Oh God, Slack Has Shoes Now
Graphic by Grace Lougheed. Image via Cole Haan.
It’s something between a Northwestern horror story and an econ major’s wet dream: Cole Haan has collabed with Slack (yes, that Slack) to drop a limited edition sneaker collection, Slack Generation ZERØGRAND.
The four pairs of $120 shoes, Cole Haan’s Fall 2020 seasonal collaboration, come in the blue, green, yellow and pink colors of Slack’s logo. And as the two companies are very excited to share, the shoe design — a joint effort between the brands — was hashed out, literally, over Slack. My god, how breathlessly ingenious.
Image via Cole Haan.
“Get to the next hill — the view will change,” writes Slack founder and CEO Stewart Butterfield in an attempt to be inspirational on Cole Haan’s website. What doesn’t change is my view on these shoes — they drip with mediocrity and profess those every-gym-shoe-ever ergonomics. It would seem that Cole Haan has some misplaced optimism that the Slack name is going to justify someone shelling out a C-note and a half, after shipping and tax, per pair. Then again, in a socially distant world, perhaps the Slack schtick sounded safe and fun, so Cole Haan ran with it.
This Slack drop is just one of a few of Cole Haan’s seasonal collaborations: their Winter 2019 collection with Rodarte gave rise to whimsical monochrome fits, while a three-way collab last fall with Chinatown Market and Smiley brought some happy black and yellow kicks.
This autumn’s Slack sneakers weren’t nearly as ambitious, nor as successful, as past pieces. Nonetheless, perhaps they’ll tally some meme buys from campus fanatics and GroupMe haters.