As Versace places more emphasis on its footwear, the Italian luxury brand is gearing up to launch its latest sneaker next week.
Called the Odissea, Versace’s latest sneaker serves up a futuristic design through what the brand calls an inspiration of celestial travel and the stars.
According to the brand, basketball sneaker elements are cut-through the lightweight slip-on style that is set on rubber soles with perforated toe caps. A rubberized 3D La Medusa plaque finishes the sneaker on the uppers for a futuristic effect.
Seen styled with both casual and more formal looks in the pre/fall 2022 lookbook and fall/winter 2022 collection film, the sneaker comes in a wide range of colorways — black, white, ultramarine blue, pink, brown, and metallic silver. Prices range from $925 and $1,050.
Even before its official launch, Versace’s latest style was already receiving recognition in the industry. Asked about footwear trends in the men’s market, Bruce Pask, men’s fashion director at Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, told FN last month that molded rubber styles are gaining traction. “We are seeing a lot of molded rubber, which is interesting because it gives sneakers a sculptural quality, as we saw in the new Versace Odissea sneaker.”
This launch also follows the increased sales in the footwear category at the luxury house. In Versace’s parent company’s fourth quarter earnings call in June, Capri Holdings chairman and CEO John Idol said that women’s footwear sales in the Versace brand increased approximately 70%.
“As we gain authority in women’s luxury fashion footwear, dress styles performed exceptionally well, increasing over 100% fashion footwear,” Idol said on the call. “Consumers responded positively to styles featuring a range of Versace codes.”
For fiscal 2022, Versace revenue exceeded $1 billion, the highest level in the brand’s history. According to Idol, this milestone was driven by record fourth quarter results, which saw revenue increase 34%. “This demonstrates the momentum of the brand and the success of our strategic growth initiatives.”
Versace’s new Odissea sneaker is now available for pre-sale in the U.S. and will launch globally on July 11.
