https://www.thrillist.com/boston/heyday-shoes-pre-holiday-sale-0
One of the very first press hits for Heyday was in November 2008 for Thrillist.com
https://www.thrillist.com/boston/heyday-shoes-pre-holiday-sale-0
One of the very first press hits for Heyday was in November 2008 for Thrillist.com
Heyday always innovated and we beat Nike to the punch with the the customizable Velcro #myheyday by 2 years!
We worked with Cash Money artist Jay Sean extensively by providing him with multiple Heyday sneakers and custom designing a pair for him to celebrate the release of his hit single “2012 (It ain’t the end).
In 2010, I was asked by AMEX OPEN small business to talk about my gym sneaker brand Heyday Footwear as growing entrepreneur in the footwear industry. It was a commercial on US TV as well as on Amex.com.
#AMEX #entrepreneur #heyday #darinhager
… and they’re still talking about it on Reddit!!
#itsnothype
Here's some Friday inspiration for our design followers from one of the most accomplished industrial designers ever:
#id #industrialdesign #frogdesign #Wentworth #footweardesigner #appledesign #hagerdesign #HeydayFootwear
Boxers know the importance of stepping into the ring with the right gear. While boxing gloves are given top priority, boxing shoes are the next that you should pay attention to. For those of you unaware, boxing shoes are designed with special features. These include foot padding, ankle supports and textured bottoms to enhance performance and also reduce the risk of injury during bouts.
If you are out on the market to purchase a pair of boxing shoes for your next game, here's a list of the aspects to factor in.
There have been so many times where I’ve wanted to give up, to quit, to chuck it all and go back to a “regular” job. But then I see what I’ve built, from the shoes that turn heads, to the social media following that continues to grow, the celebrities and influencers who call wanting shoes not because they’ll get paid (which they don’t) but because they genuinely love the product and the brand I’ve built. There’s always an opportunity knocking on my door and getting to interact directly with my customers is the icing not he cake!
When it comes to eliminating the chance of a customer abandoning their cart, free return shipping always wins out. Knowing that they can return a pair of sneakers that doesn’t fit or isn’t to their liking quickly, easily and free is something I’ve consistently offered. I vary the free shipping threshold and have found that free shipping over $150 has brought in more sales and made me more money than when shipping was “free” but the price was higher!
Be transparent with your business to your customers especially when something goes wrong (usually with shipping and freight delivery times). They can spot BS a mile away but really, really appreciate hearing the reason why something isn’t happening the way they want.
2019 was a tumultuous year for Heyday Footwear as we tried desperately to secure investment in order to scale the business but we were unsuccessful. We subsequently closed our doors after one last Tactical Trainer pre-order in July 2019.
We were undercapitalized from the start and while bootstrapping the brand worked for quite a while, without an investment of $1 million to $2 million, there was just no point in continuing after 12 years.
I’m glad we closed when we did, on our terms. If we had continued into 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic would have finished us off anyway.
This site, www.Hager.Design acts as the design portfolio for all of the brands and projects I’ve worked with over the past two decades. I hope you enjoy seeing the design process that went into Heyday Footwear, as well as Puma, Sperry and many other brands I’ve been fortunate to work for and with over my career.
I’m currently taking on select footwear design clients and am always open to chatting with other designers and entrepreneurs.
Thank you!
Darin Hager
This interview I did with StarterStory.com was just published today. It's probably the last interview about Heyday Footwear I'll do...worth a read!
Singapore is a pretty sweaty place. Menswear is inherently reductive and minimalist in nature here. Blazers and cardigans may give you an edge to your look, if there were actually seasons outside of ridiculously hot and humid. The classic t-shirt and jeans combination is the way to go, but is pretty standard fare too. So how do you make something that looks fairly ordinary a little more unique?
Here are 5 brands that bring about a re-imagining. For starters, they sit outside the Nike-Adidas-New Balance axis that dominates the sneaker narrative. As a disclaimer, the majority of my list are high-tops. It is true that high-tops are not that common. If anything, low-tops are the general trend. This may be the established order of things, but these shoes make the most of their size. They are big on comfort, while able to fuse their graphic designs with vibrant colours. Yes, low-tops are easy to fit into your look and are reflected in how easy they are to find. However, they do not require you to up your game to pull them off. There is nothing wrong with trying to fit into the norm.
My value proposition is simple. The article says to kill it, not fit in, like any other sod. If you want to challenge the established order – then lead the charge – there are pumped up kicks out there which take the game to the next level.
Read the rest HERE
I’ve had a lot of press over the life of my design career but this placement in ID Magazine from November 2005 was one of my personal favorites; The Puma Kendo. I used to look forward to every issue and they were passed around the design studio at Wentworth and at Puma endlessly.
http://www.hager.design hashtag#designprofessional hashtag#mydesign hashtag#designstudio hashtag#truth hashtag#press hashtag#id hashtag#wentworth hashtag#magazine hashtag#puma
Your #heydayfootwear #ceo on @msnbc in 2015 #msnbc #entrepreneur #smallbiz
SXSW features plenty of fashion. Some official, some impromptu. Here's some of the fashion that appeared at the SXSW conference including Darin Hager of Heyday Footwear with a special collab between Klout and Heyday Footwear. 100 pairs of custom Klout branded Heyday Super Shifts were gifted to 100 influencers at the Klout party house in Austin.
Start at 1’:55”
Heyday Footwear CEO does a deep dive into Heyday Footwear, branding and marketing in this presentation from 2013 Creative Mornings Boston.