McLaren and APL Teamed Up for a Turbo-Charged Sneaker. A Supercar Is Coming Next.
Shoe brand APL and supercar maker McLaren both design products guided by the same core principle: Exceptional performance that doesn’t sacrifice luxury or aesthetics. So, it is only fitting that the two companies have joined forces in an on-going collaboration that will yield both footwear and automobiles. First up is the HySpeed, a sneaker informed by McLaren’s innovative engineering and APL’s athletic shoe prowess.
Founded in 2009 by twin brothers Adam and Ryan Goldston, Athletic Propulsion Labs made its name with sneakers that perform a little too well. Their debut design, the Concept 1, was banned by the NBA due to the brand’s proprietary Load ‘N Launch technology, which instantly increased vertical leap—not unlike the McLaren Speedtail’s turbo-charged engine, which accelerates from 0 to 186mph in 12.8 seconds. “This is really a full-circle moment for us,” Ryan Goldston says, discussing the two brands’ parallels. “We started APL by being inspired by what was happening with concept cars and how they were innovating their market and, really, we wanted to push the limits of footwear in the same way.”
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It might not be too far of a stretch, then, to see why McLaren was so interested in working with APL. The shoe brand has consistently tested the boundaries of footwear engineering’s capabilities. “We both believe in a simple and severe idea of design,” Adam Goldston notes. “We want to take the best materials and design something that’s minimalistic but still interesting.” In a similar way, both makers are tasked with making every inch of limited design real estate—a shoe or a car—boost performance while looking sleek.
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