Hoka

Two former Salomon employees built Hoka against the grain of their entire industry. When Nicolas Mermoud and Jean-Luc Diard founded the brand in France in 2009, the running market was racing toward minimalist, barefoot-style shoes with the thinnest possible sole. They went the opposite direction and engineered a midsole roughly twice the standard volume, paired with a rockered “Meta-Rocker” profile that rolls the foot through each stride. Ultramarathon and trail runners adopted it first, drawn to the joint protection over long distances, before the design crossed into road running, walking, and the comfort-footwear segment.

Deckers Brands acquired Hoka in 2012, when the company (then styled Hoka One One) was still a small French-American startup, and built it into one of the two revenue pillars of the Goleta, California group alongside UGG. Deckers trades on the New York Stock Exchange under DECK and also owns Teva and Koolaburra. Hoka surpassed $2 billion in annual brand revenue in fiscal year 2025, and the Bondi, Clifton, Speedgoat, and Arahi franchises anchor the line, with the Clifton as the highest-volume road model. The silhouette that the running establishment initially considered unattractive followed the cultural arc that earlier elevated New Balance and Asics, moving from pure function into fashion and streetwear relevance through the 2020s.

A Hoka store draws two distinct customers into the same floor space: the serious runner buying for performance, and the everyday shopper buying for all-day cushioning and joint comfort. That dual demographic produces wider, less seasonal traffic patterns than performance-only footwear brands generate, which is the core reason mall operators value the brand as a Class A specialty tenant in the 1,500-to-3,000-square-foot range. Hoka fits the performance-footwear cluster alongside On Running, New Balance, and Asics, and within the Malls.com network it anchors Class A++ positions at Ala Moana Center, NorthPark Center, and South Coast Plaza, holds inline positions at The Shops at North Bridge in Chicago and Westfield Garden State Plaza, and runs a meaningful Australian presence across Chadstone, Pacific Fair, Westfield Bondi Junction, and Karrinyup. The brand’s owned-store rollout still trails its wholesale dominance, so each new mall opening carries product-trial value that the wholesale channel cannot replicate, alongside outlet positions at Woodbury Common, Las Vegas North, and Orlando Vineland.