How New Balance created Coco Gauff’s signature sneakers

No one expected that a closed sport-bar was the place to produce the first pair of signature sneakers for 18-year-old tennis star Coco Gauff. But in 2020, when the coronavirus quarantine no longer affects traditional workspaces too much, it’s becoming increasingly common. Here, let’s see with Storepc how New Balance created Coco Gauff’s signature sneakers.

New Balance, the sneakers brand partner Gauff has worked with since she was 14, took over Paradise Sports Lounge, a bar owned by her father in Delray Beach, Florida, and since then the shoe brand uses it. as an impromptu design space. It’s a necessity—virtual gatherings lack the lighting needed to produce good products. Behind the lounge’s tinted windows, the brand’s staff exchanged ideas with Gauff in the first attempt to express her full personality through a pair of sneakers.

“They literally created billboards that I could print and pin,” said Evan Zeder, global head of tennis marketing at New Balance. “And that is: Who are you? What’s your vision?…. ” After a long session there will be more feedback and the design of the sneaker will have a style that is more in line with its inherent nature – As a tool sports.

“We spent about five hours creating the mood board and talking to the different designers on the New Balance team about what I like, don’t like, what I hope for the design,” says Gauff, who is now ranked 12th in the world in singles and 1st in the world in shared doubles, “the performance of the shoe and many other factors need to be ensured for them to have a great start in the process.” embarked on shoe design”.

The Coco CG1 shoes hit the market two years later in neon accent colors for $170. She will wear her sneakers at a Grand Slam for the first time next week, paired with a pair at the US Open. Her whole body will be dressed up in her personal signature, from her name scrawled on the tongue to her father’s mantra (“You can change the world with a racket”) written on it. in shoes. It’s a unique pair of tennis sneakers with a silhouette similar to the shoes you’d see on a basketball court.

“I was inspired by basketball shoes and the mid-cut wasn’t really done like tennis shoes so I wanted it to be unique that way,” says Gauff. “I also wanted the shoe to look like something you could wear on or off the court and I really like the street style feel with the cut in the middle.”