The business shoe that feels like you're favorite sneaker! Crafted in Europe with Italian leather.
As sneakerheads, we love the way sneakers look and feel, but the reality is that many times we found ourselves stuck in rigid, heavy shoes designed 100 years ago ‘for the job’.
We asked ourselves why most of the things around us became so much more convenient and comfortable, while the business shoe feels like you’re walking on a plank of wood, just like it did decades ago.
It’s time to throw out those wooden office shoes and create a brand new segment of elegant performance shoes.
One minute we’re going to the gym, the next we cycle to work or rush to a client’s office for a meeting. It’s all about being on the constant move and doing it efficiently. That is why we created a shoe that can do it all, without having to continuously change your footwear to either fit in or feel comfortable.
That feeling of just sliding your foot in and not having to tie is priceless. That is why we designed the inner sock-like structure from a flexible, elastic material that expands to make room for your foot to slide in, and contracts to hug your foot in place.
To create the YS we really had to reimagine a brand new category of footwear. In over 8 months of designing, prototyping and testing, we stayed true to our core objectives of creating a shoe that looks professional in any context, but feels just like a sneaker.
To achieve this, we sketched and tested on and on, until we had the perfect blend of redesigned classic elegance and comfort.
We worked with our partners Bolflex from Portugal, to create a sole design that is derived from the natural footprint of a human. The clean lines of the sole are a statement of your shoe being out of the ordinary. The classic exterior designed derived from an Oxford shoe and combined with elements of a modern sneaker, was designed to fit in. That is why we wanted the sole to have a totally out of the ordinary design which would be your mark of character.
Although your shoe may look ‘normal’ at a first glance, once you lift your foot, those around you notice that there is something different about your shoes. Something special.
Above the importance of the visual aesthetics of the sole, only stands its functionality. We tested numerous material combinations together with our Portuguese manufacturers to reach the optimum mix to offer flexibility, lightness and also very importantly, durability.
We believe the result speaks for itself.
Style must be accompanied by substance. For the YS to become your go-to shoe, we knew we had to raise the bar in comparison to a traditional shoe.
That is why we started with redesigning the insole to provide just the right balance between comfort and rebound to help you keep active all day. Each area of the insole is created around the shape of your foot to provide maximum support.
We then analysed every aspect of the interior of the shoe to diminish most common pains and blisters that create discomfort in many classic shoes.
In addition, the elastic inner structure is designed to hug your foot like a sock, thus providing the all-round support to make your shoe enclose your foot like a glove.
We looked at every last detail, including the packaging so that you can enjoy the shoes that you helped create!
If you are getting the YS for a loved one, let us know and we can look at ways to personalize your box in order to really make a statement.
Below are some of the comments from the backers that made our previous dress sneakers projects a reality.