"Where two rivers run together": the story of Saucony A brand born on the banks of a river in Pennsylvania that arrived on the catwalks of Paris
Author Lorenzo Salamone
"Where two rivers run together":
the story of Saucony
A brand born on the banks of a river in Pennsylvania that arrived on the catwalks of Paris
The history of American athletics is also the history of the brands that have dressed its athletes with their own technical equipment. In this long history, the story of Saucony is that of the underdog who, in its 122 years of life, has managed to create a space among the icons of sportswear overseas combining technical research, study of archival models and deeply democratic values. From its sporting origins to the latest releases, such as the Grid Azura sneaker made in collaboration with Bodega or the reissues of the Jazz Originals model, Saucony has always played its own game and without giving up its heritage that has been enriched through the stories and realities accumulated around the identity of the brand over the decades.
The story of Saucony (whose correct pronunciation sounds like "sawkanee") begins in a small craft children's shoe workshop on the banks of the Saucony River in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. The brand specializes in technical running shoes, finding its authentic vocation and finding a strong success among athletics fans in the USA. The original location of Saucony Creek will forever remain the symbolic core of the brand: the wave-shaped logo on all the shoes represents the river's flow, punctuated by three boulders that became the three circles that still decorate it today. The same name of the resort of Saucony comes from the Native American term "saconk" which means "where the two rivers run together". The call to the aquatic element is a fundamental theme throughout the history of the brand, whose sneakers are always distinguished by their weight always below the average of the other shoes. In 1958, Saucony created the world's first high-performance running shoe, known as the 7446 Spike. At that time, in fact, there were no offerings dedicated to the world of running, despite the popularity that the discipline began to enjoy in America. The company developed until the late 1960s and was acquired by Hyde Athletic Industries, becoming its flagship brand and moving its headquarters to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
After passing the explosive phase between the 80s and the 90s, Saucony came to the threshold of 2000 with a new project: to translate its sporting heritage into the market of lifestyle sneakers. The project aimed to collect all the most iconic silhouettes of the brand by reproposing them as part of a new line that channeled both the nostalgic aesthetic of the past decade and the latest technological innovations coming from the most athletic side of the brand's production. It was then that, on the occasion of the brand's centenary, in 1998, Saucony inaugurated its own line of lifestyle sneakers, Saucony Originals, which updated the design of iconic silhouettes such as Jazz, DXN, Shadow and Grid while keeping its original style intact. One of the most successful new models, however, was the Saucony Kinvara, first presented in 2009, perhaps the first running shoe to apply the concept of natural running and created with the collaboration of Thriatlon linsey Corbin who finished third at the Ironman World Championships that year wearing one of the first prototypes. Kinvara is still one of the best running shoes around, and even promising young Molly Seidel, who will represent the USA at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, said in an interview with Footwear News that she often uses it in her workouts.
Today, Saucony is experiencing a new evolution that, always starting from meticulous archival research and constant technical innovation, continues to produce lifestyle sneakers with high performance, always reworking its most classic models, as in the case of the collaboration with Bodega or With Kith that have given new spin to the silhouette Grid Web – another of the symbols of the brand – or the one with WHITE MOUNTAINEERING seen at the last Paris Fashion Week FW20. Collaboration, the latter, which testifies to how the soul of the brand is now able to move everywhere, both towards the classicism of tradition and towards much more futuristic styles.
Today, Saucony is experiencing a new evolution that, always starting from meticulous archival research and constant technical innovation, continues to produce lifestyle sneakers with high performance, always reworking its most classic models, as in the case of the collaboration with Bodega or With Kith that have given new spin to the silhouette Grid Web – another of the symbols of the brand – or the one with WHITE MOUNTAINEERING seen at the last Paris Fashion Week FW20. Collaboration, the latter, which testifies to how the soul of the brand is now able to move everywhere, both towards the classicism of tradition and towards much more futuristic styles.
