McLaren, APL unveil high-performance athletic footwear brand

McLaren Automotive (Woking, U.K.), the luxury supercar maker, and Athletic Propulsion Labs (APL, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.) the high-performance athletic footwear brand, have joined forces to create a new range of luxury composite footwear that is said to further progress design, performance, technology and construction.

Inspired by McLaren’s supercars and hypercars, the first offering from the collaboration is the limited-edition APL|McLaren HySpeed, an all-purpose performance running trainer which marks the luxury supercar maker’s first footwear collaboration.

The trainer — offered in five bespoke colorways — presents a new silhouette.  It features a three-piece segmented midsole with APL FutureFoam pods in the front and rear that are connected by a full-length lightweight carbon fiber plate topped by a nitrogen-infused midsole compound that is engineered for responsiveness and compression.

Additionally, the shoe has a microfiber heel with extended wings and an internal fitment system with three-piece cushion heel padding and APL’s signature Souffle Sockliner.

The outsole also references design details of McLaren’s supercars, featuring a tread pattern inspired by performance tires that are designed for speed and grip.

“It has been a pleasure to collaborate with APL creating the APL|McLaren HySpeed shoe. It perfectly embodies both our own McLaren and APL’s DNA and design philosophy,” says Goran Ozbolt, acting design director, McLaren Automotive. “APL has developed new technologies specifically for this shoe — inspired by our groundbreaking work using lightweight materials — which also maximizes the wearer’s comfort and experience. Like stepping into a McLaren, it is all about optimizing performance, agility and speed.”

According to Adam Goldston and Ryan Goldston, APL co-founders, over the past two years, from original sketch to retail product launch, there have been three unique midsole iterations with proprietary compounds developed, multiple upper constructions using a wide variety of materials and more than 50 colorways sampled. 

The APL, McLaren collaboration comes in white/McLaren orange, white/black/ombre, rose dust/creme, energy/metallic silver and McLaren orange is available for men and women and retails for $450.

The collection is available to purchase online at APL’s website and select retailers globally.