Rabbit, the area of interest California working attire firm, turns into a footwear model with the discharge of its first shoe, the rabbit Dream Chaser ($160) in full Boston Marathon livery, because the shoe will see its public launch through the expo at this month’s Boston Marathon.
Like its New England cousin Tracksmith and extra just lately lululemon, rabbit has made the surprising pivot as an attire firm that turns into a shoe firm, fairly than a shoe firm changing into a full attire producer, as we’ve seen with Hoka, On, Salomon, La Sportiva, and so many extra.
The rabbit Dream Chaser. Picture: rabbit
Rabbit’s Background
It’s value noting rabbit’s place available in the market: The model was based in 2013 by two ladies, Jill Deering and Monica DeVreese, and has turn into one of many world’s largest impartial working specialty attire manufacturers.
Rabbit co-founder Monica DeVreese with the model’s debut shoe, the Dream Chaser. Picture: rabbit/Peter Younger
Path runners and ultrarunners can have lengthy seen rabbit as a staple on the scene, with the model supporting quite a few well-known figures within the sport at one time or one other, together with Eric Senseman, Taylor Nowlin, Sandi Nypaver, Sabrina Little, Coree Woltering, and plenty of extra. Rabbit has been fast to pin itself on core ideas locally like quickest recognized occasions, variety and inclusion, and grassroots working workforce sponsorships.
Rabbit’s attire has all the time been very top quality whereas being quirky and emphasizing enjoyable. For instance, their care labels have included the instruction, “don’t bleach, mmkay?” Their presence is sort of a love youngster between Goodr and Path Tasks; foolish and humorous however well-made and designed particularly for the wants of path runners.
Rabbit has additionally centered practically as a lot vitality on highway runners, emphasizing its Olympic Trials qualifiers — with the identical grassroots highway and monitor packages — as a lot as Western States 100 Golden Ticket seekers.
So why a working shoe from rabbit? DeVreese shares, “I fell in love with working once I was a 13-year-old lady. In highschool, I used to be launched to my native working retailer and mainly turned a gear junkie. After faculty, throughout my first job in a working retailer, I knew that sometime, I wished to personal my model. So after working within the footwear business for 3 a long time, designing a shoe has all the time been a dream for me. For rabbit, it’s a really pure extension of the model. We’re so excited to supply an on a regular basis coach that may resonate with runners of all ranges.”
Rabbit Dream Chaser
The rabbit Dream Chaser is described as a each day coach with impartial traits. Two parallel carbon fiber ribbons, branded as Carbon Trax, run alongside the medial and lateral edges of the midsole fairly than being a full or forked plate, as is present in different carbon-plated sneakers.
The midsole itself is fabricated from 85% recycled ETPU (expanded thermoplastic polyurethane) Flowstate Foam. This shoe additionally consists of premium Blumaka insoles, that are stated so as to add further cushion and vitality return.
The expertise behind the rabbit Dream Chaser. Picture: rabbit
In its press launch, DeVreese says, “As we introduce our debut shoe, we got down to create one thing that will resonate with runners of all ranges. Revealing a footwear breakthrough aimed toward enhancing each day runs, we’re thrilled to unveil an on a regular basis coach infused with the distinctive efficiency of carbon fiber.”
Rabbit has been equitable in its method to ladies’s and males’s attire design wants prior to now, bringing that very same consideration to the Dream Chaser. Rabbit says it began by first designing the Dream Chaser round a girl’s final earlier than engaged on the boys’s shoe.
Rabbit lists the shoe at 8.7 ounces for a U.S. ladies’s 7 and 10.2 ounces for U.S. males’s 9. The Dream Chaser has a 5-millimeter drop with stack heights of 32 millimeters within the heel and 27 millimeters within the toe.
The rabbit Dream Chaser is already out there on rabbit’s web site. Extra colorways will probably be launched on International Working Day, June 5, in addition to for particular collaborations and seasonal collections later this 12 months.
Be looking out for extra sneakers from rabbit sooner or later. The model shares with iRunFar that “the Dream Chaser is simply our first step into the footwear class. We’re positively dedicated to constructing out the product line and providing extra footwear choices sooner or later.” And for the path runners on the market, know that “a path shoe is at present within the works. It’s nonetheless early within the design section, so timing is TBD, however we love the path group and stay up for providing them footwear within the close to future.”
The rear of a pair of rabbit Dream Chasers. Picture: rabbit
