Jae Tips has arrived. The Bronx designer has sold out collaborations, made Sauconys a legit part of sneaker of the year conversations, and quickly established a fan base that’s willing to champion his work and follow his lead outside the bounds of the big brands in hype footwear.
He knows he still has something to prove, though. He’s heard the backhanded compliments and comments about how Saucony, his collab partner, might be putting a ceiling on his success. (Some of those came from Complex.) And he’s ready for more. More projects, more allocations for the sneakers he’s doing, more security from Saucony.
If Jae Tips does it right, if the momentum continues, there’s a future where he’s mentioned alongside sneaker industry power brokers like Joe Freshgoods and Salehe Bembury. He’s well aware that level of acknowledgement isn’t guaranteed.
“You have to still continue to prove that you’re worthy of opportunity and worthy of being mentioned with these people,” Jae says.
It might sound eager to say, but Jae Tips may have already passed his next test. He’ll release his next Saucony pack, a colorful quartet he calls the “To Do List” (themed around running errands and meeting goals) this week. The group consists of two pairs of the Saucony ProGrid Omni 9 ($180) and two kids’ pairs of the Saucony Shadow 6000 ($85 each), in popping colorways of pink and purple. The first drop will come on Aug. 23, exclusively at the Billionaire Boys Club store in New York City. An online release will follow on Jae Tips’ website on Aug. 24 at 1 pm EST. A global launch at retailers will follow in September.
Anticipation for the sneakers is high, and the buzz feels bigger now than the pre-drop buzz for his Grid Azura 2000, his peak in sneakers so far.
Jae Tips holding his first Saucony collab, the Grid Azura 2000. Via Jae Tips
He made a splash with the ProGrid Omni 9s in Paris in January when he wore the shoes while hitting the city during Fashion Week. That pop out allowed him to up the production on the shoes—stores were hitting Saucony saying they wanted bigger allocations, according to Jae.
He’s still trying to get the numbers right. As a veteran of sneaker retail (and headwear retail through his popular Hat Club projects), Jae Tips has played the game of launch day analytics plenty of times.
You want your stuff to sell out, but also, you want people to enjoy it. He says that after one of his first Hat Club drops yielded a sellout in minutes, part of the feedback was that he didn’t forecast right, and didn’t produce enough. It’s a delicate balance.
“When I used to work at Foot Locker,” Jae says, “they used to sometimes hold pairs back because they want the average customer to be able to stroll in the store on a Wednesday and be able to have an experience.”
He wants his shoes to come with experiences. As with past releases, Jae Tips is planning in-store events as he rolls out the ProGrid Omni 9s. He’s taking the shoes across the country, to shops like Likelihood, in Seattle, and Kicking It, in Austin.
Ahead of the launch, Jae Tips spoke with Complex about his new shoes, his aspirations, and where he wants to be with Saucony. The conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
The purple Jae Tips x Saucony ProGrid Omni 9. Via Jae Tips
What was your process in designing the “To-Do List” sneakers?
I make about a quarterly trip to the [Saucony] office just to go through samples, go through things, and when I seen that they were bringing the Omni Back, I had just asked Jason [Faustino, Saucony senior global product manager]. I just thought that the Omni had the most potential to be mainline attention for them. It’s pretty obvious that they’re trying to crack the surface of the mainstream sneakerhead and coverage in the industry. And I just thought the Omni had the most potential.
So I just asked them if I could get an opportunity and when they gave me an opportunity, I wanted to just tell a story of that kid that worked at Foot Locker. If it was going to be a midnight release, or it was going to be a day where there was going to be a lot of traffic, you should probably wear something more comfortable. And those days, Fridays and Saturdays, those are reserved to put on a pair of Asics or put on a pair of New Balances—just something that you’ll be able to be more mobile in. And that’s just what the Omni design reminds me of. So I wanted to design from the aspect of, this is your comfortable shoe.
I feel like that’s something that we overlook as sneaker collectors. Comfort sometimes feels like the last thing or the least important thing.
