Bye bulky sneakers. Say hello to the bullet sneaker

In 2017, Balenciaga’s Triple S trainer landed with the subtlety of a dropped piano. Its oversized silhouette and swollen sole made no apologies and needed none. It ushered in an era of maximalist footwear, where sneakers ballooned in size and irony, giving rise to the now-familiar dad sneaker from fashion brands both high and street. 

But fashion, like footwear, always favours friction. After nearly a decade of sneakers engineered to be loud, large, and borderline cartoonish, a new tripping point has emerged—slimmer, sleeker, and quieter. The proportions are compact. The lines are clean. These are sneakers designed less for hype and more for ease, with a tapered silhouette resembling a bullet and just enough of a retro sporty look to feel familiar, but not nostalgic.

Part of the shift is aesthetic. Part of it is psychological. After years during the pandemic spent in sweatpants and soles that resembled orthopaedic foam, the goalposts have shifted and what seems to be resonating now in reel and real life is a version of polish that doesn’t feel performative. Bullet sneakers, which are low to the ground and visually lightweight, speak to this desire for a lower profile.

The pivot arguably began with the Adidas Samba in 2022. Originally designed in 1949 for footballers training on icy pitches, the sneaker returned just as wide-leg trousers surged into fashion. The math was simple: the wider the pant leg, the slimmer the sneaker. It is proportion play rooted less in trend and more in logic, and it caught on.

Brands were quick to court new customers. Puma brought back the Speedcat, a motorsport classic first released in 1999. Adidas revived its Taekwondo and Tokyo silhouettes whilst Vans reissued the Super Lowpro, inspired by its 1984 Serio Competition Shoe. Even Nike has relaunched the Total 90 III this year, complete with off-centre lacing and the aerodynamic curves of early-aughts performancewear.

Many of these shoes were initially designed for sports like martial arts, motorsport, and track, but their appeal now is less about athletic function and more about visual precision. In their current era, these sneakers don’t just nod to sport. They also run laps around whatever is trending. At a time when fashion is endlessly segmented into micro-aesthetics from bloke-core, to clean girl and eclectic grandpa, bullet sneakers set their own pace. 

Their simple design has a track record of allowing its wearer to glide across style categories without losing coherence, especially since they have resisted “chunkification” unlike others which is less about making a sole statement than sidestepping it entirely. Nothing about them screams 2025 just as there wasn’t in the years before that.

Luxury has taken notice and have kickstarted their versions. Miu Miu, no stranger to cultural resets, can be said to first enter the conversation. Following the success of its New Balance collaboration in 2022, the brand has introduced the Plume: slim, minimal, and nearly weightless. 

Dior’s D-Sketch, with its two-tone sole and sketched-on detailing, reads like a prototype made visible whereas Loewe’s Ballet Runner 2.0 updates a ’70s-era running shoe with the brand’s signature asymmetry. At Chloé, the Kick sneaker nods to ‘80s boxing shoes but softens the structure with ballet-inspired pliancy whilst Louis Vuitton’s Sneakerina, built with Sacchetto construction, flexes like a slipper. Balenciaga has even shifted lanes with the Monday Shoe - the house’s first all-leather hybrid shoe - a vintage-style footwear marked by raw edges and visible stitching.

In a moment when style leans toward refinement over reinvention, the bullet sneaker feels like the right step forward because sometimes, the most modern move isn’t said reinvention. It’s knowing when to edit, lace up, and walk on.