Alex Zono takes Cape Town's DIY running aesthetic global with Brooks debut

South African runner and designer Alex Zono has made his first footwear collaboration with US running brand Brooks, a capsule of two colourways built on the Ghost Trail silhouette that goes on sale globally on Thursday. It is the first time the Cape Town label has worked with a major performance brand.

Zono founded his eponymous line in Cape Town in 2022, making sentimental pieces aimed at runners and the people who watch them. The label had around 25 global retail partners from autumn/winter 2025, among them Lane Crawford in Hong Kong, Up There Athletics in Melbourne and Renegade Running in Los Angeles.

The collaboration carries Zono's motifs of butterflies, clouds and mountain ridgelines onto Brooks' trail silhouette, in what the brands describe as a performance-ready shoe for runners who treat the mountain as somewhere to enjoy rather than only as terrain.

“Well, obviously, the first thing I did when I got the shoe was go running," Zono said. "Trip booked, and off to Chamonix we went. Because where else do you go to think about your first trail shoe? Surrounded by some of the most insane mountains in the world, the Trail Jogger started to emerge. The steep climbs, unbelievable heights and immense landscapes became the inspiration for the palette. The first colourway is a true reflection of the mountain itself, inspired by the rocks, snow and clouds you experience up there. The second is much more closely tied to the core Alex Zono colours — the OG hat, which in many ways was the catalyst for everything that came after. So I felt like I had to pay a little cheeky homage to it."

Brooks leans into trail growth

The collaboration lands as Brooks, which is headquartered in Seattle and is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, expands off-road. The brand reported 14 percent revenue growth for the first half of 2026 and a record second quarter, with revenue up 39 percent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa against 9 percent in the Americas and 10 percent in Asia-Pacific. Brooks does not disclose absolute revenue figures.

Trail was the strongest category in that half, with trail shoe sales up 71 percent. Brooks said the global running market grew 10 percent to 43 billion dollars in 2025.

The Ghost Trail extends Brooks' best-selling Ghost road franchise off-road, combining DNA LOFT v3 cushioning with trail traction and durability for runners moving between roads, gravel and trails, according to the brand. The shoe sits in the road-to-trail category, with a lower heel-to-toe drop than the road Ghost and 3mm lugs on a TrailTack Green rubber outsole.

"Created together with Brooks, we wanted the Ghost Trail to help take you from your front door into a world of butterflies, grazing cows and endless mountain trails," Zono said. "Really, it's a shoe for those who just dig running."e Brooks statement itself as published. Attributed accordingly.