ReimagineTradition
A Pinch of History
“ Make Good Goods, and Nothing but Good Goods.”
Morris Selz emigrates to the United States at only 16 years old. He would go on to found M Selz & Co. in Chicago, a wholesale shoe trade with the mission to make nothing but ‘good goods.’
New Leadership
C. Trafton Cole, William B. Rood, Edward Haan and two other executives take up the mantle of the business.
Maine on the Horizon
E.E. Taylor acquires the company and moves manufacturing to Augusta and Freeport, Maine.
An Unexpected Ascension
The brand is renamed to Cole Haan and grows to international success in the years to follow.
OUR MISSION
A Rich History of Looking Forward
As one of America’s time-honored footwear and accessories brands, we have remained rooted in craftsmanship, design and comfort since 1928. But that’s not what makes us iconic.
For nearly 100 years, we’ve disrupted the industry; creating innovations in footwear that responded to changing American lives and reshaped the category. Yes, we honor the established, but it’s our irresistible urge to challenge convention that defines us.
We believe traditions begin with the audacity to create and celebrate something new. Always inspired by the possibilities of the future, we take the best of timeless American style and reinvent it to make it something better.
OUR Design Convictions
What Defines a Cole Haan Product
OUR SIGNATURE PRODUCT LINES
Discover the Grands
The one that started it all.
The unexpected meeting of a sneaker-obsessed PR department member and a designer looking to make a mark. A product of pure alchemy, bringing forth our original hybrid dress shoe. Comprised of a dress upper and an athletic sole, and held together by a unique leather welt, it was inspired by the way astronauts walk weightlessly on the moon—and its design was revolutionary.
The boardroom disruptor.
The evolution of our sneaker-inspired outsole. Maximum flexibility. Superior comfort. Sustainably crafted. Exceptionally light. A decade of remastered tradition where the worlds of sneaker culture, high fashion, casualwear and sports become one.
An ode to the collective memory of sport.
The GrandPro family of footwear conjures the sights and style from the golden era of athletics. Inspired by the parquet and the pavement, GrandPro is meticulously crafted and designed for the modern arenas of life.