Sam, thanks for the question, the kind words, and the honesty. No offense taken. Ann and I know and like fashion pretty well, but we aren’t doing anything too avant-garde over here. While we make clothes for everyone, the biggest piece of the pie is definitely "Everyday People" who want to look great and not overthink it. I have worked at places where every day felt like a costume party, which was fun, but not what we're designing into here.
So you’re right that most of our newness is in updated colors or expanded fabrications of tried-and-true silhouettes. Our classic Kincaid No. 2 sport coat in an interesting new nailhead fabric, a subtle beaded detail on khaki sport trousers. Second-look type of newness.
But if I look at the spring collection so far, there are a couple of items that kinda color outside the lines of the traditional sportswear-to-suits haberdasher lineup. And interestingly, the first one that came to mind is a style I’ve surprised myself by wearing a lot: the Trainers (inspired by my early love of Onitsuka Tigers). I spend six days a week at the office so my time in sneakers is ordinarily pretty limited… but these are fantastic.
The genesis of the development was coming across this really wonderful shoemaker in Portugal. Their quality and finish is excellent (which is very hard to get right on sneaks), and they were willing to work with us to dial in the right ingredients. And it made us say, hmm... maybe we think we can add something to the conversation that’s a little different. (Most of our sneaker business up to this point has been in third-party vendors: Diadora, Valsport, and of course our beloved Tretorn, here since day one. And while they’re all fantastic… the Trainers do something a little different.) In addition to the finishing being quite nice, the raw materials are exactly how I like them. The lightweight sole… the suede and the canvas… the terry cloth lining as a nod to my 70s Tretorns.
Aesthetically they’re inspired by track shoes of the 1960s and 70s usually worn by the thinclads or any number of the Stars of Track & Field with a clean side profile that’s not too built-up. Everything about them is SIMPLE. Many sneaks these days get really over-torqued really quickly. That Balenciaga midsole is like when you put a marshmallow in the microwave… very creative, but something I’m not going to wear on my feet. Personally.
Oftentimes, the thing that gets you to pull the trigger on a new pair of sneakers is what gets ADDED or CHANGED on the existing framework. With this shoe, we were trying to SUBTRACT to get something super basic and super functional. Instead of adding a crazy ripple effect to the sole, or a novel new lacing arrangement, we’re aiming to strip the running shoe down to its most essential elements. Our thinking was that if we got this right, it would give us room later on to play with color and material for future seasons. So it’s not high-tech, it’s not loud, it’s not logoed. It’s a highly designed shoe, even though it looks almost un-designed. That was our goal.
It's kind of like when you make homemade ice cream… you start with vanilla. And so it’s very fitting that the colors on this shoe are several shades of vanilla. French vanilla… old-fashioned vanilla… vanilla bean… Vanilla Sky… I love the neutrality of the colors. I think that’s why I’ve already gotten so much wear out of them. They go with everything up to dress trousers in terms of formality: swim trunks, shorts, jeans, sport trousers. I’ll give you a few of the outfit formulas I’ve been wearing, but sky’s the limit because they’re such a blank canvas:
So, Sam, I think I just ended up confirming the first part of your question by answering the second. Even our new product categories aim to perfect the basics. So yes, sometimes we branch out and introduce a bit more spice. But even then, we start with vanilla.