Yeah, most definitely. And I think one thing I did with the previous collection, the Grid Shadow 2, and now Omni, is just try to preach intention. Before it was like, what’s the occasion? What’s the occasion where I’d wear this shoe? And now it’s like, alright, if you got a long day and you got some things you need to get done—maybe you’re going to be in some meetings or the airport or something, maybe you should put on these Jae Tips shoes. So I named it the “To Do List”because it was like, alright, make a to-do list of things that you need to get done today. And then these are your comfortable shoes to get it done.
Do you feel like the ProGrid Omni 9 has a bigger buzz than any shoe you’ve done before? I keep having random people send me messages asking when they’re coming out.
Definitely. Which is interesting because I’m not sure if that’s just the nature of my collaboration process where each drop is going to get more coverage and more attention. Or is it just the best shoe? So I think I’m kind of in between. Is it the best shoe? Or this just kind of comes with a guy that’s continuing to work?
More people know your name with each successive pair.
Yeah, more people are just discovering it. But I do feel like, as far as execution, it’s a very executed collaboration. I think it’s also done in a particular way where it shines a lot of light on the silhouette. So I do think people are looking at it and they’re getting a lot of reminiscence of Raf Simons and Ice Cream and stuff. I feel more people are a little open to wearing Saucony too, so just maybe finding the nice narrative and willingness to put a Saucony on your feet.
Did you have to convince Saucony that you could work on the silhouette or do they trust you enough now when you pick something out of a line they say OK?
I would say that I am trusted to design—the process of, Alright, now let’s work on the Omni, can I work on other shoes? I do think that comes with just waiting. I don’t think it’s just like, Jae Tips can walk in the room and do anything he wants. But I asked if this was something that was possible and then they let me know, “If you’re free in a few weeks, you can come up and we can work on some samples.” So I do think that just the opportunity to create and show them what I would like to do on something, I’ve been given that opportunity. But I had to prove to them the design and the story before we pushed up some pairs.
Jae Tips shot the shoes in a laundromat to represent daily chores and to-do lists. Via Jae Tips
Where are you at in your partnership with Saucony? Are you signed on for a certain number of shoes or years with them?
Right now, man, I’m not signed to Saucony. I’m in a partnership agreement with them where we make these shoes together and it’s kind of understood that we use each other’s likeness and stuff. But I’m currently not signed to them.
Do you prefer it that way just to have the freedom? I assume when you first came on there wasn’t already a plan to do five shoes.
No, man, I would definitely like to feel like there’s security going forward, and I’m taken care of, and my family’s good, and my ideas are protected. I just think that one of the sides of business that people may not see is just trying to make sure you align things a certain type of way for longevity, and is this something that everybody wants to do on both sides. But I’ll give you my word from my side. It has been something I’ve been interested in wanting to do, but we just haven’t inked any paper or anything yet.
What are your actual plans for the release and rolling out the ProGrid Omni 9?
We wanted to tell the story of the traditional to-do list. So people getting their goals done, because everybody has their own things that you need to get done on a daily basis. But I also wanted to tell my personal to-do list, and that was getting more of my goals done and dreams. So we’re releasing the shoe at Billionaire Boys Club, which was just my favorite brand growing up. I spent all my Foot Locker checks on BBC hoodies.
The ‘To Do List’ Sauconys from Jae Tips launch beginning this week. Via Jae Tips
So just to be able to get them to release the shoe, and I’m doing a collaboration with them, to me, that’s just another thing off of my to-do list. So it’s like, me crossing that off my to-do list at the same time. It’s also showing people that your to-do list doesn’t have to just be the laundromat and the corner store, it’s also getting your goals done.
Then we’ll go into touring, like how I’ve done with previous shoes, or how even someone like Nigel Sylvester is doing now with the in-stores. And I’ll just position that as a to-do list. We’ll just cross names off and dates, and just make sure we’re hitting spots and stuff like that just to maybe have some fun, man.
