Coco Gauff will have her own signature shoe, becoming the only active women’s tennis player with her own sneaker. She also becomes just the second active tennis player with a signature shoe, joining Roger Federer, Forbes reported Sunday.
🚨: @CocoGauff debuts her new signature shoe, the NB Coco CG1, at the Atlanta Open. 🔥 👟 🎾 #madeforthew | @newbalance pic.twitter.com/ZXRKhfqQ19
— Made for the W (@madeforthew) July 25, 2022
While superstar in Serena Williams collaborated on the NikeCourt Flare sneakers, which first came out in 2015 (and have since been discontinued), Nike has not put its tennis athletes’ names on its sneaker models — i.e., no NikeCourt Serena Flare — and so remains without a true signature shoe, according to Racquet Magazine.
The New Balance Coco CG1 will be released on Aug. 26, the result of two years of development.
“We looked at this opportunity to enter into a category that doesn’t have signature and have a female lead that,” Evan Zeder, head of tennis sports marketing at New Balance, told Forbes. “It puts us at a different place and puts her at a different place. We are building off where she is going and not what she has done, using that as a starting place.”
The launch colorway, titled Pompey after Gauff’s childhood court, is meant to give off a ’90s vibe, but still hold modern elements.
“There’s just something freeing about the color palettes and blending of styles in that era that has always stood out to me,” Gauff told Forbes. “I love putting a modern spin on those ’90s elements and it’s cool to see it coming back with my generation in so many ways.”
Gauff had a huge hand in the development of the shoe’s technology, which is one of the first retail-accessible tennis shoes that has a carbon fiber plate, dubbed Energy Arc technology. The plate and the FuelCell foam give the shoe a “super responsive feel” that is also comfortable and light, according to Gauff.
“I honestly feel like it is going to help my ability to hit high balls and stay fresh,” Gauff said.
There are more colorways to come, including a U.S. Open edition that has yet to be revealed, as well as other Slam and classic colorways. There are also personal elements, including a basketball on the left heel and a track spike on the right, meant to represent the sports her parents played in college. On her own personal shoe, her brother’s names are on the shoelaces.
“This style was meant to offer the best in tennis technology but be able to be worn off court as well,” Gauff told Forbes. “Popularity would be great, but I’m really hoping it can encourage kids to strive to be their best in whatever they love on and off the court.”
Gauff has had a standout year so far, reaching her first Grand Slam final at the French Open before reaching her first grass court quarterfinal at Wimbledon.
