighter, leaner, more intentional design, summer arrives—and with it, SJ’s newest collection of sleek, cloud-soft sneakers built for warmer days and lighter steps. Staying true to its signature ethos, SJ leans into eco-conscious craftsmanship without compromising on style. The shoes, made from recycled leather, cotton laces, and natural rubber, bring an airy elegance to everyday dressing—ideal for long walks, unplanned detours, and whatever version of freedom summer happens to offer. With silhouettes engineered for comfort and durability, they serve as a reminder that sustainability and sensuality no longer exist at odds. In short: they’re shoes that feel as good as they look, and kinder in every sense.

Masculinity rewritten in ribbon

There’s a softness to these shoes that cuts against the grain of hypermasculine streetwear tropes. They hug the foot. They suggest agility, control, and vulnerability—more Ethan Hawke in Before Sunrise than Vin Diesel in Fast X. They carry with them the silent rigor of the dance studio, a reminder that performance doesn’t have to be loud to be powerful.

Is it a full-blown movement? Not yet. But it’s more than a whisper. Sandy Liang’s ribbon-laced Speedcross 3 collab with Salomon points to the trend’s diffusion into more esoteric corners of sneaker design. Even Salomon, the brand of alpine dads and urban trail junkies, is flirting with the ballet aesthetic, albeit with a wink. This is not a revolution so much as a soft pivot—a demi-plié away from the familiar.

In the end, the rise of the ballet sneaker may not be about ballet at all. It’s about precision, restraint, and design that requires you to pay attention. In a menswear moment defined by wide-leg chaos and gorpcore maximalism, these shoes invite you to consider the silhouette, to walk quietly, and to learn a little grace.

Photos courtesy Adidas, Puma, Salomon