As previously announced, Cole Haan and Maria Sharapova signed partnership for its new fashion-and-sports line, Cole Haan Sporting, marking the first time the Nike fashion subsidiary has used a Nike athlete as its face.

The campaign for Cole Haan’s 2009 sporting collection, shot by Martyn Thompson, will debut the week of Feb. 9 in the March issue of Condé Nast’s Vanity Fair magazine and will also make cameos in Condé Nast’s Vogue and Lucky, Hearst Magazines’ Harper’s Bazaar, Time Inc.’s InStyle and American Express Publishing’s Travel + Leisure.

"We are able to leverage her interest in fashion and sport, while connecting with our consumer in a new and unique way,” said Cole Haan CMO Michael Capiraso.

The April issue of Hachette Filipacchi Media’s Elle will come with a catalog of the collection, which is the first time Cole Haan has included a catalog with a magazine.

The campaign also will have a presence on NYTimes.com, NYmag.com and Style.com, including billboards and phone kiosks in New York and on buses and bus shelters in South Florida.


The collection will include 40 casual styles for women and 30 for men, ballet-style Mary Janes, elevated wedges and sandals in fuschia, orange and cobra for women and boat shoes and lace-ups for men in bold and neutral shades. Prices will range from $115 to $200.


Sporting’s shoes will incorporate Flywire, first seen at the Beijing Summer Olympics that creates strong but lightweight shoes, while Sporting handbags will be made from Bionic Yarn, a textile spun from recycled glass and plastics. In 2006, Cole Haan launched the “Air Collection,” which used Nike technology in both dress and casual shoes. (Nike is the parent company of Cole Haan.)


Next fall, Maria will segue into a design consultant for the line. She has worked with Nike since she was 10 years old. The line will represent her lifestyle.

“I’m not coming into the company to make the Maria pump,” she says. “I’m there to add that really young touch and flavor to it.”


(via Tennisgrandstand.com, The wall street journal)

Maria Sharapova Collaborates with Cole Haan