As our favourite prestige brands move beyond colour blocking, they’ve embraced texture play with suede, mesh and animal print to add interest to the humble trainer. The gorpcore aesthetic remains strong, blurring the line between performance footwear and the fashion trainer, while sleek designs from Tory Burch, Prada and Saint Laurent bridge the gap between smart and casual. There’s also a wide array of heel choices to browse, from boxing and ballet-shoe inspired to more sculptural, hardwearing rubber soles.
The fluid lines of Loewe’s monochrome Flow Runners were a popular street style choice at the SS26 shows, while we adore New Balance’s continued collab with Miu Miu. Ultimately, the best designer trainers of 2026 unite comfort with considered design. Ahead, our edit of the best designer trainers to shop now and wear throughout 2026. From straight-from-the-runway styles to tactile details that will more than prove their worth, there’s a pair for everyone.
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Most chic
Chloé Kick Suede And Leather Sneakers
Chloé’s newest design fuses the best parts of traditional ballet shoes and boxing trainers. The result is this sleek suede and leather lace-up elasticated pair in a fresh shade of pastel green.
Most versatile
Tory Burch Field Leather, Mesh And Suede Sneakers
Running errands, casual days in the office, weekend trips… it doesn’t matter as Tory Burch’s sleek, versatile trainer works for every occasion.
best monochrome
Loewe Flow Runner Black Panelled Sneakers
Loewe’s Flow Runners are one of the most ubiquitous styles when it comes to designer trainers, and this smart monochrome pair will more than prove their worth.
best animal print
Miu Miu Fabric And Python-Print Ayers Leather Sneakers
For 2026, consider mixing prints and animal textures on your trainers. These lemon and lime green python pair from Miu Miu do it best.
Best metallic
Bottega Veneta Orbit Sneaker
The buzz around metallic trainers has died down a bit, but they’re due a resurgence if you ask us. These Bottega pair will add the perfect flash of iridescence to any casual look.
Best catwalk pair
Prada Antiqued Leather Sneakers
Grunge is back with a vengeance. This trainer made its debut on the Prada runway, and the lived-in look will soon have a place in our wardrobes.
best Mary-Janes
Marni Scuba Mary Jane Sneakers
For the perfect trainer:shoe hybrid, look to Marni’s comfortable velcro strapped style in black, navy and orange which sit on chunky rubber soles.
Best new silhouette
Gucci 2.0 Trainers
With ivory mesh panels and Gucci Rosso Ancora red leather, this 2026 update is enough to tempt us away from the brand’s former viral anklet styles.
Best suede
Dries Van Noten Low-Top Trainers
When the time comes to retire our beloved Adidas SL72s, we’ll upgrade to these retro-inspired tan suede trainers from Dries Van Noten.
Best sale find
Balenciaga Track Trainers
Balenciaga brings a contemporary twist to the classic dad shoe with this sleek white strappy pair.
Most sleek
Saint Laurent Lewis Suede-Trimmed Leather Sneakers
Your wear-everywhere must-have white and grey trainers, but make them designer.
Most affordable
Coach Soho Trainers
Autumn’s distressed leather bag trend was a pleasant surprise, so why not apply it to your winter footwear with Coach’s style?
Meg (she/her) is the Associate Fashion Commerce Editor at ELLE.com, where she specializes in shopping stories spanning the fashion, home, and lifestyle categories. Over the past three years, she has devoted countless hours to researching brands, testing hundreds (maybe even thousands!) of products, and deep-diving into market and consumer trends. Her favorite job responsibilities consist of co-writing the monthly series Same Same But Different and curating the fashion market for ELLE Escapes. Meg graduated magna cum laude from the Missouri School of Journalism with an emphasis on magazine editing. In 2020, one of her feature stories in the service article category was recognized by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. The year prior, the Society of Professional Journalists named voxmagazine.com “Best Affiliated Magazine” in its Mark of Excellence Awards, when she was on staff. Meg’s stories have appeared on Cosmopolitan, Town & Country, Harper’s Bazaar, and Good Housekeeping, among many other outlets. Her personal passions include travel, buffalo sauce, and gardening. You can find her in New York, where she lives, or on Instagram, where she also lives. She will never stop hoping for a One Direction reunion tour.
Esther Coombes is the Senior Ecommerce Editor at Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE and Esquire, overseeing luxury shopping content across fashion, beauty, travel and homes. She graduated from London College of Fashion with a First Class BA in Fashion Journalism in 2010, and has since worked at Marie-Claire, Easy Living, GLAMOUR and Women’s Health.
She held positions as Senior Fashion and Beauty Executive, Senior Lifestyle Executive and Content Lead during her nine years at HELLO! and HELLO! Fashion, creating editorial and branded content across the lifestyle sector and interviewing talent and experts including Lisa Eldridge, Jo Malone and Katie Jane Hughes for print and digital features.
With exacting standards and a critical eye for editing new launches, she enjoys recommending readers best in class products and experiences, be that a glow-giving skin tint, a boutique hotel stay or the perfect slingback stiletto.
In her spare time you can find her at a spin or reformer class or streaming the latest zeitgeisty podcast or television drama.
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