But the sneakerverse still wasn’t finished – nicher brands wanted to get in there. A day later, Merrell’s Moab 2 Slide popped up with a black, brown, and cream houndstooth upper made of Harris Tweed. Yes, it’s technically a mule (what isn’t these days?), but it has a chunky Vibram sole, it’s based on one of the company’s best-known hiking shoes, and it looks like a slipper built for crossing a small mountain. We’ll allow it. Three shoes in three days is no longer a coincidence.
Houndstooth itself is much older than any of them. Originally known as shepherd’s check, the pattern is generally traced back to woollen outerwear worn in the Scottish Lowlands during the 19th century. Christian Dior helped drag it into high fashion in the late ’40s, and it’s spent the decades since disappearing and returning whenever designers remember how good it is.
The last time houndstooth was this hyped was around 2016. Dolce & Gabbana sent raw-edged houndstooth tweed coats and suits down its fairytale-themed autumn/winter runway. Balenciaga made a matching houndstooth blazer and stirrup trousers, and Tomas Maier worked the pattern into fuzzy jacquard dresses. For a while, you couldn’t move without seeing a massive broken check.
10 years later, the cycle has started again. Only this time, rather than covering your coat, suit, or trousers, houndstooth is working its way down to your feet. Your sneakers have started dressing like your grandad. And to be fair, he had some good coats.
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