Mental Athletic and Salomon Launch "Driftform" Collaboration
Specifically made for functional performance.
Summary
- The “Driftform” collection is a new collaboration from Mental Athletic and Salomon that fuses performance with a powerful aesthetic
- It reimagines trail running as a cultural practice, with a co-branded tank top inspired by the ingenious “hacks” of ultrarunners
- The collection launches on September 23 in Milan and on October 1 online
A new chapter in trail running is here, one that fuses performance with a powerful aesthetic. Mental Athletic and Salomon have teamed up for the “Driftform” collection, a collaboration that reimagines the sport as a cultural and aesthetic practice. This partnership brings together Salomon’s legacy of technical mastery with Mental Athletic’s contemporary vision, bridging the raw beauty of the natural world with the style of urban life.
The collection is built on two core principles: functional performance and a bold visual code. Each piece, from the ULTRA GLIDE 3 shoes to the apparel and accessories, is engineered with Salomon’s proven technologies, ensuring uncompromised technicality. This performance-driven foundation is then layered with Mental Athletic’s distinct aesthetic—a black-and-white palette with sharp cuts and typographic interventions that reflect the duality of nature and human motion. For decades, ultrarunners, including legends like Ryan Sandes, improvised a solution to the intense heat by cutting holes in their tops to manage body temperature and maintain performance. The Salomon design team, which originally worked with Sandes on a prototype for his historic Western States victory, has now partnered with Mental Athletic to reimagine this legacy. The new co-branded tank honors the raw, “OG” spirit of the sport while using modern materials and design to manage heat in extreme conditions.
To celebrate the collection’s launch, a creative campaign was shot in Cameroon, focusing not just on the race, but on the local communities and the surrounding mythical landscape. This narrative choice anchors the collection in authenticity, framing trail running as a cultural act that connects people and places. The collection launches on September 23 in Milan and on October 1 on Salomon and Mental Athletic.
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