OFF THE GRID: Saucony GRID Azura 2000
The Secrets and Lies of Saucony's "Lost" Shoe...
Even before modern sneaker culture exposed the inner workings of the behind the scenes business of conceptualization, design and development of footwear to the public at large, most people would have been well aware of the fact that the finished product on store shelves represents only a microscopic fraction of the total work that goes into producing a shoe.
The trial and error process of concept sketches, material and colour swatches and physical prototypes, not to mention the layers of corporate approval required at every step of the way, would logically leave behind a mountain of documentation, even for a project abandoned at the earliest stages. It would, therefore, test the credulity of even the most casual consumer of athletic footwear that any company could be in possession of a shoe that the company itself has no record of making. Yet, that is exactly the story that Saucony would have the public believe about one particular model, a model that started out as the first step into the future, and ended up becoming Saucony’s darkest secret, The GRID Azura 2000.
If you haven’t come across that name before, that’s no coincidence; it’s by design. Officially, the GRID Azura 2000 model never existed in the first place, and to suggest otherwise is extremely inconvenient for the top brass at Saucony. Like many of life’s inconveniences, the uncovering of this mysterious, clandestine affair actually began with a complete accident. During preliminary research into a new project, a photograph that should never have seen the light of day was discovered, having inadvertently been stuck to the back of another shoe’s file photo. After over a decade of working together, and with over 40 individual footwear styles under our collaborative belt, we thought we had seen even the most arcane corners of the Saucony archive, and yet the response to this discovery was a mixture of repressed panic and tight lipped brusqueness. The model name, GRID Azura 2000, hand written on the back side of the photo, is the only reason that the name ever, initially, made it out of the building.
The Saucony GRID Azura 2000 will be available on February 8th at 10AM EST on the "Frenzy" app under the Solestop brand page and online on Solestop.com, with any remaining pairs set to release in-store at 12PM noon. Be sure to download the app before release!
- All purchases made over Frenzy are FINAL SALE.
- For more previews and information (including price and available sizing), take a look at the details below.
Saucony GRID Azura 2000 - S70489-1
- Price: $140 CAD
- Available Sizing: 8-13 US MENS
- Product Colour: White / Blue / Lime
- Click here to shop