Do you care about stopping resellers from getting the shoes? It’s such a delicate balance. I know you know with your background that those are people who are genuinely into the shoes as well in a lot of instances.
To me, I think reselling has always been a sign of bad metrics. The only reason a shoe could be worth something is if there wasn’t enough pairs made. If the demand is that high, that means it wasn’t a proper procedure to release the shoe. So to me, I think the only thing that I can always do is I can just make sure that the people that want the shoes get the shoes. You can never stop people from wanting to consign a pair, or wanting to go get a second pair or third pair or something like that, but you just gotta stop the people that’s going to end up with a hundred pairs or 50 pairs if you release it the right way.
Have you seen people with a ton of pairs of your shoes and just wondered how did that happen?
I think the most, my record right now, maybe like seven. I’ve seen someone with seven pairs of shoes, maybe the last drop, that’s probably my record right now. I haven’t hit the Marcus Jordan numbers.
The pink pair is partly inspired by the ‘Net’ Nike Air Yeezy 1. Via Jae Tips
How did you land on the color palette for the “To-Do List” pack? It feels like an extension of the work you’ve been doing with Saucony, but it’s also kind of branching out in two different directions with the pink and the purple.
Yeah, to me that was the color story that I wanted. That’s the color story I wanted to tell. I wanted a story of familiarity. I think some of the biggest brands in the world have specific color stories. You could cover a McDonald’s logo, but you know it’s McDonald’s. Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, you just have specific color stories. Even Jordan, you just know that black and red, what it’s reserved for.
And I wanted to submit the work that I’ve been doing with the purple and the salmon color that I’ve been running with for a while. But I also wanted, with the tan shoe, to show people the future of me trying to branch out into different color palettes and materials. Wanting to show people that you still could be reminiscent, you can still have your influence of “Net” Yeezy 1. But you can also take a Saucony shoe that you haven’t really seen, and you can also play with different materials and mediums and fabrics and stuff and just really flex a little bit.
So that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to give people something that’s familiar, because I’ve dropped so much product with different collabs that kind of have the same color palette. So it’s like, alright, I got this New Era hat, I got this hoodie from his website, and I now I got these Sauconys. They’re all the same color, but they go together. He told us a story three different times and we can kind of piece it together like Legos.
The latest drop has the Shadow 6000 in kids’ sizes. Why did you want to make those?
I wanted to work on kids’ shoes since my first meeting with Saucony, just because I have kids and just to see my son wear my stuff or my daughter wear my stuff. It just would’ve meant more to me than seeing my shoes worth a million dollars. I want to be able to see my kids wear it.
The ‘To Do List’ pack includes two pairs of Shadow 6000s in kids’ sizes. Via Jae Tips
Were you ever trying to make shoes for them before? Did you ask Saucony to make them some player exclusives in size 5C?
Yeah, I tried to get them to do the Grid Azura but they don’t make the Grid Azura in children’s sizes. They have a kids program, but they have probably seven silhouettes, the seven silhouettes that they work on. So that’s why it’s also not an Omni, it’s a Shadow 6000, which was just like, this is the best that we can do, the closest we can get them to look in the same colorway.
But I just wanted to be able to do that for me. And I pick my kids up from school every day, and the kids wear the same things that I wore 30 years ago, like the same Air Max 95s and Jordan 13s and 12s and Dunks and stuff. Not only did I want my kids to wear something that I designed, but I also wanted to maybe help usher in just some new style or something. Our world is just repeating itself with streetwear culture and shoes.
Are you upping the amount of shoes you’re producing and selling with each release? Will there be more of these out there than your first few Saucony projects?
Yeah, man, this is the biggest allocation. It’s an interesting story, Paris actually helped with that. Paris—just the reaction of the shoes and the stores. Which, maybe stores won’t admit, but when stores seen the tan pair in person, they seen those in Paris and everybody wanted more pairs. So Saucony just figured out how to do it. Maybe it did add a month or two on the release date.
