Forty years after Hogan helped make the dressed up sneaker popular, the Italian house is celebrating its anniversary with four films, four decades of history and a new generation of creatives.
Italians, if nothing else, are very good at putting things together. Food, tailoring, an aperitivo, good looking guys on a Vespa. It makes sense that they would be the ones to put a sneaker with something other than sports clothes. When Hogan launched in 1986, the Italian house helped pioneer the idea of the formal sneaker, bringing the craftsmanship from a smart shoe into the sports field and making getting dressed up more comfy. Forty years later, their impact is everywhere: we have all worn trainers with dresses and suits.
Hogan’s first bestselling product, the Traditional, took inspiration from cricket. The idea was to make something comfortable for everyday and stylish enough to wear anywhere. Hogan has stuck with that idea ever since, the brand has worked for four decades with that same simple, but successful, formula. Over the years, these sneakers have been worn by Taylor Swift, Cate Blanchett, George Clooney, Lady Gaga, Ethan Hawke, Madonna and others.
For its 40th anniversary, Hogan is celebrating those four decades through four short films, each centred around one of their sneakers, supporting four young Italian directors from Rome’s Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.
Celeste, directed by Nicolò Folin and set in the 1980s. A young girl spots a box hidden on top of a bookshelf and becomes determined to reach it. After putting on her father’s Hogan Traditional sneakers, the impossible starts to feel a little more achievable.
Then there’s Nine Hundred, by Sarah Narducci, which takes us to Rome on New Year’s Eve in 1999. While everyone else is waiting to see whether the world will survive the millennium bug, Mara, a young skater, sneaks out of dinner, joins a group of skaters and races through the city in her Hogan Interactives.
Never Off, directed by Gregorio Mattiocco and set in the 2000s, follows a celebrity trying to escape the paparazzi outside her hotel. She hides in the building, swaps clothes with a chambermaid, and attempts to disappear, but she refuses to give up her Hogan Olympias.
Lola Rebel, by Paoli De Luca, is set in the 2010s. Lola lives in an oddly perfect villa, when a young gardener arrives and disrupts her perfect life. Lola rediscovers a bit of fun and freedom, and eventually steals his Hogan Rebels. Who wouldn’t?
To celebrate the anniversary, Hogan is also releasing a limited-edition Hogan Cool in a deep blue pony-effect leather, as well extending its relationship with the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia through five scholarships for students studying directing, acting, screenwriting, editing and production design!
And really, what better way to celebrate 40 years?
