![\"HOKA](\"http:\/\/blogemea.hokaoneone.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/fly-blog.jpg\")
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In February 2018, we introduced the Fly Collection \u2014 an entirely new collection that looks different than anything we\u2019ve done before, but has the same feel you know and love. So, where did this idea come from?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u201cCreating shoes is almost like a sport. You can always get better. You have to be able to adapt and change your strategy. You\u2019re trying to solve a problem and it\u2019s just that idea of \u2018it\u2019s never done,\u2019\u201d says Gretchen Weimer, one of the creators of the Fly Collection. As the vice president of product at HOKA and with over 25 years of experience in the footwear industry, Gretchen helped create the brand\u2019s revolutionary collection. She describes herself as single-minded and competitive, two qualities that have pushed her to where she is today.<\/span><\/p>\n Hailing from Buffalo, NY, Gretchen ran cross country in high school. \u201cI went to an all girls\u2019 school and they had just started a cross country team. But we didn\u2019t have anyone to train with,” Gretchen says. “Our partner school was all boys\u2019, so we\u2019d have training days with the boys\u2019 team and we all competed in the same races. That was really wild.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI remember running in a race and encouraging one of the boys from the other school I was competing against. I was encouraging him and I was beating him. He was so pissed off,\u201d Gretchen says, laughing, \u201cI knew I could beat him. I\u2019m super competitive. I was like, \u2018I\u2019ll be nice to you, but I\u2019m gonna beat you.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCreating shoes is almost like a sport. You can always get better. You have to be able to adapt and change your strategy. You\u2019re trying to solve a problem and it\u2019s just that idea of \u2018it\u2019s never done\u2019.\u201d Gretchen Weimer<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n After a year or two of cross country, Gretchen found her true passion, rowing, and she worked hard to became a world-class single sculler. Single scullers race individually rather than with a team. After making it through the Olympic Trials, she was in the Olympic Selection Camp before eventually being cut.<\/span><\/p>\n During her training for the Olympic Trials, Gretchen worked for a financial services company in a specialty program designed for athlete job opportunities. \u201cWhen I didn\u2019t make it to the Olympics, they offered me a job in their broker training program. And I was like, \u2018Hell, no,\u2019\u201d Gretchen says, \u201cI\u2019d spent the last ten years of my life in a wet T-shirt and shorts. If you can\u2019t see yourself doing something, it\u2019s probably never gonna happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Gretchen tracked down a sales rep and edged her way into a job as a technical sales rep before moving into a sales position, then becoming a product line sales manager, then finally landing as an account executive. \u201cAs an account executive, I was managing the outdoor and women\u2019s lifestyle footwear for a retailer. And that was my first taste of creating product. It was me, the buyer, the designer and the developers all working together to take the stories from the marketing team and give it to them in a different package,\u201d Gretchen says.<\/span><\/p>\n Later, she managed small-scale women\u2019s casual footwear brands and men\u2019s and women\u2019s performance outdoor brands. I ask how she\u2019s stayed interested in such a specific topic for her entire career. \u201cBeing an athlete was my life for so long. And working around other athletes and being in a competitive environment just made me feel like, \u2018Oh. These are my people,\u2019\u201d Gretchen says.<\/span><\/p>\n Joining the HOKA team in early 2016, Gretchen and her team had a vision for the Fly Collection. \u201cIt\u2019s never one person doing all of it. I have a team, a really talented team. And we\u2019re always working to tap into other people\u2019s experiences and try and create something from all the parts that we have,\u201d she says. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWith HOKA, the idea for the brand came from this fundamental concept of geometry and foam and how the two interact. And we\u2019re trying things like how we can make someone go faster by tweaking the geometry. Or make them more comfortable by tweaking the foam. It\u2019s finding what the levers are and how you can use them to tune the product,\u201d Gretchen says. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s never one person doing all of it. I have a team, a really talented team. And we\u2019re always working to tap into other people\u2019s experiences and try and create something from all the parts that we have.” Gretchen Weimer<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Basically, creating product is problem solving. It\u2019s taking different pieces of information and data and then combining them to create a shoe. Then, working with the designers to make those innovative ideas into a reality. Pushing limits is where Gretchen thrives and she was able to channel that into the Fly Collection. \u201cWe kept wondering, was it too much of a leap? Or just enough to make people uncomfortable?\u201d Gretchen says. <\/span><\/p>\n The idea for the Fly Collection started with two shoes that were very successful, the Clayton and the Vanquish, but they didn\u2019t fit within the other long-lasting legacies of the brand. Names like Bondi and Clifton are almost synonymous with HOKA. \u201cWe took two shoes and amplified them by talking about them in a different way. They represented something and we put them in the Fly Collection to tell a story about why and what they represent,\u201d Gretchen says.<\/span><\/p>\n As part of HOKA\u2019s DNA, flight seemed like a perfect way to tie everything together. After all, when translated, the brand name loosely means \u201cto fly over the earth\u201d in Maori. \u201cWe went after this notion of flight and created a story around it. And added another shoe to round it all out \u2014 everything is better in threes,\u201d Gretchen says. So, they created the Mach using the DNA of the Clayton, the Elevon from the Vanquish and then added the Cavu for a full set.<\/span><\/p>\nBeating the competition<\/h3>\n
Climbing the career ladder<\/h3>\n
![\"Shoe](\"http:\/\/blogemea.hokaoneone.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Fly-masterminds-2rs.jpg\")
<\/p>\nTurning ideas into reality<\/h3>\n
![\"Prototype](\"http:\/\/blogemea.hokaoneone.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Fly-masterminds-3rs.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLooking into the future<\/h3>\n