Sandy Liang x Salomon XT-Whisper
Pink holds a special place in my heart because of my wife and her battle with cancer, so I may be a bit biased in this review. W/ that being said, this is the 3rd collab with Salomon & luckily I was able to scoop this one up for retail from the online drop. Something I like a lot about this collab is how she was able to incorporate a ribbon texture into her already signature pink hue.
Materials: the upper of this sneaker is a pink, diamond pattern mesh that carries throughout the upper w/ silver tpu panels. On the toe cap, there’s a satin panel that covers the toe cap w/ the Salomon logo in the middle, followed by 2 rugged windows in pink underneath. Moving to the eyelets and towards the heel counter, there’s a metallic panel that stops at back heel & transitions to more of that satin material. Flipping the shoe around to the tongue, you’ll see Sandy Liang branding on a tag that moves up the tongue. On the tongue tag, it’s more of that metallic satin w/ her signature flower logo. As for the rest of the branding, there’s a cobranded, pink insole w/ an additional flower, as well as a 3m Salomon logo on the back heel. Overall, I really like how she was able to incorporate her design language into this pair.
Comfort/Sizing: the XT-Whisper feels pretty similar to the other xt models, which is stable on foot with a little bit of extra squish. Salomon’s tend to mold to my foot pretty well, especially w/ the arch support. For sizing, I’d say these fit similar to an xt-4 & are more roomy than the xt6. With that being said, I went tts, but half down is possible.
Small Backstory: For me, there’s always a bigger reason to why I buy pink shoes & it’s a reminder of how we got to where I am today with my wife and her battle with cancer. It’s a reminder that she fought & won & we get to wear it proud knowing how far we came. For this design, the ribbon texture, pink color, & the photos I took, I really wanted to make something special for her. I can’t even begin to explain the amount of support that came yesterday, but truly, thank you to everyone who reached out & thank you for being a part of our journey. So ty ❤