CounterKicks: How did you guys decide that now was the time to update the line?

Andrew Nyssen: The product guys usually have everything planned out three years in advance. It’s a style that’s pretty timeless so if you change it all the time it kind of loses some of its lasting power. I think we space it out every four years or so and do such a good job that it doesn’t need to be updated very often. It’s a big process so we want to do the best with it.

CK: Were there prerequisites to follow?

Nyssen: We talk about the consumer and this shoe is pretty unique because it has a wide range of consumers from the runner to casual use, from older to younger. There are a lot of specific things we want to carry over. When you update a shoe you don’t want to lose your consumers with it. You want to carry them into the new shoe and get new people into it. If you change it too much you lose what the shoe is all about. We’re all very aware of that. Off the bat I tried pushing it a little too far. We had a different sole unit and it was just a little too much, a little too modern.