Saucony’s Collaborations Are Changing The Game For The Sn…

It’s 2025 and Saucony is an undeniable force in sneaker culture. 

For more than a century, the sportswear brand has developed shoes that people swear by and sites regularly include on their best-of year-end lists. Now, Saucony is layering elite fashion onto its legacy and reaching wider audiences in the process.

“I don’t know if a lot of people believed we’d have the moment we are having,” reflects Jason Faustino, Saucony’s Global Director of Energy and Collaborations. “But we’re going to continue on and… just keep running our race.”

Jae Tips leads the pack. Since his initial collab with Saucony in 2023,the Grid Azura 2000, the Bronx designer and rapper has become synonymous with the brand. His releases sell out instantly, which includes his fifth (and most recent) collaboration, the Jazz 9 ‘I love you, but I’m busy.’

Saucony has formed strategic partnerships with other renowned streetwear brands as well. 

Rather than reinventing the wheel by developing a new model, they’re tricking it out. Earlier this year, Saucony tapped London-based sneaker store Footpatrol to put their spin on the Omni 9 and Brooklyn clothing store Colour Plus to remix the Matrix. In the coming months, Saucony will drop collabs with the estate of New York City icon Keith Haring and 3sixteen, among others.

To learn more about Saucony’s slate of collaborations in 2025, Complex spoke to Faustino, who has a big hand in choosing the brand’s partners. 

This interview was edited for concision and clarity. 

Saucony has been making shoes for more than 100 years. How has introducing collaborations evolved the brand’s identity?

I approach [collaborations] with the strategy of speaking to an audience we weren’t already speaking to. For 100 some-odd years, it was the runner. When Saucony Originals developed in the ‘80s, it was more of a sneakerhead consumer or someone that likes retro footwear. 

Our collaboration partners have allowed us to speak to a much wider audience in different parts of culture, whether it’s fashion, art, music, or various other things not so specific to running or sneakerhead culture. Even if the [collaborations] do speak to those cultures, which is obviously on-brand for us and part of our strategy, they still tap into new communities that align with our values.

When you’re evaluating a potential collaborating partner, what are the key qualities that Saucony looks for?  

I go a lot off my intuition of who’s a good fit and feel. There has to be that mutual alignment. Other than that, I look at their community. I don’t say that in a cliche way, but I usually see a community that’s authentic and has a real passion for what that brand stands for, whether it’s what Jae Tips was doing with hats or what Minted was doing in their various spaces. 

Because Saucony is positioned in the marketplace as more of a challenger brand, we have to pop up on people’s radars in a new and exciting way to even get their attention. So I’m looking at people and brands in the sense of do they have the potential to do that? Are they on a trajectory to cause excitement if you’re announcing a partnership with them? Will people go, “Oh, I wonder what’s coming here.” There has to be that level of intrigue. 

I’ve been impressed by Saucony’s ability to find up-and-coming brands, see the talent and potential, and then make the most of a partnership, which gets me to Jae Tips. He’s been a consistent collaborator with Saucony over the last few years. What do you think has made that partnership so successful?

As a fellow New Yorker, it’s easy for me to look at Jae and know the energy in the community is there. It’s even easier to look at the product he’s worked on, particularly in the hat space and know he has an extremely savant eye when it comes to color combinations and putting color palettes together. 

But what I learned really quickly is that he’s such a good person. He felt like one of us, like someone you really root for beyond the fact that you like his work and that he’s from New York and has a chip on his shoulder. It’s how he takes care of his family and friends, how he takes care of you.

We could have easily been a transactional sneaker partner that’s just making the footwear that he would like to put out there in the world, but it wasn’t like that at all. It was like brotherhood, and he’s formed those relationships with many people at the brand now. We’ve got such a family vibe and the way that we create shouldn’t be undervalued. 

Getting into the Jae Tips Jazz 9 sneakers, they’re super vibrant. Then there’s the “I love you, but I’m busy” embroidered over the heels. What was the inspiration behind all the colors and details that went into the shoe?

Jae’s whole aesthetic leans bright and bold. He likes to say that we come from the era where we like to break necks in the sense that what you’re wearing, particularly on your feet, you’re hoping someone turns around and goes, Whoa, what are those? It’s making a statement.

These Jazz 9s were inspired by a hat that he bought at Disney World that had a pinwheel design with a different color on each panel. Even when he’s pulling from outside influences, Jae always infuses his signature colors, those recognizable pinks and purples, plus you’ll find that coral pop on the sole.

Sometimes our immediate reactions is like, Wow, how do [those colors] work together? And then the sample comes back and it’s incredibly harmonious. You don’t even see those color combos usually in the world. He’s got, and I’ve said it before, a genius-level eye for putting color together. It’s really something.

I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the brown and blue colorway or the leather and mesh materials, but that Footpatrol Omni 9 collab makes me want to go camping. I don’t even like camping. What was the overall vision for that collaboration?

