John Elliott will run his first Marathon this weekend, and he’ll do so in a super shoe he designed in collaboration with Hoka.

The John Elliott x Hoka Rocket X 3 will release this week as the designer and his eponymous label’s first foray into performance. The race day model takes on an undersaturated camouflage print upper with some reconfigurations of its overlays, but the stylistic changes don’t have any effect on its performance bonafides.

Hoka has two options in its lineup for super shoes: the Rocket X 3, which focuses on stability and accessibility for a wide range of runners, and the Cielo X1 3.0, which is more aggressive and propulsive. Because the latter model’s shape caters so highly to speed, it can be difficult to walk in. But that’s not an issue for the former, as Elliott himself has put it to the test in his vision for high street.

“I wore it in in Tokyo, and I think I put like, eight or nine miles just walking that day on it,” Elliott told Footwear News. “Then it was like, there was no chance that I was going to wear anything but that shoe. I think that people are going to realize, ‘Oh my God. it’s a capital-P performance shoe.’ But if you’re somebody who lives in a place where you’re you’re getting steps in, this thing is equally a utility that looks amazing.”

The seeds for this collaboration were planted when Elliott and his team went to the Nepalese Himalayas to shoot the campaign for a special collection released in 2023. It was a physical process and made him release his brand could sink its teeth into the sort of product that caters to such demands.

A pair of Hokas was on Elliott’s feet for the entire trip, by which time he’d already been a big fan of the brand after discovering it six or seven years prior.

“For where I’m at in the space, I don’t think there’s that many potential collaborators who would really be interested in race day performance, and that’s exactly what I was looking for,” Elliott said. “So it was just kind of like a perfect partnership [with Hoka.]”

The low saturation on the Rocket X 3 treatment was chosen by Elliott as a counter to the high-vis aesthetics that tend to dominate the category and to represent his hometown of San Francisco. He also stripped the “Hoka” text from the shoe’s place at the midfoot of upper’s lateral side and instead put the flying bird silhouette above the toe in cream, complementing the tree camo along with other hits of the color and a faint olive green.

Elliott has already logged more than 200 miles running in his Rocket X 3s in the course of his training, so a new pair will be in order for when he hits the starting line at the Los Angeles Marathon Sunday. Until he’s crossed the finish line, however, the designer is hesitant to call himself a “real runner.”

Elliott will extend that title, however, to his cousin Jack Duysen, who stars in the collaboration’s campaign, and Nobuhiro Yamamoto, co-designer and co-header of development at John Elliott — both of whom will be running Los Angeles with him.

“These were the first shoes that I’ve scrubbed clean in many, many years,” Elliott said. “When I found myself doing that I realized the depth of how much I love this product. Whether you’re a ‘real runner’ or just somebody who wants to feel the technology, I think you’re going to love this product. And I hope we have to opportunity to continue to tell these stories and work on these products.”

On March 6, two days prior to the marathon, the John Elliott x Hoka Rocket X 3 will release through John Elliott’s website and LA store. A wider release will follow March 13 through Hoka’s website and select third-party retailers. Pricing is set at $260.