“Gorpcore is over,” however Salomon’s CEO states its development is simply starting

In 2016, a running shoe mold almost wound up in an incinerator. It came from Salomon’s XT-6, a path running shoe developed for ultralong ranges in penalizing conditions. Jean-Philippe Lalonde, a Frenchman who had actually dealt with Arc’ teryx’s high-end style line, waited.

Lalonde saw possible in the shoe. Changing its race-inspired red, black, and white colorway with soft tones or athletic colors might provide it a much larger appeal. From that restored mold, he slowly developed Salomon’s Sportstyle line, which ended up being a specifying part of the brand name.

By 2023, the XT-6 had actually crossed generations. Scott Mellin, then Salomon’s primary brand name officer, spoken with a Paris multibrand store that boys were using sets gave from their daddies.

In a couple of years, the brand name from Annecy, France, acquired a much larger worldwide audience. Profits increased 29% year-on-year in 2025 to more than USD 2 billion, double its 2022 level. Shoes represented almost 70% of the overall.

Established in the Alps in 1947 as a ski brand name, Salomon is now understood to lots of customers through the XT-6 and the partnerships and daily designs that followed it.

Gorpcore assisted convince individuals who neither ski nor walking to use XT-6s. The post-pandemic style pattern brought outside efficiency equipment into daily closets, integrating function and technical style with a mountain-inspired visual.

Salomon international CEO Guillaume Meyzenq thinks that wave has now run its course.

“Gorpcore is over,” he informed 36Kr

For a brand name that took advantage of the pattern, stating it over may appear dangerous. Meyzenq argues that Salomon’s appeal now rests on something more long lasting.

“We do not have 2 different stories. Sportstyle and efficiency aren’t detached,” he stated. “When individuals come for the design, what they are purchasing is still an efficiency item.”

He sees 2 modifications over the previous years.

“First, the outdoors ended up being a source of motivation for metropolitan customers. All of a sudden, individuals wished to head into the mountains, or merely hang out in nature and experience the environment,” Meyzenq stated.

“They started looking for brand names that might use real outside innovation. […] Gorpcore has actually passed, however that didn’t occur by mishap. It took place due to the fact that individuals’s mindsets towards metropolitan life altered entirely.”

His argument switches on the difference in between look and function. A boom driven simply by aesthetic appeals would leave Salomon exposed when tastes altered. Need for the XT-6’s outside efficiency might provide it more remaining power.

That thinking has actually led Salomon to focus more this year on clothing and stumbling upon a larger series of outside settings.

Meyzenq informed 36Kr that a minimum of half the flooring area in the brand name’s brand-new, bigger shops will be committed to garments. Products are being launched around training seasons. Falcon Fly, Salomon’s premium training and racing clothing line, debuted with a winter season collection early this year, followed by a spring training variety. In June, it presented a summer season collection utilizing ultralight woven material made with 7D yarn and equipped 26 runners at the 2nd S/Pro marathon elite training school.

In shoes, Salomon continues to broaden its Gravel Running variety, which management views as a method into the more comprehensive running market.

Sportstyle stays the brand name’s most significant development chauffeur, according to management, however Salomon is likewise investing greatly in roadway and gravel running.

On revenues calls, management has actually consistently detailed its circulation method: open a couple of flagship shops in crucial cities, then broaden the brand name’s reach through thoroughly picked and updated wholesale channels.

Salomon started methodically broadening circulation in North America 2 years back, accepting short-term pressure on margins. That growth is starting to reveal outcomes. Its network consists of outside and specialized running merchants such as REI and Fleet Feet, high end outlet store led by Nordstrom, and mass-market merchants such as Foot Locker and JD Sports.

“In Europe, the United States, and Japan, the normal design is to open big flagship shops in essential cities such as Paris, Tokyo, and New York. Those shops provide the experience, reveal the brand name’s complete variety, and inform the very best variation of its story,” Meyzenq stated. “Wholesale circulation then offers scale”

“But China is various. You need to put your finest shops in the very best places.”

He stopped briefly.

“But storytelling alone isn’t enough. In China, you likewise require adequate scale in top quality physical retail.”

A little flagship network can support growth in Europe and the United States, while China needs a bigger shop network.

Salomon included a net 13 shops in Greater China in the 2nd quarter, bringing its overall to 315 straight run and partner-operated places. It is targeting 45 net additions for the complete year and thinks the marketplace might support 400– 500 shops over the long term. The business likewise declares its athletic shoes shops in Greater China and Asia are the market’s most effective and lucrative.

On August 10, Salomon opened its flagship shop at China World Mall in Beijing. 36Kr spoke to Meyzenq about outside sports, Chinese customers, and the brand name’s past and future.

