Cole Haan Makes Further Inroads Into Performance Running With a New Four-Shoe Collection
The running shoe market is hot and seemingly everyone wants in — including Cole Haan.
Today marks the launch of the lifestyle brand’s third running footwear collection to date, a journey into the sport that began in June 2020. For its latest range, Cole Haan created four performance looks that are equally stylish, and releasing in both men’s and women’s sizing.
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“We wanted to create an authentic performance running solution that honors the history of the Cole Haan brand by blending familiar elements of heritage craft and quality with modern performance that incorporates the latest technologies,” Cole Haan senior product manager Annie Kawasaki told FN.
Kawasaki, who oversees women’s and men’s performance running, fitness and outdoor, continued: “These styles are engineered to support you all day long, from your work commute to a quick run during lunch and back to the conference room.”
The four new silhouettes include the lace-up 5.Zerøgrand ($200); the slip-on 5.Zerøgrand Monk Strap built with internal bootie construction ($200); the 5.Zerøgrand Embrostitch made with naturally derived and recycled content ($210); and the Zerøgrand Outpace 3 ($140), which is the lightest look in the collection.
All four feature the brand’s Superfeel NRG Foam cushioning compound, created to both generate and return energy. The cushioning, according to Kawasaki, should propel the runner forward and spring them into their next step.
Courtesy of Cole Haan
Cole Haan started working on the shoes more than 18 months ago, and according to Kawasaki, the brand did more research and testing on this collection than it has for any other performance footwear launch. This included partnering with a third-party wear-testing team, resulting in 265 recorded hours by wear testers and 360 miles.
Aesthetically speaking, Kawasaki said the brand took inspiration from its wingtip and saddle shoes, and opted for heritage materials such as suede and leather to create looks that were both “true to Cole Haan” and “unique to the industry.”
“We envisioned our consumer that wears our dress product while creating a successful career being overcome with the stress of daily work, looking for an outlet to clear their head and reset,” Kawasaki said. “For many, physical activity and running is that escape, but they only have a short time to disconnect. A lunch run as we call it, meaning 3 to 5 miles at 8-10 minute pace — 30-40 minutes of me time.”
She continued, “This allowed us to tune our performance innovations to perform better over this pace, distance and use case. Furthermore, we discussed finding a way, through design, to live up to our consumers’ expectation of style and versatility while also giving a nod to our brand’s dress heritage.”
Cole Haan’s four new running shoes will release today in stores and via Colehaan.com.
Courtesy of Cole Haan
Although this running collection is new, Kawasaki confirmed Cole Haan is far from done with the category.
“We are in early stages of concepting our next collection,” Kawasaki said. “We will continue to fuse our heritage of craft with modern innovations to provide versatile performance products that add value to our consumers’ lives by empowering them to get active and move throughout their day. We’re excited with what the future holds for the running footwear industry and even more excited to crystallize our unique spot within it.”
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