The luxury market is known for having decked out duds, rare jewels, and posh handmade handbags. One item you don't typically find on the list? Sneakers. While there are lots of designer shoes, sneakers are more about performance than runway status. That is until now. Courser is a shoe breaking from convention by combining athletic style and luxury to create a new hyper-luxe sneaker category.
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The brand was co-founded by Laurie Spiro and Michael Petry, who was most recently creative director of Tumi and previously held roles at Adidas, Prada, Ralph Lauren, and The Frye Company. And the inspiration behind Courser was about finding the intersection between luxury and performance in shoes to create a new footwear category.
"Sneaker companies have been repackaging old technologies from the 80's into extreme form shapes to create the illusion of newness," Petry told Departures. "We developed a shoe that combines a new proprietary compound which offers almost no compression while still being extremely lightweight, with a construction that will mold to your foot and has traditionally been used in Italian dress shoes."
So, what makes these kicks so unique? Well, each pair is handmade in Italy by skilled artisans who use unrippable nubuck leather (it's 15 times stronger than steel), a proprietary 100% carbon fiber insole, and a compression-resistant foam midsole. The combination makes for a shoe that's comfortable, long-lasting, lightweight, and enhances biomechanics to reduce injury.
"For the consumer who is looking for the ultimate sneaker to run or work out in, they will find a sneaker that is engineered to be used day after day, with no need for the shoe to recover from midsole compression, a reduced risk of injury with our 100% carbon fiber plate, and a puncture-proof upper material," said Spiro. "For the consumer looking for a chic everyday shoe that will take them from the gym to the street to dinner, Coursers will exceed their expectations."
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Of course, with high design comes a high price tag. Each pair retails for $825 and is available in two colorways for men and women, with additional color drops to follow.
