Sole Food is a weekly series built on sneaker editor Morgan Smith's takes on the biggest topics in sneaker culture.

In 2024, we predicted a massive 2025 for Saucony. In 2026, the sneaker brand is indeed smashing expectations. And, more incredibly, it’s winning all on its own. Mostly.

On August 12, 2026, StockX crowned the Boston sneaker brand the platform’s fastest-growing, a title previously held by ASICS. The resale company attributes Saucony’s success to the ProGrid Omni 9 and ProGrid Triumph 4, the brand’s trendiest retro tech sneakers. It makes sense, considering the models have enjoyed spins from the brand’s coolest collaborators like Jae Tips and Westside Gunn. But what makes Saucony’s hot streak so interesting is that, not only are the collaborative versions burning up the resale charts, but so are regular old general-release colorways. 

Suddenly, the in-line Sauconys are just as huge as the collaborations; several Omni 9 colorways are flourishing. Often, once exclusivity and big-name collaborators leave the equation, so does interest in a new sneaker model. However, exceptions like the ASICS GEL-Kayano 14 and adidas Samba rode buzzy collaborations with JJJJound and Wales Bonner, respectively, to even bigger success with in-line releases.

Saucony hooked and reeled the world in with its limited-edition Jae Tips sneakers. That same excitement has spilled over to its widely available options, which are moving quickly at both retail and resell levels. Brendan Dunne, StockX’s Senior Director of Customer Community & Engagement, sums it up best. “The person who wanted the Jae Tips x Saucony [collab] is now more likely to buy the more available inline styles,” he tells Highsnobiety. “There is a real desire among most collectors for discovery — we want to wear fresh shoes, things that separate us from the masses. I think that desire brings a lot of people to Saucony, where they can discover new (old) models from an archive that’s never been tapped like this for retro styles.”

It helps that the Saucony hype was pretty quiet for a while, so any attention looks like a gold rush by comparison. But, having been in the game for nearly 130 years, Saucony isn’t new at all. The same models thriving in today’s rotations have been around for a long time. The Omni 9 debuted in 2010, and the Triumph 4 entered the game in 2007, although the only thing that has changed about the sneakers is their purpose. Saucony’s runners are abruptly fashionable, much like many other once-strictly performance-focused models on the market.

Tie that in with sneaker shoppers starving for old-school running shoes that feel fresher than big names like Nike and adidas. That’s where niche brands like Saucony come into the picture, breathing fresh-classic air into the sneaker game.

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