Todd Snyder has been designing sneakers for years, however they’ve at all times had someone else’s identify on them — New Stability, Converse, Vans — in addition to his. However that modified this week when the designer launched the Tuscan Courtroom Shoe.
“We began making footwear final season — a boot, sandals, espadrilles,” Snyder mentioned on the launch celebration at his retailer on Madison Sq. Wednesday evening. “However that is my first Todd Snyder-branded sneaker.”
Alan Cumming joined Snyder on the launch occasion.
Rommel Demano/BFA.com
The shoe, which was impressed by Snyder’s love for old-school basketball and tennis sneakers, took one-and-a-half years to develop. He labored with Tuscan shoemaker Gem Srl on the sneaker, utilizing Vachette leathers and suedes, a brogue-style stitching on the toe-box, a suede mudguard and cork footbed. One mannequin additionally includes a recycled rubber outsole.
“I’ve accomplished so many collaborations with the New Stability’s of the world,” Snyder mentioned. “So it’s thrilling to do that one completely. Collaborating with New Stability and Converse was a full-immersion crash course within the finer factors of sneaker design, and the pure subsequent step was to launch my very own sneaker line — one which mixed Italian craftsmanship with New York angle. I began with the basic silhouettes you’d have seen at The Cage on West 4th Avenue or on the courts at Forest Hills again within the ‘70s, after which added these luxurious Italian leathers and suedes to create a gentleman’s court docket sneaker.”
The sneakers have been made in Italy.
Rommel Demano/BFA.com
Snyder mentioned going ahead, he expects to broaden his footwear assortment even additional. “You’ll see much more Made in Italy product,” he mentioned.
And talking of Italy, hypothesis started to swirl throughout New York Trend Week that Snyder is in talks with Pitti Uomo to be featured on the group’s truthful in Florence subsequent yr. The designer declined to touch upon the chance that he might present there in January, but when he does, it could change the complexion of his model. When it began 12 years in the past, it was primarily wholesaled by way of high-end retailers, however over time he has transitioned to promoting direct-to-consumer by way of a bunch of shops he has opened across the U.S. in addition to on-line. Exhibiting on the premier Italian males’s commerce present might doubtlessly persuade him to start wholesaling once more.
Todd Snyder is owned by American Eagle Outfitters Inc., which bought it for $11 million in 2015.
