Experiential design agency Green Room has partnered with performance footwear and apparel brand HOKA on a new global store concept which has launched in China and SE Asia.

The partnership has crafted an iconic, inspiring, community-fuelled retail concept – a true celebration of the HOKA brand – due to be rolled out to multiple locations and formats across the globe, from flagships, to concept stores, shop-in-shops, pop-ups, and outlets.

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HOKA, part of California-based Deckers Brands, was founded in the French Alps when pioneering trail runners wanted to design a shoe that made downhill running easier. Known for delivering an unprecedented combination of enhanced cushioning and support for a uniquely smooth ride, HOKA footwear is now currently sold in 60 countries across the world, helping to empower access to running, walking, fitness and the great outdoors for as many people as possible. 

Existing to empower a world of athletes to take flight over the globe, it was only right that the store was the starting point. Green Room’s design concept celebrates the theme of flight, creating an empowering sense of movement throughout the space and a fitting new home for HOKA’s unrivalled products.

Upon entering the store, kinetic lighting pulsates overhead, mimicking the murmuration of a flock of starlings flying and hovering into view; the movement is programmed to change pace, altering your sense of space and pulling you deeper into the space. At the heart of the store is an elevated trial experience – the synergy of a treadmill and a 360-degree environment which animates around the runner, immersing them in the great outdoors and providing a hyper-realistic and relevant experience of running in a pair of HOKAs to help support the buying decision. 

But the store is far more than just somewhere to simply shop – it’s a beacon of the local running community – a space to connect, educate and inspire. A rolling table of events unites the community and breathes constant life into the space; from local talks on nutrition to weekly running clubs that start and finish at the store, HOKA aims to further enhance a customer’s running lifestyle and create a space that the community owns. Lockers also provide a base for customers to store personal belongings while out running, and a hydration station helps to educate on how to stay refreshed. 

Plants adorn the entrance of each store (oxygenating the store’s threshold) and each individual site will have a subtle local identity, using botanicals local to the surrounding areas. The space has also been created with light-weight furniture and a floor to ceiling merchandise system to be highly agile and adaptable to flex for the store’s stream of events and campaigns.

Andy Turnbull, Executive Creative Director of Green Room, said: “Green Room are ridiculously proud of our creative and technical involvement in helping to bring the HOKA brand, their inclusive spirit and it’s iconic products to life at retail. The team at Deckers and HOKA trusted us with the task of defining, creating and articulating how their global retail experience shows up, we repaid that faith with a project completed in record time to allow their owned and operated launch plan to be actioned. The store experience represents everything that is unique about the brand and sets the scene perfectly for the products and service proposition to shine.”