Here’s a brand collaboration with a bit of a difference – two shoe specialists combining to create a striking new piece of footwear that’s debuting at the Paris Fashion Week this week. Usually, hybrid shoe designs involve one brand’s signature footwear being given a makeover by a company known for a different look, but the ROA x Altra Timp 5 is the joint product of gorpcore* hiking shoe brand ROA and zero-drop running shoe specialist Altra. And if you’re familiar with both those brands’ design ethics, then you’ll immediately see that the ROA x Altra Timp 5 looks exactly like the lovechild of the two.
Using the as its springboard, the new shoe has been given a moody, earth-toned redesign that exudes ROA’s design aesthetic. The solid black midsole especially reflects the kind of rugged footwear you find in the Italian company’s catalog. Italy-based ROA worked their aesthetic magic to treat the midsole unit in solid black that mimics footwear in its own catalog, such as the Pala and the Katharina.
The all-black Vibram Megagrip sole also feels way more ROA than Altra. The green-brown colorway of the upper doesn’t sound like a stylish combo on paper, but look at the images here – it looks gorgeous in a deliciously subtle way. Even the normally shouty Altra logo takes a step back.
On a more technical level, the shoe boasts Altra’s usual spacious FootShape toe box, a proprietary supportive construction and a Gore-Tex upper liner (apparently, ROA has never rel.