The following records has actually been modified and combined for brevity and clearness.

36Kr: Salomon’s China World Mall flagship shop is much bigger than previous shops, with a substantial part dedicated to clothing. Approximately just how much area does clothing inhabit?

Guillaume Meyzenq (GM): About 60% of the retail area is utilized to show garments.

In the past, our shops were generally 200– 250 square meters and focused mainly on shoes. Shoes use a benefit in effectiveness: you set up a wall and show them.

Garments has more item versions and requires more area for visual retailing to reveal the breadth of the variety.

In 2015, we chose to broaden the clothing line even more. That suggested opening brand-new shops, however likewise remodeling and expanding some existing ones.

These bigger shops are the next generation we have actually established to update our clothing company. Typically, clothing can inhabit about 50% of their display screen area.

Salomon presently has 315 shops in China, and we will continue to focus on very first- and second-tier cities.

36Kr: How do clothing’s costs, utilizes, and target clients vary from shoes’s?

GM: Individuals purchasing the clothing are the exact same individuals purchasing the shoes.

Salomon’s items fall mainly into 2 groups: Performance and Sportstyle. Both follow the exact same technique rooted in the mountains. They are not detached from one another.

Our sports classifications consist of snowboarding, outside sports, path running, roadway running, and gravel running. Shoes is created around the practical needs of those sports, and garments follows precisely the very same method. There isn’t a different story.

When customers get in Salomon’s community, we can provide a total option covering shoes, garments, and equipment. Sportstyle matches and fits along with our sports classifications.

Bringing shoes and garments together is one expression of Salomon’s improvement from a mountain sports devices brand name into a brand name representing modern mountain sports culture.

36Kr: Beyond clothing, your other significant effort is running shoes. China does not have the specific shop network discovered in Europe and the United States. How do you prepare to develop the running organization here?

GM: 25 years back, we concluded that path running would end up being a sport in its own. It was really little at the time. There were just a handful of races worldwide, however our companied believe it would end up being a source of motivation for customers.

That is why Salomon kept buying R&D for its S/Lab path items.

In 2009, we assisted leader the hydration vest pattern. At one point, nearly every path running hydration vest on the marketplace had actually basically been established in our lab in France.

We developed tailored suitable for professional athletes and fine-tuned hydration loads into vest-style styles that fit closer to the body. We protected their performance and functionality while making them lighter, which is what path runners appreciate the majority of.

Today, hydration vests have actually even moved beyond path running and enter into gorpcore style.

The brand-new GRVL multi-terrain running series has actually broadened our running service and is bring in growing attention in the specialized running market in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Even in China, where Sportstyle had actually formerly controlled, technical efficiency items are starting to make headway. In the very first half of 2026, GRVL’s share of sales increased substantially both in China and internationally.

What is unique about running is that it is community-driven. One part of our technique is to take part in significant, top-tier occasions such as the Shanghai Marathon, where we can communicate straight with runners at the expert exposition and on the course. The other is to utilize our shops and coaches to construct running neighborhoods around our customers.

Running might appear like a private sport, however the more youthful generation wishes to run as part of a neighborhood. We are doing this in both Europe and China.

Simply put, our instructions in China is to establish roadway and path running in parallel. Our objective in this classification is to end up being a premium running brand name.

We begin with leisure runners and customer neighborhoods, then utilize the “Go Wild” neighborhood to supply advanced training and aid roadway runners broaden into path running.

36Kr: Salomon’s relationship with professional athletes is stated to vary from that of other sports brand names. Can you discuss?

GM: Internationally, we have an elite professional athlete group called Team Salomon, and Chinese professional athletes are a fundamental part of it.

Within this system, professional athletes can select a course based upon their own advancement. They can focus mainly on worldwide competitors, or remain in China and complete in leading domestic races.

We likewise have a program particularly created to recognize and support appealing newbies. We supply financial backing, tailored devices, and expert training so they can focus more carefully on their advancement, enhance their athletic capabilities, and add to the sport’s development.

Whether in the United States, China, or France, our design for dealing with professional athletes corresponds internationally. We supply them with a thorough, 360-degree expert support group.

36Kr: Skiing and path running are still establishing in China. Why do you think a brand name can motivate individuals to use up sports instead of merely dress the part?

GM: 5 years earlier, we chose to concentrate on altering how Chinese customers consider the outdoors and how they live.

At the time, Salomon’s core customer base was less than 100,000 individuals. Today, it is close to 10 million. That is a 100-fold growth in 5 years.

We reached them through neighborhoods, occasions, and Go Wild path races.

Through our training programs, neighborhood supervisors, and essential viewpoint leaders, individuals in the more comprehensive outside neighborhood can become semiprofessional path runners or hikers.

