Ballet flats are back. So are clogs. As are loafers, Crocs, Taekwondo shoes, Mary Janes, and trainers. But lately, none of them seem to be content with just being themselves.
We’re in the era of the hybrid shoe: a genre-defying, silhouette-scrambling mash-up. You’ve seen them on your Instagram feed—a loafer with the sportiness of a sneaker, a satin ballet flat with off-duty-athlete energy, Crocs-sneakers that look like they were engineered on Mars.
Shoes, it seems, are going through an identity crisis. And right now, the hottest item you can have in your cart is a pair that refuses to be put in a box.
Since the early 2020s, hybrid shoe styles have been quietly evolving like fashion Pokémon by way of capsule drops and collaborations. In 2020, Simone Rocha introduced her now signature Tracker Ballerinas—a fusion of a ballet slipper and a trainer adorned with pearls and crystals. By then, the hybrid aesthetic was already in the air. Think Euphoria’s Jules, whose wardrobe blended ballet-adjacent silhouettes, pastel layers, and tights, with chunky sneakers. That blend of softness and street didn’t include literal sneaker-ballets, but it helped shape the visual language that made their arrival inevitable. As did TikTok’s obsession with coquette-meets-sport styling that included wearing varsity jerseys with pleated miniskirts, and leg warmers with football shoes.
But things really took off in 2024, when the genre had its poster child: the New Balance 1906L, a ‘snoafer’ style that married the upper of a penny loafer in mesh with the structure of a slip-on runner. The same year Spanx founder Sara Blakely also launched Sneex, a sneaker with a heel. And suddenly hybrids weren’t niche; they were everywhere.
Now, in 2025, hybrids have gone fully mainstream. Louis Vuitton’s shoe of the summer is not a ballerina, not a sneaker, but the Sneakerina—a lightweight hybrid that combines the lightness of a ballet flat and the comfort of a sneaker. Hoka has jumped on to the snoafer trend with the Speed Loafer that puts a tasselled, suede upper on to the base of their trail shoe, the Speedgoat 5. Puma has revived its Speedcat sneaker as a ballet flat and doubled down by launching the Speedcat satin ballerina in collaboration with Balenciaga, a motorsport-inspired flat made for both pit-stop and press event. Saleh Bembury’s ongoing collab with Crocs continues to mold the divisive shoe into something equal parts forest fungus and futuristic hiking boot, while Miu Miu’s hit collaboration with New Balance now includes a sneaker-mule derived from the New Balance 530 SL. Even independent designers like Kiko Kostadinov are pushing the category further with lace-up ballet styles and zippered shoes that experiment with modular silhouettes that shift and transform.
Why do we need hybrids? Because they’re the shapeshifters of modern wardrobes. They’re everything your overbooked calendar needs without making you look like you got dressed in the dark (even if you very much did). They’re the quiet overachievers of your closet. Who among us isn’t living a shapeshifting, schedule-juggling, vibe-sensitive kind of life?
Our priorities change by the hour, and our shoes need to keep up. These mash-ups are for people who take fun seriously. Picking a lane is for suckers.
Below, the coolest hybrids to shop right now:
