The once-ubiquitous white trainer has – for some time – been firmly stuck in the back of the cupboard. Its years of dominance can largely be tracked from the autumn of 2010, when Phoebe Philo wore her Stan Smiths to take her bow at her Celine show. Philo’s muted everyman shoe sent off ricochets into the style ether, positioning the white trainer as the essential ying to any outfit’s yang.
But like all saturated trends, what goes up eventually ends up on a Tory MP. By the time 45-day Prime Minister Liz Truss wore a £138 Reiss pair to the Conservative Party conference in 2022, the fashion pack had long moved on.
In its place came the rise of jaunty colour pops in retro styles. In 2023, Wales Bonner revived the Samba – notably in glossy silver and leopard-print iterations – setting the trainer tone for the next few years. White trainers faced a period of excommunication with one caustic fashion writer describing the much-worn combination of floral dress and white trainers as “visual pollution”. Andy Burnham, it should be noted, wears Sambas.
But, as we look towards the end of the decade, is the white trainer coming back? In a surprise move, Michael Rider’s sell-out collaboration with Reebok, a rework of the 1982 Freestyle Lo, has given the style a serious boost. The kicks were spotted on renegade show-goers at fashion month, as well as making another appearance in Celine’s spring/summer 2027 show. The trainers – a neat punctuation to his new take on prep – were lovingly scuffed and dirty, as if they’d been yanked out of the back of the wardrobe and shoved on for old times sake (hey, we can all do that).
Rider has shrewdly picked up on the building momentum behind Reebok. Lyst, the global shopping platform, has noted a “wider Reebok comeback”, which has been gradually spiking prior to Celine’s June reveal at its menswear show. It notes that demand for white Reebok trainers has increased 172 per cent year-on-year (September 2026 versus 2025), outperforming the wider market, with demand for Reebok white trainers up by more than five times the growth of white trainers overall. Alongside the Freestyle Hi and Lo styles, its Club C trainer is pulling fans back in.
At trading platform Stock X, Brendan Dunne, senior director, customer community + engagement, says that “I’m not sure white trainers ever really went away. Classics like the Nike Air Force 1, Adidas Stan Smith and Reebok Classic Leather may have taken a back seat in recent years as shoppers gravitated towards more technical silhouettes and bolder colourways, but they’ve never disappeared. Rather than a major comeback, what we’re seeing is an evolution in the types of white trainers people want to wear.” Dunne also shares that the classic all-white Nike Air Force 1 has been a top 10 sneaker on StockX for six years.
It’s a similar story at Selfridges, where Judith Hempton, women’s accessories buyer, says that “while white sneakers are a perennial staple, the trend is taking on a fresh, more directional feel. Celine X Reebok’s runway collaboration captures this shift, signalling renewed appetite for pared-back, low-profile silhouettes. Samba mania is giving way to a resurgence of the Stan Smith, nodding to Phoebe Philo’s return to the fashion circuit. Adidas X Raf Simons further taps into fashion nostalgia, bringing fresh energy to the category.” Hempton also notes that “ballet-inspired styles are among our best-selling shapes, with Miu Miu and Prada offering a more delicate take, while Nike’s Moon sneaker (released in 1972) brings a sportier, vintage edge.”
What’s clear is that while the white trainer is in a period of rehabilitation, it’s the personality of the style that’s pulling it in myriad directions, allowing you to make a statement with that clean outfit punctuation it offers. Arguably, the mix-and-match attitude of the incoming fashion season – full of colour, texture and whimsy – calls for a low-key footwear mood. Are you back on board?
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