After Nike Tension, Athlete Allyson Felix Builds Women’s Shoe Company
Image via Allyson Felix
Allyson Felix is the world’s most highly decorated track and field athlete. She’s the only female track and field athlete to win six Olympic gold medals, too, alongside her three silvers. At the upcoming Tokyo 2020, winning just one more would earn her the title of the Greatest of All Time. And now, she’s launching her own shoe company.
Saysh is co-founded byherself and her brother, Wes Felix, who is also her manager. The company is designed to be a fresh alternative to the usually male-dominated sneaker companies in a male-dominated sports world.
Priced at US$150, Saysh’s first product is set to be released this September. Named the Saysh One, the shoe is uniquely designed in order to better fit the anatomy of women’s feet.
Image via Saysh
However, the backstory of Saysh isn’t a simple one—the company was born out of a conflictFelix had with her old sponsor, Nike, in 2019. In 2017, her contract expired during her pregnancy. Nike then withheld maternity protection, and offered her 70% less than her previous contract for her renewal. This sequence of events also prompted her to begin speaking up about maternity rights and the injustices that mothers face in athletics.
Although she later signed with Athleta, Gap’s sportswear branch, she struggled to find suitable shoes to wear to matches. One day her brother Wes suggested launching their own shoe company, and thus Saysh was born.
Felix will be taking the new spikes to the Tokyo Olympics, too.
Image via Saysh
Image via Saysh
“Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support in my journey on the track and now with my company,” she writes in an Instagram post.
“I used my voice and built this company for you. So that you never have to train at 4:30am while you’re 5 months pregnant to hide your pregnancy from your sponsor. So that you won’t have to fight someone so much bigger than you for a right that should be basic. I took that on for you, and I didn’t do it alone, but it was for you.”
[via Fast Company, image via Allyson Felix]
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