The sudden mash-up between Specialised and Allen Edmonds was pure serendipity – a challenge that got here collectively on the proper time, with the fitting folks. I’m Chris Riekert, and from 2009 to 2019, I led model advertising for the highway enterprise at Specialised Bicycles.
On the time, we had simply launched the S-Works 6 highway sneakers. They landed with blended critiques – some riders liked the locked-in safe match, whereas others discovered them virtually unrideable for the very same purpose. It left us scrambling to win again clients who had come to anticipate the very best from our footwear.
On prime of that, we have been shedding floor to smaller, extra agile manufacturers that have been leaning tougher into fashion-forward designs. Giro’s Empire lace-ups, for instance – supplied in a number of colors, tremendous light-weight, and at a fraction of the worth – have been making waves. We would have liked a approach to carry some recent vitality and optimistic consideration again to the road.
That’s after I considered Allen Edmonds.
The sneakers used the S-Works “Powerline” carbon sole (Picture credit score: Chris Riekert)
I’d been sporting a pair of their basic tan leather-based sneakers for years – ornamental cap toe, timeless type. I pitched the concept of a collaboration: mix our cutting-edge S-Works “Powerline” carbon sole with the refined leather-based craftsmanship of Allen Edmonds uppers. Nick Gosseen, who led Specialised’s footwear crew, gave me the inexperienced mild to chase it down.
And that’s when the luck kicked in.
The Specialised x Allen Edmonds would sadly by no means hit the cabinets (Picture credit score: Chris Riekert)
I reached out to a contact at Allen Edmonds – who, because it turned out, was a bicycle owner. Not only a informal rider, both – he was a former professional who had raced Paris-Roubaix again within the ’80s.
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Allen Edmonds opened up their design library to us and supplied to ship no matter we wanted to check the idea. We chosen half a dozen kinds, and Marco Tores, a footwear designer at Specialised, labored with our manufacturing unit to prototype the mash-up. It wasn’t with out challenges – our lasts had extra quantity than Allen Edmonds’ conventional shapes, which led to a number of torn uppers as we tried to stretch and mold them to suit. However finally, we figured it out.
(Picture credit score: Chris Riekert)
What got here again have been gorgeous – carbon fibre soles fused with wealthy leather-based lace-ups, detailed with the signature Allen Edmonds craftsmanship. They have been not like anything available on the market.
However then actuality hit. The price of manufacturing was astronomical, and the trail to market was murky. Dropping them in bike retailers wouldn’t do them justice, and we couldn’t afford to drag consideration away from the core S-Works line. Ultimately, we made the powerful name to shelve the challenge.
Nonetheless, someplace on the market, a couple of dozen pairs of those sneakers exist – completely distinctive, and born out of a second of pure inventive luck. A little bit legend of what might have been. Who is aware of – possibly sooner or later we’ll carry them again on Kickstarter.