As soon as these components form an environment, Salomon’s task is no longer merely to construct it. We require to provide it adequate depth.

The variety of individuals forms the structure. Races and activities offer it depth. Together, they develop a cycle.

Let me provide you another example. There is an Olympic discipline called ski cross. 4 individuals begin at the top of a slope at the exact same time, and the very first one down wins.

Salomon assisted press this sport forward. We created devoted skis for it and produced a race series. The International Ski and Snowboard Federation later on embraced it, and it ended up being an Olympic occasion.

What we do goes far beyond producing ski devices.

In China, snowboarding is still little, however route running currently has 800 races. 10 years earlier, there might have been just 10– 20.

We sponsor races, assistance elite professional athletes, and phase the Golden Trail World Series internationally.

Due to the fact that path running likewise has a greater technical barrier to entry, we have actually developed academies for running training and education to assist more individuals comprehend the sport and participate.

Path running in the mountains is various from running a marathon, despite the fact that both are running. You require to find out how to handle temperature level modifications brought on by elevation, how to perform at night, and so on.

We are really identified to turn this sport into a culture instead of a passing pattern. Culture lasts.

36Kr: You have actually stated gorpcore is formally over, although it was as soon as a significant motorist for the brand name. What is driving Salomon now?

GM: We do not have 2 different stories. Sportstyle and efficiency are not detached.

When individuals come for the design, what they are purchasing is still an item created for athletic efficiency.

I state gorpcore is over since 2 things have actually taken place over the previous years.

The outdoors ended up being a source of motivation for city customers. Unexpectedly, individuals wished to head into the mountains, or just hang out in nature and experience the environment.

Second, individuals in cities started searching for technical performance. They started looking for brand names that might use real outside innovation.

Gorpcore has actually passed, however that didn’t occur by mishap. It took place since individuals’s mindsets towards metropolitan life altered totally.

Individuals wish to remain active in daily life. They use electronic gadgets to track how much they stroll and typically feel that if they have not reached 10,000 actions, it hasn’t been a great day. Slowly, individuals wish to get outside more, invest more time outdoors, and do a larger range of activities.

Because context, the practical qualities of shoes and clothes end up being exceptionally essential.

An XT-6 is a lot more versatile and comfy for those functions than a tennis shoe stemmed from tennis, skateboarding, or basketball, due to the fact that the XT-6 was created for that sort of usage in the very first location.

Is that a pattern? I do not understand.

I believe the outdoors will constantly stay a specific niche market. Whatever the next pattern might be, individuals will continue to worth technical knowledge and performance.

Customers significantly comprehend what they desire. No matter how patterns alter, there will still be area in their shoe closets for athletic shoes.

My view is that patterns might alter, however performance will sustain as a long-lasting source of worth.

36Kr: Many sports brand names are checking out specific niche classifications in China. A specific niche can be a strong selling point, however it can likewise motivate customers to move in between brand names, compromising commitment. How do you see that?

GM: Of all, we can still consider ourselves a specific niche brand name. Winter season sports, outside shoes, and path running are all specific niche markets.

The most significant distinction in between us and other brand names is scale.

For more youthful customers in these specialized classifications, knowledge matters. If a brand name remains devoted to a specific niche sport and keeps innovating for it, its knowledge ends up being strongly developed.

Salomon originates from the Alps, among the very best areas on the planet for mountain sports. We have a real story about the advancement of mountain sports to inform.

At the exact same time, we provide options to particular issues in mountain sports that are functionally advanced and stylistically unique. That is what customers really appreciate today: robust quality, technical structures, and genuine stories.

There are undoubtedly numerous specific niche brand names, however Salomon is among the leading ones. We can engage with a more comprehensive group of customers while keeping our knowledge. That is among our strengths.

36Kr: In January, Salomon designated its very first innovative director, Heikki Salonen. He explained the brand name’s character as “unpopular” and “odd.” Do you concur?

GM: I believe Salomon’s trick is style formed by efficiency.

Our shoes look the method they do by style. There is a clear efficiency requirement and function behind them. Our color groups, product and development groups, and professional athletes establish and evaluate them together. Every line and function on the item has a function. They are not something a designer just produced out of thin air.

What Salonen stated is truly an analysis of our viewpoint.

If an innovation enhances an item’s efficiency, Salomon does not intentionally attempt to conceal it.

Technologies such as Quicklace, SensiFit, and Contagrip are all utilized throughout both our efficiency and Sportstyle items. You can check out the efficiency DNA straight in the style.

That performance-driven technique to style is precisely what I suggest when I discuss the credibility and worth customers are searching for.

36Kr: China is Salomon’s fastest-growing market, and Sportstyle is its fastest-growing section there. How is the efficiency service growing?

