How SWEAR London Brings Freedom to Luxury Sneakers

have gathered everything they’ve learned in over two decades of footwear production and found that customers want one thing above all: choice.

To the unfamiliar, SWEAR is a brand that has managed to influence sneaker culture without ever really being a part of it. Their 90s offerings were seen in more raves than cyphers, and their early 2000s footwear was more sartorial than sporty.

But in late 2017, the brand made a big change that reverberated through the sneakersphere. A sharp pivot to a fully customisable range came with renewed interest in their most provocative designs. Haute heft emerged just as SWEAR was reviving their rotund retro offerings and Demna Gvasalia, whose was the movement’s marquis bruiser, recognised SWEAR’s OG status by collaborating with them on a sneaker that would come to characterise the ‘absolute unit’ meme.

Since then, SWEAR have spread the good word. They’ve championed unique voices like Gypsy Sport and delivered a breed of open-source collaboration that puts the likes of will.i.am beside a host of burgeoning non-normatives. But the luxury footwear market is always changing. Style writers have surmised that high fashion will turn its heel on sneaker culture, and the longevity of bulky footwear is in question. To see how SWEAR is navigating the space a year on, we spoke with their managing director, Mario Muttenthaler, about where they’ve been and where they’re going.