Given the number of sneaker collaborations we see these days, it goes without saying that not every collaborator has some lengthy history or personal attachment to the brands they work with. When it comes to sustainable designer Nicole McLaughlin and Hoka, that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, when McLaughlin received a call from Hoka asking if she was interested in working on a sneaker, she was wearing a pair of Hokas.
“I've been a fan of the brand for a long time. I bought a pair of Ora slides back in like 2019,” says McLaughlin. “I can't believe I was able to make a shoe with them. I went from being a fan to having a collab.”
Today, McLaughlin’s take on the Mafate Three2 ($250) releases to the public. The colorway, a vibrant mix of neon yellow on the upper and Risk Red on the midsole, was meant to nod to the brand’s history. It reminded her of something Hoka could have released in its earlier years, when it was still a niche brand for hardcore runners.
The aesthetic is enough to demand attention on its own. But McLaughlin didn’t just color up one of the brand-new silhouettes in the Hoka catalog. She added a two-piece gaiter system that can be worn in various ways: a vamp covering, extended up the ankle, a combination of the two, or completely removed to reveal the usual upper of the Mafate Three2.
“It felt like the perfect opportunity to challenge myself, to challenge Hoka, to be able to create something that's very known and important in the trail space,” says McLaughlin, who recalls weartesting a few iterations of her collab with different hardware and attachments before settling on the final version. She wasn’t interested in tacking on a new element to silhouette just for the sake of it. She wanted the final product to still be sleek, comfortable, and serve a purpose.
True to her upcycling nature, McLaughlin initially pitched the gaiter concept by attaching bungee cords to a chopped-up sleeve of an Arc’teryx jacket. Hoka senior footwear designer Odile Boyer helped mold her idea into what we see on the pairs hitting retail.
“[Odile] immediately saw my vision and was able to make it fully functional,” says McLaughlin. “I would not have been able to do this without the [Hoka] team.”
The DIY designer says that the idea for the gaiter partially came about to remedy the issue of pebbles and debris getting lodged in her sneakers while she was trail running in Colorado. The five utility pockets also offer practical storage to house any rocks you discover on your expedition or useful equipment like a carabiner. Even if you don’t plan on wearing your pair on the trails, you can utilize the various compartments across the mesh covering to stash items of your choosing (we’ll let you use your imagination).
McLaughlin jokes that it could even be a way to showcase your personality. Fill it with small things that tell people a bit about yourself. After all, plenty of people say the first thing they notice about a person is their shoes, right? The uses for the system are abundant.
“I almost feel like it’s me embodied in a shoe. The gaiter is kind of the crazy, wild idea. It has the pockets, but still serves a very important purpose,” says McLaughlin. “And then the shoe without the gaiter is definitely a shoe that I'd be wearing every day.”
McLaughlin’s fans and followers know her for the one-of-one upcycled projects that populate her Instagram page, which are often intended as art pieces rather than items meant to be worn practically. Some followers may not realize that McLaughlin has a background in the footwear industry. Before her personal brand took off, she worked as a graphic designer at Reebok from 2016 to 2019. She knows what it takes to make something that can live in the marketplace.
“I understand the balance between functionality and something that feels a little bit more out there,” says McLaughlin. “I think it's important because a lot of people that have gotten into my work have gotten into it from a meme or a TikTok. I feel like being able to marry the two ideas is something that I always strive to do.”
McLaughlin’s Mafate Three2 is just the latest example of Hoka’s performance-driven footwear crossing into the lifestyle space. In recent months, the brand has partnered with boutiques like Bodega and streetwear brands like Brain Dead on collaborative projects that have been met with excitement from people who may never run many miles or hike up a mountain in their lifetime. The designer is excited to see smaller brands like Hoka continue to get spotlighted and shift the conversation in the industry.
“I had a little bit of a lag for a while with some of the bigger brands, over and over with collabs. Credit to all of them. They've definitely built a legacy within the space, but I personally felt like we needed something fresher, something newer,” says McLaughlin. “I hope to see more brands coming up and taking those spots. I think it's necessary in this industry. I think we were a little bit stagnant for a while. I finally feel like there's a lot of really cool movements happening.”
