Saucony Flagship Store Concept – Interactive Retail Design

In 2022, the high-performance running shoe brand contacted us to participate in a pitch for the global rollout of their flagship stores. For them, we envisioned a retro-futuristic space where devices seemingly from the future guide visitors through a journey of brand discovery and engagement with Saucony’s strong presence in the premium running market.

The Spaceship Concept: Devices from the Future

Our concept started from a precise narrative idea: a spaceship arriving from the future that brings gifts to the present in the form of interactive devices. These elements served to tell the brand story, dialogue with users, and make them interact with the space in a fluid and engaging way. We worked on the project together with Consorzio Stabile Caire, who supported us in the installation design and in defining the more technical aspects of the proposal.

Smart Product Display: Scannable Information System

When we made the display wall we designed featured shoes accompanied by raised codes that visitors could scan with their smartphones. Once scanned, these codes provided detailed product information, from technical specifications to specific performance data for different types of running. The idea was to make accessible an amount of data that would normally require a sales assistant’s intervention, while leaving customers the freedom to explore at their own pace.

The Immersive Testing Portal

The oval portal was probably the most ambitious element of the project. It was a device for testing running shoes on a treadmill integrated directly into the floor. The portal created an immersive experience around the runner, transforming the shoe trial into something that went beyond a simple physical test. We wanted anyone entering the store to truly understand how a technical shoe performs under realistic conditions, but in an environment that made the experience memorable.

Timeless Elements: Stone Tables as Design Metaphor

All the tables you see in the renders are deliberately timeless elements, stones that could come from either the past or the future. This temporal ambiguity was an integral part of the spaceship concept: objects that appear ancient but function as supports for advanced technologies, creating a contrast between natural materials and digital interactions.

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