GM: Both have actually contributed considerably to our development in China, and the efficiency company in specific is growing really rapidly.

Salomon is growing quickly throughout all areas.

China was the very first market to actually remove. Now Asia Pacific and North America are likewise carrying out effectively.

Europe is a bigger market, so its development rate is naturally various, however it is likewise providing strong development.

The factor is what we have actually been going over. We began as a specific niche brand name supplying efficiency devices, then brought a modern-day mountain sports way of life into cities. Our market share is little and our brand name awareness is moderate, however we are adequately technical and distinct. We are producing a brand-new culture.

At the end of the day, we are still a midsize business, which implies there is huge space for development.

36Kr: What is the most significant distinction in between China’s retail environment and those of Europe and the United States?

GM: China is various due to the fact that it is mostly a direct-to-consumer market. There are just 2 methods to reach customers: stores or e-commerce platforms.

That indicates informing the ideal story is very important, however we likewise require the capability to run retail at scale.

In Europe, the United States, and Japan, the normal design is to open big flagship shops in crucial cities such as Paris, Tokyo, and New York. Those shops provide the experience, reveal the brand name’s complete variety, and inform the very best variation of its story. Wholesale circulation then supplies scale.

China is various. You need to put your finest shops in the very best areas. One example is the China World Mall flagship shop in Beijing that opened in August, where more than 700 square meters of area has actually been become a platform for brand name storytelling.

Storytelling alone isn’t enough. In China, you likewise require adequate scale in top quality physical retail. That requires a completely various organizational structure and set of abilities from the brand name.

As an outcome, we require to put retail at the center, interact carefully with property owners, and adjust shop formats to various retail environments.

36Kr: Based on your observations, what is distinct about Chinese customers?

GM: Chinese customers are trying to find competence and credibility, distinct brand name stories, brand-new services, and much better quality.

Salomon’s benefit is specifically that we have actually constantly been driven by neighborhood and development. We do not believe the customer journey starts when somebody goes into a shop. It starts with the brand name’s digital platforms and with what customers use in daily life.

The shop supplies services that bring the brand name story forward: modification, workshops, sports neighborhoods, invitation-only acquiring chances, member days, and other services.

No matter how lovely the shop or how excellent the devices inside it, it is still just one endpoint.

We require a technique that covers the whole customer journey. At the exact same time, the brand name story and principles originate from the French Alps and stay constant internationally.

In China, nevertheless, we require to adjust to regional conditions and comprehend the nation’s digital environment and customer habits.

As China goes into a brand-new stage of value for Salomon, the methods and experience we have actually established here are likewise starting to affect the brand name’s worldwide advancement.

36Kr: You have actually communicated with other companies throughout Amer Sports and Anta Sports. Can you share one lesson that has assisted Salomon?

GM: We have actually discovered a number of things.

The very first is an investment-driven development frame of mind: make the best financial investments and accomplish outcomes. That method of thinking might not have actually existed under Salomon’s previous investors.

The 2nd is skill. Take a look at just how much effect experienced brand-new individuals can have on a company.

The 3rd is a fascination with information and excellence that is deeply rooted in business culture.

You can see the pursuit of exceptional quality and accuracy in the China World Mall flagship shop. That is something we have actually soaked up and gained from our exchanges with Anta.

The 4th point is similarly crucial.

Anta really appreciates the know-how of each private brand name. That enables the important things that make a brand name special to come through more plainly. It likewise indicates the brand name’s credibility and development procedures are appreciated.

36Kr: Salonen has actually stated Salomon resembles an onion: peel away one layer and you discover another significance below it. Which layer are you at now?

GM: I think contemporary mountain sports will continue to be a significant chauffeur of the sports market.

Some sports have stringent guidelines and are extremely structured, nearly scholastic, and they are likewise a source of motivation for many individuals. The World Cup simply ended, and a great deal of individuals were enjoying.

Customers will continue to pursue much healthier living, authentic pleasure of sports, and time outdoors, regardless of age.

If we do things well and continue to support these sports and neighborhoods, Salomon will eventually move beyond short-term style patterns.

In this age, outside sports can end up being a lifestyle. And simply as Salomon has actually assisted advance private sports in the past, it is likewise a crucial chauffeur of that way of life today.

36Kr: So way of life is the response?

GM: The response is life itself. Individuals are starting to take ownership of their own health. They wish to move and make exercise part of their daily lives.

For us, the real indication of success will be this: when customers choose to welcome a more active, much healthier way of living, Salomon is among the very first brand names that enters your mind.

KrASIA functions equated and adjusted material that was initially released by 36Kr. This post was composed by He Zhexin for 36Kr.