Despite pandemics and the false prophets that foretell of streetwear's end, the sneaker market is far from spooked. On the contrary, it's absolutely flying. New Balance's many collabs continue to sell out (good luck trying to get a Casablanca XC72 in your size), and the brand continues to attract new partners (Staud, Junya Watanabe, and, most recently and most unexpectedly, Miu Miu). Gucci Rhytons still tread the streets of both Mayfair and Hoxton. And, in recent years, Balenciaga broke the $1 billion revenue mark – a milestone that was essentially carved into existence with a Triple S. The sneaker market isn't just buoyant. It's a magic beanstalk.
Dior has arguably grown its biggest fruit. Under the steer of creative director Kim Jones, the men's division of the French outfit has boomed. The sneakers have been particularly combustible; the translucent B23 hi-top, caked in the house monogram, was everywhere; the lo-top, quieter B27 was more C-suite friendly, and thus peppered first class lounges at Charles De Gaulle; the Air Jordan collab disappeared before it even touched the warehouse shelves, only to reappear on resale for a cool £10,000. The sneakerheads still sob. But now, there's a new player on the team; a new sneaker to cause web domains to crash as StockX listings soar. Meet the B30.
Unlike its predecessors, this new sneaker (available from today, by the way) is more of a lean into Dior's future than a remix of its past. There is no house monogram print, for a start. Instead, there's the CD initialised logo. It is lightweight, and proudly technical with microfibre and mesh construction. The design "pays tribute to the world of running", or so says the official release notes. It comes in five colours: black, white, olive, beige and lime.
But, most strikingly, the B30 seems to take the features of Dior's current era, and chef them all up into a sneaker that is emblematic of the Jones administration: near-futuristic, clean, artistic and right on the money for guys who are into good gear (who, in turn, are happy to give their money hand over fist).
That's not to say it's detached from Monsieur Christian Dior's legacy. As Jones has said in many interviews, and as the archives frequently attest, the late founder was boldly forward-thinking. He lived for the new; so much so, that his hourglass designs, though now a classic part of the canon, were dubbed 'the New Look' by fashion's chattering classes of the Forties. A neo-trail runner that pares back on the maximalism and sends the industry into a madness? As the old adage goes, it's what he'd have wanted.
And the punters, what do they want exactly? A bull market suggests one thing: more Dior sneakers.
Available in-store only at select Dior boutiques, priced £800
