How a 20-Year Friendship Led to 3sixteen’s Saucony Guide 7 Collab

You can try to plan for the future but you never really know how things are going to turn out. Just ask Andrew Chen, founder of the NYC-based fashion label 3sixteen. Prior to becoming one of the most renowned purveyors of high-quality denim, the brand created graphic T-shirts and operated primarily in the streetwear sector from its inception in 2003 until 2008, when it introduced its first pair of denim jeans. The pivot into a higher tier of fashion has opened many doors for Chen and the 3sixteen brand, but footwear collabs have been somewhat elusive until last year’s link-up with Saucony.

Mostly flying under the radar here in the States, 3sixteen’s first project with Saucony was on the trail-ready Peregrine 15 sneaker, done in multiple custom dyed variants alongside a more available undyed colorway. But now, 3sixteen is prepping to drop a two-pack of Saucony ProGrid Guide 7s, with each pair taking inspiration from Y2K-era computing culture.

Sole Retriever was fortunate enough to sit down with 3sixteen’s founder Andrew Chen to discuss the brand’s upcoming Saucony collab, how their relationship began, and more.

Friendship Rekindled After 20 Years

Over at Saucony, if you want a collab, you’ve gotta talk with Jason Faustino. A friend of the program here at Sole Retriever and a fellow movie buff (though let’s not talk about our difference in opinion on Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer or PTA's Inherent Vice), Faustino has been a pivotal part of Saucony’s recent rise in the realm of streetwear. Without Jason’s help, we wouldn’t have the Jae Tips partnership, the work with Westside Gunn, Metagirl Studio’s hit project, or any of the recent Saucony collaborations.

Andrew’s long-time friendship with Jason was rekindled a few years back after Chen made an appearance on the Throwing Fits podcast in 2022. After hearing the 3sixteen founder discuss the fashion-to-running pipeline, Jason reached out via Instagram DMs. “He was like, ‘Yo, let me send you some shoes. I thought what you said on the podcast was super spot on. Would love for you to check out what we’re up to.’” Chen’s response? “Don’t worry about the shoes. I just want to catch up with you.”

You may not know it, but Jason actually was one of the original founders of the boutique Extra Butter. The strong through line of movie-themed collabs and the name referring to a popcorn topping choice makes much more sense now, doesn't it? Faustino, alongside brothers Ankur and Nick Amin, founded the boutique in 2007, but weren’t landing many streetwear accounts in their early days.

Andrew was able to help Jason and the Extra Butter crew some 20 years back. “I had a good feeling about him,” said Chen. “He was opening the store and trying to land these accounts like The Hundreds, 10 Deep. And as a new store, nobody really wants to talk to you.” After seeing Faustino and Extra Butter struggling to land connections at MAGIC, a fashion tradeshow held biannually in Las Vegas, Chen introduced Jason and the crew to the brands 3sixteen was close with. The two lost connection in the years that followed, but this moment wasn’t forgotten.

After reconnecting post-Throwing Fits, Chen began to utilize Saucony in lookbooks for 3sixteen’s seasonal collection. Eventually, Jason gave the brand the thumbs up to work on their first project, the Peregrine 15. Before that collab dropped, 3sixteen was already working on the upcoming Guide 7 project.

“There’s a level of trust that Saucony has with their collaborators, their partners, that a lot of other brands, from what I’ve heard, don’t always extend,” said Andrew.

Software to Hardware: Y2K’s Influence on 3sixteen’s Guide 7 Collab

Saucony only recently pulled the Guide 7 silhouette from the archives, a sneaker that was developed as a stability-focused performance runner in the early 2000s. While most of the bring-back pairs and inline releases have stuck to the design language and color palette that defined this era for running shoes (loud colors, synthetic materials), 3sixteen went a different route.

Even though the title of the collab is the “v7.3,” a nod to computer operating systems, the moniker is purely aesthetic as the actual core of the Guide 7 is untouched. “As a retro tech runner, there was a lot of synthetics,” said Andrew. “There was no leather on there because it was meant to perform. We flipped it to mostly hairy suede and nubuck.”

That shines through on both colorways of the shoe, even if the base is still a breathable mesh, as the overlay and paneling all use these premium materials. Another difference from the inline pairs and the 3sixteen collab is the tongue. Chen and company added exposed foam for that vintage feel.

3sixteen didn’t go overboard and make it an ultra-premium model with these small changes and material upgrades, and they employed this same low-key elevation when it came to executing co-branded details. Saucony’s logo goes untouched on the midfoot, but the woven tongue label contains tonal 3sixteen and Saucony branding. You may not notice it, but there’s also a debossed logo for 3sixteen on the heel.

As for the color palettes used on the two pairs, this is where the Y2K aesthetic really shines through. When asked about the monochrome pale yellow used on one pair, Chen said: “You remember the bubble iMacs?” It immediately clicked. He was referring to the iMac G3, which Apple sold from 1998 to 2003 and featured an all-in-one design encased in a semi-opaque, frosted plastic covering the back of the computer. Multiple color options were offered, and this same Y2K futurism ethos was what helped inspire New Balance’s 2000 silhouette.

With the first pair leaning towards Apple, Chen chose to have the other colorway reference the PC side of things. A real “Get a Mac” moment here. Remember those commercials from the mid-2000s with Justin Long playing the “cool guy” who uses a Mac and the stiff suit-wearing PC user? Unfortunately, that connection didn’t cross this author’s mind during the conversation with Chen, but it had to be mentioned here.

“This is just your classic PC. You’ve got yellowed out keyboards, grey housing for CRT monitors,” said Chen. Not only are the shoes done in a way to recall this era, but so too was the packaging and the campaign behind the release. The box appears almost like old software packaging, with an abstract drawing of the shoe on the top of the lid in a multi-color finish, the “operating system” version number on the side, and computer-style symbols throughout.

The campaign, which is probably one of the most creative we’ve seen this year thus far, is meant to resemble a found-footage-like vibe. Chen immediately recalls the viral Old Country Buffet training video, which was filmed in 1996 and found fame online for its cringey and corny style, as one of the many things on the mood board used for inspiration for the Guide 7 campaign.

A ‘90s-coded vibe is ever-present throughout the video, with the intro featuring computer-generated graphics from that era. “We couldn’t reinvent the foot, so we decided to reinvent the shoe,” says the presenter. As the camera pans in, more ‘90s vibes exude from the synthetic instrumental playing behind his voice. Each part of the shoe is presented as if it's a piece of hardware that other companies aren’t providing. Quite the revolution for including an insole and laces.

Release Details

At the end of the conversation, Chen wanted to give a few shout-outs and thank yous. “I want to thank Saucony for believing in us. Anybody who is into clothes dreams of making sneakers. This is huge for us. Thankful to have the opportunity to give our take and to bring our perspective to fruition. I know there’s a million collabs out these days, I hope that when people see it [the Saucony Guide v7.3], they see that there was a lot of love that was put into it.”

3sixteen will be releasing its Saucony Guide v7.3 project in both colorways on March 12, 2026 via its webstore and in its NYC and LA flagship stores. A global release will take place on March 13 via Saucony and select retailers online and in-store. Both pairs are priced at $165.

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