Salomon, born in 1947 in the French alpine town of Annecy, is synonymous with skiing and hiking gear.
But in 2024, the brand sold more than $1 billion in shoes for the first time. And $300 million of those sales were from its lifestyle category. This is the fastest growing part of Salomon’s footwear business, Laurent Vasilescu, retail analyst at BNP Paribas Exane, told Front Office Sports.
Salomon is one of the handful of outdoor and ski brands owned by Amer Sports, a retail conglomerate based in Finland, which also has Arc’teryx, Wilson, and ski brand Atomic in its portfolio. Amer Sports bought Salomon in 2005 from Adidas, but the brand has only recently become something of a fashion trendsetter.
Arc’teryx, the company’s fastest growing and largest brand, hit more than $2 billion in sales in 2024. “But I think Salomon is a little bit of an unsung hero,” says Vasilescu. The brand’s position right now reminds him of where Hoka and On were a few years ago. Both of those brands now bring in more than $2 billion in sales annually. “I think the same thing will happen with Salomon,” he says. (BNP Paribas was one of the investment banks that worked on Amer’s IPO last year. Amer is itself 43% owned by Chinese retail conglomerate Anta Sports.)
Salomon footwear and apparel now represent two-thirds of Amer’s outdoor performance segment, up significantly from 54% in 2022, the company said in its earnings call last week (Amer reported $1.6 billion in Q4 2024 revenue, up 23% from the prior year). CEO James Zheng said Salomon sneakers have a “unique performance position and design within the global sneakers market,” but still very low market share. The global sneaker market reached $94.1 billion in 2024.
Gorpcore
Amer Sports can thank the fashion tastemaker set for embracing its outdoorsy, chunky, functional footwear. Models Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber, and Emily Ratajkowski have been photographed wearing them. Vogue UK calls the shoes “techy dad trainers.” And for her Super Bowl halftime performance in 2023, Rihanna finished off her all-red Loewe look with a pair of MM6 Maison Margiela x Salomon Cross High sneakers.
Salomons are part of the “gorpcore” trend, which for the uninitiated is a style inspired by mountaineering. (The name is a reference to GORP—the homemade hiker trail mix of granola, oats, raisins, and peanuts.) Salomon acknowledges the gorpcore association on its own website, which promises “More than Gorpcore.”
Yes, people have been wearing outdoor gear as part of their general style for decades—think of brands like North Face and Helly Hansen. But it’s risen to a “fever pitch in recent years, particularly following the pandemic when hiking became a more popular social distancing activity,” Mike Sykes, author of the sneaker blog The Kicks You Wear, told FOS.
Some have even floated the prediction that Salomon sneakers could replace the Adidas Samba, whose longstanding popularity helped boost the company’s 2024 revenue by 12%. They might not be that ubiquitous yet, but Salomons have become a fashion-set staple, which is remarkable for a brand that started out making ski boots (Salomon started making hiking shoes in 1992).
Salomons were everywhere last month at Paris Fashion Week. New York City designer Sandy Liang is on her third collaboration with Salomon; their previous partnership included ballet-inspired sneakers. The chunky sneakers are even the focus of an Instagram account called Salmonology, with 144,000 followers. The Salomon XT Whisper and XT6 are the models that helped firmly carry the brand from performance into the lifestyle space. (“I want to be that hiking girl!,” one TikToker said after unboxing and styling a new pair of XT6 sneakers.)
Salomon’s popularity has even crossed over into the sneakerhead secondary market. Salomon sneaker sales increased 18% on StockX in 2024 compared to 2023. And so far this year they’re up 74% compared with the same period last year, making Salomon the No. 9 top-selling sneaker brand on the platform in 2025.
A Bright Spot in China
As big-name brands like Nike and Adidas slowly lose market share in China, Amer sees huge potential in the region. Its sales in China surged by 54% in Q4, outpacing other regions, with Salomon and Arc’teryx being notable winners.
The premium sports and outdoor market is one of the fastest growing retail segments in China, giving Amer a “competitive advantage,” Bank of America analysts wrote in a recent note.
Salomon still has no standalone store in the US. A pop-up store opened in New York’s Soho neighborhood last fall for a few months as a test and sold only footwear. Nearly all footwear revenue still comes from China and Europe. “The real opportunity is getting the story right in the U.S.,” Vasilescu says. “They should be opening up distribution in Foot Locker stores, especially if they’re on trend.”
