Sneaker of the week: The Mary Jane goes off track

Puma’s Mostro Fey, adidas’ Samba Jane and Nike’s Air Rift prove that the year’s most interesting sneakers have stepped away from performance and towards something altogether strikingly strange and beautiful. 

For decades, sneakers have borrowed from the worlds of basketball, running and football. This season, they are looking somewhere else entirely: from the ballet studio to the playground.

The Mary Jane sneaker has emerged as one of fashion’s most unexpected silhouettes, introducing straps, slimmer profiles and an altogether softer attitude to sportswear. Less concerned with speed or technical innovation, these shoes occupy a space between sneaker and flat, performance and nostalgia.

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Puma Mostro Fey

Puma’s Mostro Fey feels like the category’s clearest statement. Building on the cult status of the original Mostro, the Fey strips the silhouette back, replacing aggression with delicacy. Puma took its slept-on 1999 Mostro — the one with the weird shark-tooth sole nobody wore — and fused it with Mary Jane DNA.

The result is the Mostro Fey: a stitchless technical micro-ripstop upper with an open forefoot strap and a Formstrip-shaped contour that makes it look like archival sportswear got a couture upgrade. Dropped in Dark Amethyst and Cool Weather colorways, it’s the rare Mary Jane that actually looks like it belongs on a racetrack.

Availability: R2599 at Puma South Africa

Adidas Samba Jane

Adidas approaches the trend through one of its most recognisable models and went full girlcore. The Samba Jane keeps the iconic gum sole and T-toe stitching that made the original a cult favorite, then rips out the laces entirely, replacing them with a single wide Mary Jane strap.

The Samba Jane reimagines the terrace icon with a single strap, preserving the shoe’s familiar proportions while introducing a more fashion-led attitude. It feels less like a reinvention and more like an alternative reading of a classic.

Availability: R1799 at Adidas ZA, Sportscene, Shelflife + Superbalist 

Nike Air Rift

Nike, meanwhile, arrived at the conversation years earlier. Released in 1996, the Air Rift remains one of the brand’s most unconventional designs. Its split toe, adjustable straps and barefoot-inspired construction made it an outlier at launch. Today, it feels remarkably current.

Availability: R2599.95 at Nike South Africa 

The renewed interest in these silhouettes says as much about fashion as it does about sneakers. After years dominated by oversized runners and increasingly technical designs, there is growing appeal in shoes that feel lighter, feminine, and slightly unresolved.

The Mary Jane sneaker is not replacing the running shoe or the retro basketball model. It simply offers another direction — one informed by dance, uniform and everyday dressing rather than athletic performance.

This article was not sponsored and contains no affiliate links. All opinions expressed are those of the editorial team.