JAE TIPS HAS ENTERED THE MATRIX

Sneaker News: In such a short time, you’ve created quite the catalog of collaborations with Saucony, and a lot of credit is justifiably sent your way for the brand’s revival in 2023 and 2024. What’s your reaction to that?
 
Jae Tips: I’m incredibly grateful and honored that my name is often associated with Saucony’s success in articles and press. All I ever wanted was a chance—an opportunity to create on a larger scale.
 
I always believed in my ability to design impactful, standout products, and I saw glimpses of that potential in my own brand, even without a broad audience. To now be recognized as part of Saucony’s rise is truly humbling. I’ll forever be thankful to them for giving me the platform to use their shoes as my canvas.

The Matrix hasn’t seen the light of day in over 20 years. What’s it like working on something so unique? What’s your favorite thing about the model? What was the biggest obstacle?
 
Jae Tips: I believe that 90%—if not more—of the sneaker game is rooted in nostalgia. So, taking on a project that’s not already in the marketplace, not seen on everyone’s feet, and not pinned to mood boards is no easy task. But it’s a risk I was willing to take.
 
If I want to break through the glass ceiling and truly prove that I’m as good as people say I am at design, creation, and storytelling, I have to push boundaries. The Matrix project was exactly that—a challenge that required originality. It’s not about hiding behind popular silhouettes, as so many collaborations tend to do.
 
Jason Faustino: There are 2 big obstacles in reviving a shoe – the first is recreating the shoe for production. Factories move on from shoe molds all the time – processes and materials change. Our product team – design, development, and engineering work tremendously hard in bringing a shoe back and maintaining the integrity of its original form as much as possible.
 
It involves acquiring original shoes from when they first launched, 3D scanning, reverse engineering, and tons of trials on materials and shape to get it just right. The other big challenge would be making it relevant to today’s consumer.
 
We’re past the days of a niche OG audience being able to carry the weight of a shoe’s relevance in the marketplace. It has to speak to a larger audience in the many different ways people connect to a sneaker than when it was originally launched (often only through an athletic lens originally).
 
The good part about the Matrix is that Brian’s design was so ahead of its time that the shoe is still unique now. It is eye catching and brings a point of difference that promotes conversation, and people to evolve and adopt it with their own personal style.

Whose decision was it to bring back the Matrix? Was Brian Moore involved?
 
Jason Faustino: The decision to bring back the Matrix was a team effort – I say that because multiple collaboration partners and friends of the brand had been longing for its return. Our product team loved it, and our Chief of Product – Brian Moore, designed it originally (something most of us only found out later on) – so he gave the final stamp of approval to bring it back and got to learn about his entire process and the unique thoughts that went into the different features of the shoe’s design.

If there’s one Saucony shoe you can work on next…what would it be?
 
Jae Tips: If there are any more Saucony models I’d love to work on, it would definitely be the Triumph 4 and a shoe I recently came across in their book—the Grid Azura from 1997. I think that silhouette is absolutely incredible.
 
What other models from the 1990s/2000s do you see potential in bringing back?
 
Jason Faustino: From that era, not those exact years, I really like the CrossWave, Mirage 4, and Razor 2. As well as the Kinvara 1 which surprise…is coming back!