Sung Choi

HS: What does "athleisure" mean to you?

Sung: I dislike the term as a category title but the genre and ideals were born out of necessity. Back in 2001 the market really had little to offer the consumer who wanted versatility in their footwear. Clae took a new approach and merged casual silhouettes with the comfort of an athletic shoe to redefine footwear for this generation.

HS: How has your past experience with skate brands like DC, where the footwear is functional but also well suited to leisure, helped you frame your vision for Clae? Additionally, working on wider scale campaigns, what lessons can be refocused to a boutique entity?

Sung: I started designing shoes at DC back in 1997; at that time skate shoes had many "technical" embellishments coupled with thick puffy padding around the collar and tongue, which made your feet look like a loaf of bread. Many skaters those days had their skate shoes to skate and they had their “chill” shoes they put on after they finished skating. I thought Why couldn’t skate shoes be chill/leisure shoes? I was looking to design shoes with slimmer profiles while using quality materials and smoother refined silhouettes, which led to my developing the framework for Clae.

Over the course of my stints at larger companies, I’ve learned that staying true to your vision is a must for any brand, whether you are selling a few dozen tee shirts or millions of pairs of sneakers. It's important to have a point of view and deliver goods and services based on an overall ideology.

HS: What are your inspirations beyond athletic footwear? Any brands or styles that you are particularly drawn to that influence your aesthetic?

Sung: I'm really drawn to the smart/sharp looks of hip hop and dancehall reggae around the mid to late 80's. On the opposite end, classic, functional American and military apparel is also always on my radar.

HS: I wonder if you could talk more about the footwear you noticed in those scenes. I imagine the early Nikes and Adidas were among them, but also something like a boat shoe perhaps?

Sung: We’re talking about Wallabees, desert boots, British walkers, Travel Fox, Bally, Gucci and on the athletic side there was Puma, Fila, Ellesse, Diadora, Saucony, Troop, Playboys ...there were just an abundance of choices – from the good to the bad and the ugly.

HS: Say you see a technical feature you like in a jacket. Are their challenges (welcome or unwelcome) to trying to transfer that to footwear? And, as a minor aside, what has been the most important technical innovation for you during your career?

Sung: I don’t think you can force a feature onto anything; if it works, it works; otherwise it just becomes another gimmick. As for most important technical innovation, for me it was working on the air bubble fitting system for DC snowboard boots many moons back. The idea stemmed from Danny Way's air bubble knee brace which cradled his knee without the weight and able to adjust the fit based on his comfort level.


HS: What are some of your favorite materials to work with conceptually?

Sung: Since I work with footwear, I'm naturally drawn to leather, from buttery smooth to hard oil pull up leathers. It just wears and ages nicely and can be molded in so many different ways…and for this spring canvas was another great material to work with for it’s strength/utility and it complements with many leathers.