If Sandy Liang & Salomon Once Epitomized Girlcore, Their New Shoe Is Full-on Momcore
Salomon's XT-Whisper running sneaker, born in 2009 as a women's running shoe, is one of Salomon's big revivals for 2025. And who better to kick things off than Sandy Liang?
Sandy Liang's Salomon collaborations epitomize the pinnacle of girlcore sneakers. Her pink Salomon trail shoes paved the way for a host of elegant balletcore footwear that followed, making Liang a pioneer in a very specific field of crossover kicks.
As such, Salomon has partnered with Liang to reanimate archival shoes as they return to its contemporary fold. It enlisted her to remix the uber-flat Mary Janes that known as the Salomon Marie Jeanne, for instance.
As Salomon prepares to give its retro XT-Whisper running shoe a proper relaunch, it thus landed on Liang as the perfect partner to prove the sneaker's inherent momcore steeze, though this will release in a co-ed size run.
“The XT-Whisper is one of my favorite silhouettes from Salomon’s archives, and I loved the challenge of reimagining it through a fresh, modern lens,” Liang said in a statement.
Liang's take on the XT-Whisper is uncomplicated, emphasizing the shoe's throwback aesthetic with a simple pale colorway accented with silver panels and a gum sole
Simple stuff made better by the Salomon Quicklace, which is one of the great sneaker innovations of, I dunno, maybe all time. It makes bunny ear lacing utterly redundant, which is always a good thing in my book.
The XT-Whisper quietly relaunched in late 2024 as a limited release at select Salomon retailers, before its big moment came the following year. Expect a healthy selection of in-line colorways, plus another team-up or two.
For now, Liang's Salomon shoes release on the Sandy Liang website come January 16 before hitting Salomon stockists like the Highsnobiety Shop on January 30 for $150.
It's a slight offering but a solid one. Still, one has to hope that Liang has even more Salomon shoes in store for the year to come.
