While the rest of Fashion Week raced toward the next moment, we slowed down to examine the ones that really matter.
At Collab Lab Live in Paris, we gathered four creatives who’ve each helped shape Saucony’s cultural reemergence, through vision, storytelling, and an obsessive attention to craft. The conversation moved beyond drops and product, diving into what it means to collaborate with integrity in an industry that often forgets why it started.
What emerged was an honest, occasionally hilarious, and deeply personal look at what it takes to bring an idea to life, when you’re building from the outside, betting on yourself, and refusing to phone it in.
From Caterina hand-molding a heel counter with UV nail clay and powders, to Andrew dye-testing trail runners with wildflowers and iron oxide, to JaeTips’ determination to be everyone’s first Saucony, it was one of the few moments that felt honest.
If you’ve ever questioned whether the care still exists in this space, this episode is your answer.
“I just wanted to always prove to people that I belonged here. I feel like it's never, to me, been about how you get here, it’s how you stay here.”
— JaeTips, Founder, Savior
“Before we even got the greenlight to work with Saucony, we had to start leaving breadcrumbs... I wanted to showcase what it would look like when we merchandised it with our seasonal books. I hadn’t really seen that with Saucony.”
— Andrew Chen, Co-Founder, 3sixteen
“I hand molded the heel. I used transparent UV clay, the powder you use on nails... I posted on my stories and my followers were like, are you crazy? You have to wear gloves!”
— Caterina Mongillo, Founder & Designer, Metagirl
“We’re on sample number eight or nine of this one... I’d hate to have any bits of it leaked or maybe used by other people. We’re trying to get it right.”
— Marcus, Founder & Creative Director, Minted New York
In a landscape where too many projects get reduced to content, this conversation reminded us that real collaboration still takes time, risk, and belief. That there’s value in overthinking the suede. In holding off until sample nine. In knowing the exact story you want your product to tell before you ever press launch.
The collaborators on this stage aren’t chasing hype, and their work with Saucony shows what happens when a brand doesn’t just license someone’s name, but actually listens.
As more brands flood the market with “collabs,” our job is to keep asking harder questions. Who made it? Why now? And what does it really say?
Bimma Williams
Creator of Collab Lab
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