Engineered Garments’ designer Daiki Suzuki has delved deep into the Gola archives for the pair’s latest sneaker collaboration to unearth the Ranger, an archetypal silhouette from the British label’s glory days.
The Ranger, which was first released in the mid-1970s as a retro running sneaker, was one of Gola’s most popular silhouettes during that time, thanks mostly to its then-innovative multi-layered outsole.
For this collaboration, Engineered Garments is honoring the Ranger’s original build by maintaining the bulk of what made the sneaker so popular, including the functional eyelet tabs and premium leather lining.
The EG x Gola sneaker will arrive in three colorways — Khaki/Rhino, Brown/Khaki, and Ash/Grey — each of which will be available exclusively at Nepenthes New York and online from February 9.
This release follows Engineered Garments’ debut Gola collaboration from late last year that saw the former take on the latter’s Sentry sneaker.
Originally launched to celebrate Gola’s centenary year in 2005, the Sentry was produced in limited numbers throughout 2005 and then subsequently archived, before Engineered Garments’ three-piece capsule in October 2023.
For Gola, the 1970s remain arguably the label's most successful era in terms of popularity, and also a time when it was considered one of the UK’s leading sportswear brands.
Although that isn’t the case nowadays, Suzuki's Engineered Garments is at least giving us a taster of the Gola of old. And, you know what, it's actually tasting pretty damn good.
