Salomon is finest identified for his or her path trainers. Ever been to a path race? Most athletes might be sporting Salomons. It’s not for nothing they’re a significant participant in that universe. During the last couple of years, Salomon is being seen in a distinctly totally different setting: town. From Montreal’s hip Mile Finish to the runways at Paris Vogue Week, you see them hitting the pavement all over the place.
Throughout our go to to Salomon HQ in Annecy, France, we had the pleasure to speak about this phenomenon with Jean-Philippe Lalonde, the Way of life Footwear Program Supervisor.
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Altitude Sports activities: How have been you approached by Salomon?
Jean-Philippe Lalonde: I used to be in the appropriate place on the proper time. On a flight to Vancouver, somebody from the Salomon group spoke with me. As soon as on the resort, I went right down to the foyer to eat and Julien Traverse (former supervisor of Salomon’s Way of life division) greeted me. He thought I used to be another person, however regardless of that, we had an ideal chat and frolicked. One factor led to a different, and he requested me to use for the Product Line Supervisor place in Salomon’s Way of life division. 4 months later, I’m right here in Annecy. Let’s say it was a bit bend in my life’s path.
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Altitude Sports activities: How did Salomon break into the Way of life Sneaker world?
Jean-Philippe Lalonde: Let’s imagine the primary actual Way of life venture was the collaboration with The Damaged Arm (a Parisien trend boutique) in 2015. After just a few tries, they not solely acquired (the Snowcross) into the boutique but in addition acquired to know Julien Traverse, who was operating Salomon’s Way of life program then, regardless of the low profile of this system on the time. They created a Snowcross like they needed to, in an unique colourway. It was an enormous hit. That’s after I turned conscious of Salomon on the earth of sneaker trend. The venture turned a high-impact one: Salomon had began one thing new. I began in October 2016, and we launched tasks with The Damaged Arm and Boris Bidjan. I hit the bottom operating and Salomon let me handle these tasks to the top.
Altitude Sports activities: The Black Version is the primary Salomon Way of life launch we’ve ever had at Altitude Sports activities. What’s the story behind the gathering?
Jean-Philippe Lalonde: The entire thing began with The Damaged Arm. We launched the primary unique Snowcross and it was a success. Then we rolled out the Black Version. All of the fashions are attention-grabbing, they’re actually S/Lab footwear we redo in black. We didn’t actually have a exact technique at first, however these are very high-performance footwear that we have been going to re-issue for our fall 2018 assortment. The primary footwear within the assortment have been launched firstly of June. What’s cool is that Black Version didn’t simply make some noise with most people, but in addition with creators and designers.
Salomon Black Version Assortment
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S/Lab Wings 8 Black LTD Store |
S/Lab Speedcross Black LTD Store |
S/Lab Sonic Black LTD Store |
Altitude Sports activities: Ralph Lauren wears Salomons, and there’s a GQ article about Salomon’s influence on the style world. We will really feel the momentum constructing. How have you ever dealt with the elevated publicity?
Jean-Philippe Lalonde: I’m going to reply you a bit in a different way. Once I began, my objective was to create the sneakers I needed to put on. It wasn’t the obvious factor at Salomon, as a result of there wasn’t something that basically grabbed me at first. I reached my objective fairly rapidly and had to think about one other one. So I made a decision on sneakers my mates would need to put on! I went for a bit extra of a industrial fashion in the long run.
What was actually nice was that Salmon’s administration was very open. They understood from the beginning this wasn’t a rush venture or in a single day success factor: fortunately, we had time to do issues proper. Slowly however absolutely, we acquired our fundamentals proper and took time to curate the appropriate sellers. Some stylists began to get inquisitive about our tasks and seen our fashions in all kinds of publications.
Rachael Rodgers, a high stylist out of Berlin, turned a form of ambassador for us and frequently touts our footwear. Alec Leach, the style editor at Excessive Snobiety, can be a fan, and he wore Snowcross all final winter and in any respect the style weeks he was at, like Berlin and Paris. He actually created a following for the footwear. Boris having our footwear on the runway each season is an enormous plus. There’s additionally the French designer Marine Serre, who gained the LVMH prize for high rising designer. She had our mesh footwear at her Fall 2018 present. And we all know that there are key gamers within the trend group carrying our footwear. In any case, this, after we go to trend reveals, we see the patrons already carrying our merchandise!
Altitude Sports activities: How do you clarify this infatuation?
Jean-Philippe Lalonde: There’s an actual want for footwear that work nicely in day by day life. We noticed that fashion-oriented footwear didn’t reply consolation or safety wants, for instance. Individuals need comfy footwear, and sneakers are what I name an accessible luxurious. You’ll be able to change all the things about your look simply by altering your footwear. It’s turn out to be the primary desire for city customers. There’s a requirement for a brand new form of product, without delay trendy and outdoors-y, and for brand spanking new manufacturers. Salomon was not on the style world radar till not too long ago, however now we’re changing into one thing huge.
“We noticed that fashion-oriented footwear didn’t reply consolation or safety wants, for instance. Individuals need comfy footwear, and sneakers are what I name an accessible luxurious. You’ll be able to change all the things about your look simply by altering your footwear. It’s turn out to be the primary desire for city customers. There’s a requirement for a brand new form of product, without delay trendy and outdoors-y, and for brand spanking new manufacturers.”
Altitude Sports activities: Are you able to speak in regards to the roles of your group members?
Jean-Philippe Lalonde: I share my day by day workload with my two-person group, Ryan and Maëlle. Ryan is our footwear designer, he’s the one who makes my visions actuality. Maëlle is our important hyperlink within the chain. She’s the developer and communicates between Salomon right here in Annecy and our Asian factories. She’s additionally out group organizer. With out her, all the things can be fairly chaotic, as Ryan and I are likely to work intuitively. Maëlle organizes us, steers us to protected harbor, and most significantly reminds us to stay to our schedules! We work in our micro-team, like a startup nestled inside an enormous company.
Altitude Sports activities: And what does the longer term maintain? The subsequent steps?
Jean-Philippe Lalonde: Outside footwear in city settings is just not a passing fad. It’s one thing that’s establishing itself as everlasting, with its personal id. Like basketball footwear just a few years in the past, which have been the large factor. Then racing runners. Now, out of doors footwear and path runners are carving out their very own area of interest out there. I see a really promising future for this type of shoe! What’s good about Salomon is we’re not making an attempt to reinvent ourselves: that is already a part of our DNA. It’s genuine – we’re not making an attempt to create one thing that doesn’t correspond in any respect to Salomon.
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Unisex Snowcross ADV LTD Footwear Store |
Unisex S/LAB XT-6 Softground ADV LTD Footwear Store |
Unisex S/LAB XT-6 Softground ADV Footwear Store |
“Outside footwear in city settings is just not a passing fad. It’s one thing that’s establishing itself as everlasting, with its personal id.”
Altitude Sports activities: Once we look forward, we see a few of your line is collaborations and a few is a part of your collections. What extra can we count on?
Jean-Philippe Lalonde: I’ll break up my reply into three elements. First, there’s what we name Salomon Superior, that are progressive fashions of our footwear. Then we’ve got collaborations with Boris and The Damaged Arm, so all the style collabs; and there’s one other line which is about sports activities collaborations, like what we did with Fulfill Operating and District Imaginative and prescient. For the Superior file, it’s one thing that’s going to develop. In the mean time, we’re working loads with our archives, however we need to create new fashions on this class sooner or later. These might be mountain climbing and path operating fashions. Once more, the thought is to maintain Salomon’s authenticity, however with a brand new interpretation.
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