EXCLUSIVE: Estudio Niksen Founders Andrés Barrios and Gabrielle Gagné Slow Things Down for First Saucony Collab

Chances are, you’ve been burned out from the fast-paced lifestyle that modern-day society demands from us all, especially if you live in a big city. Hitting all the events in your calendar, meeting for dinners and lunches across town, fighting the crowds, and forgetting that each person you encounter has a story of their own.

This isn’t a feeling that is exclusive to you; we all go through it, and sometimes the slow-burning, easy-going lifestyle of rural living seems like paradise. Montreal-based fashion label and lifestyle studio Estudio Niksen took the philosophy of living the laid-back life that we often associate with rural communities and applied it to its first-ever footwear collaboration.

Andrés Barrios and Gabrielle Gagné, partners both in life and business, founded Estudio Niksen in 2021. The latter half of the studio’s name, “Niksen,” is a Dutch philosophy that essentially translates to “the art of doing nothing,” and this has been the defining ethos of the brand’s seasonal collections.

It may sound like some form of laziness or an apathy for being chalant, but it’s really rooted in a conscious decision to take time to rest your mind. Think of it like a moment when you stop checking your phone and just stare outside the window, or when you stare at the clouds and those racing thoughts in your head fade away.

This philosophy found its way into Estudio Niksen’s collaboration with Saucony on the Trainer 80 silhouette, a model dating back to 1978. The Trainer 80 was originally a performance runner, but more recently has made a return in the lifestyle space. “Speed was the start, now slow wins the day” is the tagline for the campaign, something that applies both to the sneaker and the collaboration from Estudio Niksen.

As for the shoe itself, the pair comes constructed out of a hodgepodge of materials drenched in earthy hues. Hairy suede in light brown is laid across the mudguard, heel overlay, and eyestays, while a darker brown ripstop material makes up the base. A checkerboard flannel pattern is found on the top of the tongue, taken directly from Estudio Niksen’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection, and a double lace set adds textural contrast to the materials seen thus far with its fuzzy finish.

“It’s a maximalist combo of textures,” said Andrés Barrios, who sat down with Sole Retriever alongside his partner Gabrielle Gagné and Saucony’s senior director of global energy, Jason Faustino, to discuss the collaboration.

Origins of the Saucony and Estudio Niksen Relationship

Faustino started our conversation by giving us the backstory on how the relationship between Saucony and Estudio Niksen came to be. Jason and the Saucony team were traveling to Montreal for an event with collaborator Raised by Wolves, and after hitting up a friend who was familiar with the area, he was recommended Estudio Niksen. They knocked off a handful of locations in the city, and as they were set to make their way to Niksen’s retail space, they realized it was about to close.

Luckily, Jason’s friend messaged the team, and Estudio Niksen stayed open for the Saucony team to explore its offerings. “We just had a blast. We really liked the brand, and it was something that we said we would keep our eye on,” said Faustino. “Thank God he did that [keep the store open] because that was our favorite shop on our trip.”

Andrés and Jason would reconnect in Brooklyn during one of Estudio Niksen’s pop-up events, but even before that, Jason and other members from the Saucony team were supporting the brand on their own time. “It just felt incredibly genuine, the love and support from the team,” said Barrios. “I would see their names pop by in orders every two, three weeks, and every photo I’d see Jason wearing a piece from us. If we ended up working together or not, I just felt the support was there. Truly.”

Once they bumped into one another in Brooklyn, they both knew they had to work together. “I don’t know who it was to make the first step,” said Barrios. “But we’re talking, and I was like ‘So, what do we do? You want to do something?’ He [Jason] was like, ‘I’m down, are you down?”

Estudio Niksen hadn’t worked with a footwear brand at this point, and Barrios explained that nerves definitely played a factor in his initial interactions. But from there, Saucony began to seed products for the brand’s lookbooks.

Developing the Collab

A few different silhouettes caught the eye of Estudio Niksen during this period, including the Ride Millennium and the Trainer 80, but from the jump, it was clear they’d stick to the lifestyle sector. “I was more into the very heritage kind of traditional athletic shapes. We found the Trainer 80s, which I was automatically drawn towards, Gabby as well,” said Andrés. “It was really the first time we actually, at least from my point of view, stepped away from chunky shoes.”

