Shoe company Wolverine opens new Saucony office in Boston
The Saucony shoe business has gone for a run down the road from Waltham, to a new home at the TD Garden’s doorstep.
This week, Saucony’s parent company Wolverine Worldwide announced the location of a new innovation hub: at the Hub on Causeway, the relatively new mixed-use complex adjoining the TD Garden and North Station. Saucony’s design, development, and product management team moved there from Wolverine’s old office in Waltham several weeks ago. The move puts the running shoe business just steps away from the headquarters of another iconic shoe business, Nike-owned Converse, at Lovejoy Wharf.
At 11,000 square feet, for around 40 people, Saucony’s new office is much smaller than the 160,000-square-foot space in Waltham that Wolverine had leased in 2016. Last year, the company announced it would close up shop in Waltham and find a smaller space in Boston for Saucony while consolidating some of the work at its Michigan headquarters. Wolverine also recently sold off its formerly Massachusetts-based Keds and Sperry shoe brands, but held onto another one, Stride Rite.
Moving to Boston makes it easier for Saucony reps to travel to New York or to Europe, given the proximity of Logan Airport, Saucony brand president Rob Griffiths said. The location will also make it easier to attract talent, as will the amenities offered in and around the Hub on Causeway tower, owned by Delaware North and BXP.
“We felt we wanted to have a space that was maybe a bit more inspirational, not just the look and feel but also in terms of the location,” Griffiths said. “It’s also nice as well to be sharing the building with other iconic teams like the Celtics and the Bruins. It’s a perfect location for us.”
Sales at Saucony were flat in the most recent quarter, although Wolverine chief executive Christopher Hufnagel is bullish about the business. On an earnings call this week, Hufnagel said “there are a lot of things working in that brand’s favor right now” and described how his team a year ago overhauled its focus to include more everyday runners and more of the lifestyle market — that is, purchases for casual use by a broader set of consumers — by taking advantage of Saucony’s extensive product archive and the growing interest in “retro tech” fashion.
“We’ve got a huge back catalog,” Griffiths said of the 125-year-old brand he’s now in charge of shepherding. “We’ve recently realized that product is very relevant to a younger, contemporary consumer.”
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
Jon Chesto can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @jonchesto.
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