APL’s size 9 with a bullet

by Bill Buys IF you own a McLaren supercar or perhaps one of its electric scooters you’d certainly want to be seen in the correct footwear. ...

by Bill Buys

IF you own a McLaren supercar or perhaps one of its electric scooters you’d certainly want to be seen in the correct footwear.
McLaren scooter?

Yep, it’s called a Lavoie, a subsidiary of McLaren Applied, and the two-wheeler has a magnesium frame and its battery provides a range of 50km per charge via a kinetic energy recovery braking system.

Formula 1 star Lando Norris rides one.

Your shoes would be more visible on a scooter than in a 720S car, but people will check you out when you emerge from the beast.

So, just announced is the second ‘drop’ of the APL McLaren HySpeed range of luxury sneakers.

Cars often come in second or more editions and in various colours, but shoes, apparently, in drops, and the latest APLs also come in three new ‘striking colourways’.

In a ‘woke’ type of media release, the message oozes with superlatives and words, some of which might a require a quick trip to Google for clarification.

One of the special ‘colourways’ is ‘Pristine/Magenta ombré fade’.

‘Both leaders in their respective product categories, APL and McLaren Automotive combine the pursuit of performance with world class quality and luxurious materials,’ the release gushes.

"With such close parallels in brand philosophy, the collaboration progressed in a natural direction guided by both McLaren and APL’s design pillars to create a truly special collection.’

Design ‘pillars’?

"We were inspired by the Wizards of Woking and as an homage we at APL created and applied unique mixtures of texture and colour to the HySpeed for the newest release, APL’s," Adam and Ryan Goldston said.

The twin brothers fired up their Athletic Propulsion Labs footwear venture in Los Angeles in 2009 and their products are now sold at top shops all over the world.

APL’s claim to fame came with the introduction of their Concept 1 basketball shoe.

It featured ‘groundbreaking’ Load N’ Launch technology, ‘designed to instantly increase vertical leap.’

As a result, the Concept 1 became the first shoe banned by the NBA for performance reasons by ‘providing an undue competitive advantage’ to the wearer.

APL also has partnerships with American Airlines, F45 Training gyms and the Williams Racing Team.

Getting back to the choice of the latest drop of the product, here’s the description of each of the latest trio:

• Magenta/Pristine — The vibrant magenta represents the dynamic performance and driving characteristics mixed seamlessly with yellow hues as an ode to the luxurious lifestyle of APL and McLaren.
• Pristine/Tan/Midnight — A lifestyle inspired colourway taking inspiration from McLaren interiors and the French Riviera.
• Black/White — A updated, fresh new take on APL’s historical best-selling colourway.

Now for the cost.

The 2023 APL McLaren HySpeed retails for AU$960.

If you can’t find a pair at your usual sports shop or on the shelves at Big W you can mail order them from APL online, or if you’re in LA, pop into their Flagship Store Experience at The Grove.

With those ombré fades on your size 9s you’ll stop traffic.

 

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