After toying around with the Saucony Jazz, another heritage silhouette from the same era, Estudio Niksen settled on the Trainer 80 and immediately brought it into the world of the brand’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection. Andrés explained, “It’s literally dipped in the Spring/Summer 2026 collection, which was inspired by us daydreaming and imagining our life outside the city with a barn in the countryside.”

Barrios compared the colorway to a potpourri, saying, “It’s like a mix of fabrics, flannels, checkered stripes, textures. It’s rich.” The hand-stitched details are directly taken from one of the T-shirts in the collection, which Andrés was wearing during our convo, and the tongue’s checkered pattern comes from one of the vests and a jacket in the collection. Gabby explained her favorite detail is actually a doodle that is found on the insole, one that she did herself, while Andrés focused on the laces.

While most footwear projects and colorways can take multiple rounds of sampling and months of development, Estudio Niksen ran through the process in as little time as possible. “This was incredibly instinctive and fast. It took us like a week to put it together,” said Andrés. “We had a different variation of a yellow-ish base layer, but it seemed like they were cousins. We knew the direction we wanted to take.”

Barrios also made sure to give props to the team at Saucony, “Shout out to the team, Isaac, Jason, Philo, they were so reactive. It felt like we had so much room to like, carte blanche to just do.” However, the team did make some changes here and there. “It’s not like we got it at the first shot, but we got the majority and the solid base of the shoe in the first shot. After this, it was just easy fixes.” One of the early samples included a pull tab on the heel, but it was quickly removed as it didn’t match the aesthetic that the team was going for.

“They fit with everything. I can wear them with a skirt, with jeans, with something more elevated. I can wear them with something more sporty as well. It works,” said Gabby. “It also fits with the idea you wake up and you just put them on [with] whatever you’re wearing.”

Everything really came together, and the project was actualized for Andrés when he wore the shoes during Paris Fashion Week. “I feel like the excitement of the process was like 70-80% filled, but the remaining 20% for me to be like ‘This is the best shoe ever’ was to wear them and feel like they actually work with everything and anything.”

Jason from Saucony summed up what Estudio has achieved here with its Saucony Trainer 80 in a few short words. “You can do amazing things through the art of doing nothing. That’s how it felt. Not that we didn’t do anything, but it felt effortless. When you have a never-ending checklist of stuff to do, it feels like you’re not being productive [when practicing Niksen], but that’s the most productive. They’ve embodied that.”

Looking Ahead to the Future

While this has the makings of a long-term partnership, especially considering how strong a foundation this initial collab was built on, Andrés and Estudio Niksen are taking things one step at a time. When asked about future projects with Saucony, Andrés said: “I’m never going to say no, but I’m really focused on this at the moment, and I don’t want to get expectations too high as well.”

Through it all, both Andrés and Gabby gave all the praise to Jason and Saucony. “The relationship has been nothing but amazing,” said Andrés. “Any other creators, brands, designers that have the opportunity to work with Saucony, work with Jason, it’s been incredible.” Gabby chimed in, “It’s always scary as a little brand to be working with bigger brands, because you always hear the bad stories, so it was really nice to have a great experience [with Saucony].”

Something that has been in the background (though now in the foreground) during the creation of this shoe was Andrés and Gabby’s first child. They plan on keeping the smallest size available to give to her when she is able to fit in the pair. “I hope our daughter will see this and be proud,” said Andrés.

“I have this feeling of uncertainty, “Is this the beginning of something bigger?’ or ‘Was this the one that I’m going to be telling my daughter about?’ Either or, I don’t care. This is amazing. I feel like it’s reassuring. If this was it, I can go in peace, I can retire. I really felt that we left everything on the table.”

Estudio Niksen’s Saucony Trainer 80 will be released on April 30, 2026 via the brand’s website, Saucony’s site, and global retailers online and in-store. Retail is set at $120. To stay informed on the release and more happening in the sneaker world, download the Sole Retriever mobile app.

Nicholas Vlahos

Sneakerhead from South Florida who turned his passion into a career. When not writing for Sole Retriever, I enjoy attending concerts, catching the latest movies, and trying new food. For tips, reviews, or any shoes in a size 13, email nick@soleretriever.com