HOKA and J.L-A.L have teamed up again and the Mafate X has never looked like this before. It started life as a pure trail runner built to handle steep climbs and wet rock but this collab turns it into something that feels closer to an art object. You can still tell it was born for performance but now it looks like it belongs in a sculpture studio as much as it does on a mountain.
The details are unreal. J.L-A.L has this way of stripping things back without losing depth and it’s all about how the materials work with light and texture. There is this subtle iridescence running through it, inspired by a piece of sushi of all things, and it makes the shoe catch the light differently every time you move. The palette pulls straight from the environment it was made for. Think wet stone, dark water, raw earth. It feels elemental and intentional and you can sense that nothing here was accidental.
To launch it they took things to Chamonix during UTMB and built an activation around the theme born from earth and water. It started in a ceramics studio where everyone shaped clay by hand and you could feel how it connected back to the earliest days of HOKA when soles were carved above Annecy. There was a quietness to it all that made the story hit harder. Then came a slow hike through the forests and rivers above town where the terrain does most of the talking. It finished with an open-air dinner where culinary designer Perrine Bettin and chef Takeshi Minagawa built a menu around the same ideas that shape the shoe. Everything about it had a sense of craft and balance.
What we love most is how it was shot. The campaign leans into a sculpture aesthetic that makes the Mafate X feel like it belongs on a plinth. The photography is restrained but loaded with texture and shadow and it matches the mood of the shoe perfectly. It feels less like a sneaker drop and more like an exhibition and we are completely here for it.
This isn’t chasing trends and it isn’t shouting for attention. It is confident and slow and considered. The Mafate X still does what it was built to do but this collaboration reframes it entirely. It is about craft and culture overlapping in a way that feels effortless. From the clay under your nails to the shimmer on the upper this whole campaign lands beautifully.
