This season we’ve worked with legendary outdoor footwear brand Merrell to make the Gramicci X Merrell Moab 2 Siren. As the name suggests, these take details from two of our favourite shoes from the Merrell archive—the Moab 2 and the Siren—to create the perfect autumn shoe. They’re lightweight, they’re supremely grippy and they’ve got plenty of that left-field flavour Merrell are famous for.
It’d be easy for us to stop there and expect you to already know everything there is to know about Merrell, but to be honest, the American brand is maybe a bit taken for granted. They might be one of the few outdoor footwear companies to reach true household-name status, but still—the story behind them is a little less well known. With that in mind, here’s a quick potted history of Merrell…
Founded in 1981, the brand was the brainchild of a bootmaker named Randy Merrell. Merrell had made a name for himself crafting ornate cowboy boots in Utah, but after picking up a copy of Backpacker magazine in the late ‘70s it dawned on him that the new wave of hikers in the USA needed a new type of boot.
Outdoor clothing had evolved rapidly, with new developments like GORE-TEX and polyester fleece cutting down the weight whilst upping performance, but when it came to outdoor footwear this was still very much the era of heavy, stiff mountaineering boots. These clunky stompers were built for multi-day Alpine slogs—not the casual, fast and free hiking which was taking the States by storm.
After writing a no-holds-barred opinion piece on what needed to be done differently, Merrell received a phone call from ski-industry veterans Clark Matis and John Schweizer who thought his bold new ideas would make the perfect backbone for a fresh boot brand.
Combining Merrell’s left-field approach to shoemaking with Matis and Schweizer’s industry know-how, the three set to work to create a new boot which wasn’t just light and functional—but was affordable too. Dubbed the Wilderness Boot, the OG Merrell design was a minimal masterpiece with a sleek one-piece upper that cut down the weight without sacrificing sturdiness. The fact it’s still around today shows just how revolutionary (and reliable) it was.
Randy Merrell left the brand shortly afterwards, but his formula for lightweight, forward-thinking outdoor footwear remained—and throughout the 80s and 90s the brand continued to innovate with an endless run of boundary-pushing designs. The Jungle Moc, released in 1998, is maybe the perfect example of Merrell’s relentless quest to do things a little differently.
Designed by Clark Matis to be the ultimate apres-hike ‘aftersport’ shoe, the Jungle Moc was a casual cousin of a now-extinct trail running shoe called the Jungle Runner—combining a relaxed slip-on upper with a super-chunky dual-density sole.
While the unique shoe was a bit of a punchline when it was first seen at outdoor trade-shows, the laceless wonder quickly silenced any snickering when it became a curveball favourite, as popular in the city as it was in the chalet.
The Moc’s futuristic design was perfectly timed for the progressive atmosphere that hung in the air as the world geared up for the new millenium. Like the translucent plastic iMac G3 computer or Paul Nicholson’s now-iconic Aphex Twin logo, the Jungle Moc took smooth organic shapes found in the natural world to create something truly alien—which is probably why they were used so much in the fashion magazine editorials of the day—worn alongside Japanese streetwear and technical outerwear as part of a new urban uniform.
And then there was the Moab. Another Clark Matis creation, the boot’s name packed a clever double-meaning—referencing both Utah’s infamous red-rock landscape and Mathis’ bold intentions to make the ‘Mother of All Boots’. It’s safe to say the Moab did what it set out to do—updating the Venn Diagram hogging concept of the Wilderness boot with a functional-yet-approachable design that ticked every possible box.
Burly enough for the mountains, but comfortable enough for the morning dog walk, the do-it-all DNA of the Moab made it the bestselling outdoor boot of all time, shifting around 25 million pairs (and counting).
Nearly 20 years later, we’ve made our own version of this true outdoor classic. The Gramicci X Merrell Moab 2 Siren takes the notoriously grippy Vibram sole of the Moab 2 and fuses it with the unique lacing system of the Siren—fusing two of Merell’s signature walking shoe designs to create a prime autumnal footwear choice.
An old tagline the brand used to use on their catalogues maybe sums them up best; “Merrell Takes You Where You Want To Go.” These shoes will do just that.
The Gramicci X Merrell Moab 2 Siren is available in both Dark Earth and Citron on October 24.
