Satisfy, Paris’s patron saint of aesthetically inclined running clobber, has finally done it. After years of cryptic teasers, half-glimpsed prototypes and a lot of Insta content from the brand’s carefully selected crop of ambassadors, the label is finally stepping into the footwear world with its first in-house running shoe, TheROCKER, this week.
Calling it a trail shoe doesn’t really cut it. This is more like a deep dive into the oddly specific obsessions of founder Brice Partouche – the Velvet Underground, American countercultures, and, somewhat unexpectedly, remote-controlled cars. TheROCKER’s tread takes direct inspiration from the chunky tyres of RC racers. Niche? Yes. But Satisfy has made a business out of pulling references from the fringes and somehow making them feel like the most natural thing in the world.
The shoe is the result of a collaboration with the man behind much of Salomon and Arc’teryx’s trail footwear. In other words, this thing is not just for show. Its outsole uses Vibram’s Megagrip Litebase compound, reworked with Satisfy’s own conical TuneLug system for grip and mud-shedding. The midsole blends EVA and PEBA foam for a cushioned yet stable ride, while the upper – the so-called Rippy 66 – is a single sheet of monomesh Nylon 66 lined with Japanese microfiber. There’s also a sweeping overlay that nods to the banana artwork from The Velvet Underground & Nico, because of course there is.
Satisfy TheROCKER: Boxing clever
Even the packaging gets the full Satisfy treatment: the first drop comes boxed like an RC car kit, complete with decals and shoe covers, in three colourways – Falcon, Antique White, and Shadow – with more planned around select trail races.
As with everything Satisfy touches, TheROCKER is about more than performance metrics. It’s a running shoe as cultural artefact, a piece of design that works as well in motion as it does on a coffee table. And if you happen to run in it? Well, you’ll probably look like you’ve been in on the secret all along.
TheROCKER launches this week on Satisfy's online store, priced at $280.
Next up: Meet the alternative running brands shaking up activewear.
