Since its founding over two decades ago, 3sixteen has done its fair share of major collaborations. The bicoastal menswear label, best known for its legendary selvedge denim jeans, has worked on everything from gorgeous benchmade derbies with Britain’s Sanders & Sanders to colorblocked basketball shorts with LA’s Goodfight. And yet somehow, in all that time, 3sixteen has never once dropped a sneaker. That changes this week, thanks to a new Saucony collab that feels perfectly of a piece with 3sixteen cofounders Andrew Chen and Johan Lam’s long-held commitment to elite quality and strong storytelling.
Over the past couple years, 3sixteen has bolstered its all-star array of everyday staples—everything from patterned camp shirts to beefy tees to sleek shades—with a line of minimalist activewear. (Last year, the brand’s Pace tee even nabbed a coveted GQ Fitness Award.) Which is why it makes total sense that 3s’s first-ever sneaker collab would be a performance running shoe from Saucony, one of the most storied names in the space.
3sixteen’s spin on the Peregrine 15 trail runner comes in a base colorway they’re dubbing the ‘Gesso’ edition—a nod to the white primer used by painters to prep their canvasses. The shoe, which comes doused in a simple cream tone with a gum sole, is designed to develop patina over time. Much like with its jeans, the brand wants you to wear the kicks hard and give them their own one-of-one look.
In addition to the main version, the brand is releasing a limited run of hand-dyed Gessos. These are created in collaboration with Green Matters Natural Dye Co. in Pennsylvania, with each pair going through a rigorous dyeing process with immense attention paid to the tone of the colors and the evenness of the dye for quality control. This special project features three colorways: a black dye dubbed ‘Granite,’ a pale yellow ‘Sunflower,’ a deep red ‘Rubio,’ and a classic blue ‘Indigo.’ Like their undyed counterpart, the intention of these dye jobs are to create shoes that will age beautifully and individually over time. The idea, Chen said via email, is “to inspire customers to customize their own pair whether it be through coffee, indigo, or RIT dyes at home to make their own piece of ‘wearable art.’”
The partnership between 3sixteen and Saucony looks to be off to a strong start. You can get in on the ground floor yourself starting this Thursday, July 10, when limited numbers of the ‘Indigo’ and ‘Sunflower’ versions will drop for $190 via 3sixteen’s website and flagship stores in New York and Los Angeles. (The other two dyed editions will launch later this month.) The standard ‘Gesso’ colorway will retail for $140 and release globally on July 17.
