How cult label Golden Goose took flight with sneakers scuffed, scraped and scored
Celebrating the 10th anniversary of its smash-hit sneaker line, the founders of Golden Goose Deluxe Brand give their inside take on a label that has won fans worldwide including Gwyneth Paltrow, Kanye West and Taylor Swift
“Everything started by chance, as a game, a series and succession of fortunate events,” says Alessandro Gallo, creative director of Golden Goose Deluxe Brand, as the company celebrates the 10th anniversary of its smash-hit sneaker line that was launched in 2007.
These coveted and often sold-out kicks have come to symbolise the brand’s non-traditional approach – and its vision of everyday, artisanally enabled luxury as imagined by Gallo and his wife, co-founder Francesca Rinaldo, when they set it up in 2000.
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The growth of Golden Goose reads like a fairytale-worthy succession of fateful moments that has resulted in rapid international expansion from its base in Venice. This transformation of what was supposed to be a personal adventure into something greater – “probably dictated by our great passion, and surely also by a good dose of recklessness,” Gallo says – was born under most auspicious omens, starting with the brand’s name itself.
Taken from Aesop’s tale “The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs”, the name was chosen for its lucky connotations and potential international appeal. Soon after, “Deluxe” was added to position the brand as a luxury one – not in terms of ostentation and appearance, “but as something rare that requires experience and broad knowledge to be understandable,” Gallo says.
