Matt Varga Balenciaga never rests. It feels like every year, the luxury fashion house manages to aggravate swaths of sneakerheads, delight the fashion-forward, or often both, with their boundary-pushing steps into footwear. Following in a lineage that includes the Barefoot Zero shoe, the 6XL, and the Triple S comes the imprint’s lean into gorpcore: the Balenciaga Pocket Shoe.
First looks at the silhouette have trickled out as part of Balenciaga’s Fall/Winter 2027 show in Paris. In-hand videos showcase a fully synthetic, lightweight upper with a double-ply nylon collar, zipped closures, and abstract B branding. Of course, the true highlight is that the shoe folds in half to create a joined zipper, which is then able to be sealed and collapsed into a neat package, showcasing the jagged, thin tread on the platform of this model.
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- Timberland Radler Camp
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- Timberland Radler Camp
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- Timberland Radler Camp
As is so often the case when it comes to high-fashion footwear, the Balenciaga Pocket Shoe takes some heavy cues from more accessible brands. For one, Timberland’s Radler Trail Camp offered almost this exact functionality as far back as 2011, a lightweight yet deep-lugged packable shoe that folded into a near-circular package when not in use. Merrell has also heavily explored this concept in their catalog, with a range of slippers and boots carrying a zip utility that can seal two shoes into one tight package at rest.
Release details for the Balenciaga Pocket are unclear at the time of this writing, but you can get a closer look via the video below.