[Footpatrol’s] mood board had a lot of outdoor imagery. It brought a mix of outdoor themes: reptiles, amphibians, military vibes, all tied together with their gas mask logo, which already leans utilitarian. So yeah, it’s a rugged shoe, but with these unexpected bright pops of color.

They executed it beautifully. There’s real depth in the materials, and the color story is rich. Another partnership where there’s such synergy, I kind of just let them cook. They’re veterans. They’ve been doing this a very long time too, so they know what they’re doing.

The Saucony x Colour Plus Matrix collab is super unique, with the standout feature for me being the hairy suede upper and the tongue. How was that feature of the collab decided? Is there a story behind it?

Jordan [Page] was very adamant about the Matrix coming back for Saucony, and when it did, it made sense for him to work on it. He was inspired by Y2K (the era the original Matrix released), its techy and futuristic nature, but also from this human urge to reconnect with nature. That tension between tech and earthiness is a big part of his creative process, and even his personal mindset.

That’s where the earthy color palette comes in, and the hairy suede adds texture and depth, it’s tactile and natural. Jordan loves when a product changes over time, evolves with wear, and adapts to different looks depending on your mood. That versatility is intentional.

We’ve seen a sneak preview of the Keith Haring x Saucony collab, I believe it’s a ProGrid Triumph 4. What are the specific features or design nods that you are most excited about with that shoe?

If you’re from New York City, you know Keith Haring is a legend. One day our designer said to me, “Do you know he’s from Kutztown, Pennsylvania?” And I was like, “Get out of here. That’s where Saucony was founded.” 

We started digging into it and found pieces of his artwork that he had done in schools and around Kutztown. That connection felt really special, it made the collab feel even more meaningful. 

That’s so cool. How many colorways will there be?

Two. The first one, launching this May, is inspired by the vibrant nature of love—a celebration of Keith, an openly gay artist, and the spirit of Pride itself.  His work bursts with bold, joyful colors and powerful imagery of people coming together. The first drop really radiates unity, energy, and beauty.

The second release drops this November, timed with the New York City Marathon. It carries a deeper, moodier tone. We were inspired by those unforgettable clips of Keith in the subways, sketching in chalk on blank, black ad spaces. Those moments felt so raw, rebellious, and creative and they really stuck with us. He often got arrested for it, but the imagery was electric. So, we leaned into that visual: a black-based shoe with striking white lines, echoing Keith’s chalk drawings and the gritty, artistic pulse of NYC’s ‘80s subway scene. 

People don’t necessarily associate denim with running shoes, yet Saucony and 3sixteen are collaborating. What sparked this partnership? How will the brand’s monochromatic denim designs be infused into a Saucony shoe?

I’ve known Andrew [Chen] for years. Back before I even opened Extra Butter, he played a big part in helping me get started. I was just a kid trying to make connections in the industry, and he really looked out for me. We’ve stayed in touch over the years, he’s always someone I’ve kept an eye on.

At one point, I noticed he had gotten into running, and I thought that was really cool. I’ve always enjoyed seeing people start their running journeys. It’s exciting to watch, like, will they stick with it? Will they fall in love with it? I love seeing that obsession for running take hold.

So I reached out and said, “Hey, I’m over here at Saucony. I love that you’re on this journey, and I’d be happy to support you.”

Will actual denim be infused into the shoe?

There’s actually no denim on or in the shoe. Let’s say you get a pair of 3sixteen denim. It’ll look one way when you buy it, but over time, it really changes and evolves and becomes uniquely you. They wanted to [represent that] through the materialization and the color palette of their sneaker with us. They want to show the evolution of the material, how the color and dying changes, as you evolve. The shoes pair very well with denim and speak to denim in those aspects, but it’s not denim itself. It’s inspired more by a blank canvas. 

A common theme among a handful of Saucony collaborators is a connection to New York City. What is it about the city and the brand that you feel goes hand in hand?

New York City is the epicenter and birthplace of sneaker culture. The two are completely synonymous with one another, and it’s only natural that we’re so influenced by New York City. It makes sense that it comes through in a lot of different footwear partnerships.

We’ve got Paris Fashion Week in June. Can you tease how Saucony will make its presence felt there?

We’ve got a lot of people cooking up some good ideas, and we’re working with our collaboration partners on it, which I’m excited about. 

The beauty of it is we’re coming naturally together in the same vein that our brand campaign is speaking to run as one. No one’s forcing us to make sure that the performance side and the lifestyle side are put together equally. It’s just moving in that direction. 

In one-to-two sentences, how would you describe Saucony’s brand identity in 2025?

I’d say Saucony’s brand identity is an underdog who’s starting to win,  – surprising people and shaking things up in the industry. I’m not sure everyone believed we’d have the moment we are having right now, but we’re here, and we’re going to keep going. We’re going to just keep running our race.