Everybody wanted a little bit more. So that’s been a lot of the behind-the-scenes fight with Saucony and the sales team. Everybody wants more pairs.
Do you want more pairs? Are you pushing for them to make more or do you feel like there’s a limit?
To me, I’m pushing to still get the shoes in people’s hands. I don’t think that we do what we think we’re doing if the stores only get 12, 24 pairs. I think we could get that to 30. We can get that to 50 eventually. I don’t think I’m trying to be at Foot Locker or Shoe Palace or anything like that, but I think if we can get Concepts to have 60 pairs instead of 20, I think we help a long line better than maybe we’re doing now, serving the people.
Do you feel like the work is still underrated even though the releases are getting bigger? I mean we have to talk about the lists. There’s been a couple of times when a Complex list comes out and you aren’t ranked on it or people feel you’re ranked too low. Do you feel like you’re still underrated?
Yeah, of course. I think that that stuff is a good measuring stick for the community to see how this is justified. So I think it’s cool for the way people feel about where I should be, but I do think that, man, I understand how it is.
I understand that I’m not with the big companies, and I think that you got to understand what gets you to no. 1, what gets you to 2, 3, 4, 5. I think it is the value system of what the collaboration is, and so I get that if I was on the Golden State Warriors, I’d be ranked five. But I’m just trying to work my way up the ranks. Road least traveled kind of theory, but it’s also like, you just gotta work a little bit harder. I have a very untraditional route to doing things, but I think people do give me a lot of credit and see both sides, because maybe I am working on a silhouette that nobody else is working on.
21 Savage in Jae Tips’ first Saucony collaboration. Via Getty
The thing I always say is that you don’t have the same cheat codes that a lot of other people have.
Yep. Man, tell me about it. But I do think that: no grace given. If I have an opportunity to work in these same spaces, I got to prove myself again because you also got to go against what these people are doing too. Now if you’re on the same team, you got to get your shots up. So to me, I think it gives me a little bit of ammo to keep going, because I know I don’t have a spot reserved on anybody’s top 10 or your top 25. The work has to speak for itself.
Do you feel like you still have to prove yourself or do you feel like you’ve really arrived with the sneaker projects?
Oh, most definitely. I think I have to continue to prove myself because I do have to show that I’m worthy of the opportunity. When someone asks me what’s my design process and what’s the story behind something, to me, those are the first thoughts that I think about. You have to still continue to prove that you’re worthy of opportunity and worthy of being mentioned with these people.
You guys mention it and people know, even if I’m mentioned in the same conversation with Joe and Salehe, or Ronnie anything, I still have a long way to go to really exist in the same world that they exist in. Because like you said, there’s a lot of cheat codes and advantages. It’s only a few of us that don’t have stores. A few of us that don’t come from different family trees and industry farms and stuff like that. So you gotta keep working into these spaces because they can replace you with the next hot person.
Is there a singular moment that you think of when you felt like you arrived, or stands out as the biggest moment in your sneaker career? We have to talk about the Olympics one, but is there another one that means a lot to you?
It’s not just because I’m talking to you, maybe being on your guys’ show. I think a lot of the Twitter stuff, they can talk about anything on any day. I just think that everybody can’t really sit in those seats with you guys. And I think that stuff proves a lot to Saucony, and it proves a lot to the people wondering, Why do you guys keep working with this guy? And they can see, oh look, he’s getting press, he’s getting attention. People are bringing him up, mentioning him.
But come on, man. The Olympics is a big fucking deal.
But the Olympic stuff is…maybe because I’m in the middle of this rollout, it kind of felt like it was just something I seen on a Monday morning that I’m just reposting for the rest of the day. But the Olympics is dope. The Olympics is crazy. Maybe 21 Savage at the Boston Celtics game, because I felt like everyone in the world called me. They were like, “You’re on TV, you’re on TV.” I’m like, I’m not on TV. But thank you.
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