In a world where sneakers are often synonymous with athletic performance and celebrity endorsements, one brand dares to break the mold. Traditionally, if you ever dreamed of having your own signature sneaker, you'd likely need to be an all-star athlete, dominating basketball courts or setting Olympic records. But what about artists, poets, designers, or musicians? These individuals rarely receive that kind of recognition from the fashion industry—until now.
Enter Novella, a premium sneaker brand redefining what it means to be iconic. By shifting the spotlight from competitive sports to creative expression, Novella introduces a new paradigm in footwear—where each pair is not just a product, but a poetic embodiment of an artisan’s life and work. Crafted with intention, each design in Novella’s lineup elevates voices that are often overlooked in the commercial fashion landscape.
From Concept to Cult Status: The Origins of Novella
At the core of Novella lies an unconventional vision: to create a premium sneaker brand that transcends fashion norms and embraces storytelling as its foundation. This was not just another trend-chasing venture. Instead, it was the thoughtful result of a partnership between Paulo Ribeiro, a strategic mind previously with Wieden + Kennedy, and Phil Marineau III, a creative force with a history of innovation at Electronic Arts.
Their shared ambition was clear from the beginning—to establish a sneaker brand rooted in artistic expression and emotional resonance. They weren’t interested in mass-producing hype-driven products; they sought to build a brand with enduring substance. Over a period of four years, the duo meticulously developed every aspect of Novella’s identity, ensuring that each decision aligned with the brand's long-term purpose.
From the product design to the narrative architecture, Novella was crafted with intention. The brand’s releases are structured as a series of literary chapters, where each sneaker pays homage to a different artisan. These artisans are not chosen at random or for their fame, but for the richness of their personal stories and the depth of their creative work. With every chapter, Novella grows its anthology—an ongoing collection of human creativity told through handcrafted footwear.
Paulo Ribeiro often emphasizes that Novella is not simply a fashion project. Every pair of sneakers reflects layers of lived experience, translated into physical design elements. Materials are chosen not just for quality, but for meaning. Textures, stitching, colors, and inscriptions are curated to serve the story being told. Every shoe becomes a tangible narrative, transforming the act of wearing it into something reflective and personal.
Honoring Unsung Visionaries in the Creative Landscape
One of Novella’s most defining characteristics is its choice of collaborators. In a landscape where sneakers are often associated with athletes or social media influencers, Novella intentionally spotlights creators who operate far from the mainstream spotlight. These individuals are deeply rooted in their crafts—whether that’s sculpting soundscapes, weaving textiles, or shaping culture through language and gesture.
Rather than measuring influence by follower count or media coverage, Novella values integrity, authenticity, and a true connection to craft. Each artist they work with has carved out a unique path, often away from commercial recognition. These artisans dedicate their lives to process, experimentation, and transformation, infusing every piece they create with emotional weight and intellectual intention.
This approach challenges the dominant hierarchy within the fashion industry. It asserts that creativity should be celebrated not for its visibility, but for its sincerity and impact. Novella provides a platform for these voices to be seen, heard, and worn—literally stepping into spaces they may not have been invited into before.
The stories behind each pair of sneakers are more than branding exercises. They are layered explorations of memory, identity, and creative process. To reinforce this connection, Novella integrates the artist’s fingerprint into the sole of every shoe, offering wearers a deeply personal link to the creative mind behind the design. It's a gesture that communicates intimacy and legacy in a subtle yet powerful way.
Reimagining Luxury Through Story and Craft
Novella doesn’t follow traditional rules of luxury fashion. While the materials are premium and the craftsmanship exquisite, the brand’s understanding of luxury comes from meaning, not just scarcity. Each design is produced in limited numbers—only 2,020 pairs per edition—not to generate hype, but to preserve the integrity of the story and the quality of execution.
This model of limited-edition sneakers is driven by intention. Scarcity here is not a gimmick but a reflection of artistic value. It speaks to the time and care invested in each design, and to the brand’s refusal to dilute its message through overproduction. Each sneaker is a statement of individuality—designed to last, to evolve, and to provoke thought.
Novella also champions a sustainable approach to creation. Hand-assembled using carefully sourced materials, the shoes are made with an awareness of their environmental and ethical impact. This commitment to responsible production reinforces the brand’s alignment with artisans who prioritize intentional, conscious work over speed and volume. In a world saturated with disposable fashion, Novella offers a counterpoint—slow fashion as both practice and philosophy.
From embossed poetry to unexpected fabric choices, from story-laced laces to cultural motifs embedded in the lining, each detail is infused with meaning. This level of detail is not decorative. It is symbolic, deliberate, and central to the brand’s storytelling ethos.
Building a Legacy, Not Just a Brand
What makes Novella more than just another sneaker startup is its long-term vision. This is not a brand chasing seasonal relevance or fast-moving trends. Instead, it is crafting a legacy built on cultural appreciation, creative collaboration, and meaningful design. The connection between artist and consumer is at the heart of everything Novella does.
The brand doesn’t simply feature artists—it builds relationships with them. The design process is collaborative, immersive, and rooted in dialogue. Artists are deeply involved, ensuring their voice is present at every stage. This ensures authenticity, depth, and a finished product that resonates with emotional truth.
As fashion becomes increasingly dominated by algorithms and analytics, Novella’s method stands apart. It is a return to a more thoughtful, human way of making. Each collection is not just about what’s next—it’s about what matters. The result is a brand that doesn’t rely on attention-grabbing tactics but builds loyalty through substance and storytelling.
Novella has already begun to cultivate a following of discerning consumers—those who care about creativity, ethics, and individuality. For these wearers, Novella is not just a purchase; it’s a connection. It reflects who they are and what they value.
As new chapters unfold, Novella’s mission remains unchanged: to illuminate voices often left in the shadows, to reframe how we think about sneakers, and to offer the fashion world something far more enduring than trend or hype. It’s not just a brand. It’s a tribute to the quiet power of creativity, the timeless appeal of storytelling, and the enduring value of walking in someone else’s shoes—literally and metaphorically.
Chapter 01: A Groundbreaking Debut Rooted in Real Stories
Novella’s inaugural release, aptly titled Chapter 01, stands as a declaration of purpose—an elegant blend of narrative immersion and aesthetic innovation. This first chapter introduces three strikingly original creative forces: Rudy Francisco, a celebrated spoken-word poet; Katherine Entis, an inventive textile designer with a flair for tactile storytelling; and Marcus Fischer, a sound artist whose layered compositions turn audio into visual metaphors.
Far beyond mere stylistic interpretations, these limited-edition sneakers are designed as biographical artifacts. Each silhouette is infused with emotionally charged symbolism that pays tribute to the respective artisan’s life, voice, and vision. The result is a wearable canvas where craftsmanship and narrative merge to produce something that is both deeply personal and universally resonant.
What distinguishes Chapter 01 is not just its visual impact, but the philosophical intention behind every design element. The storytelling is not metaphorical—it’s literal. From custom textures that mimic well-worn notebooks and childhood folktales, to color schemes inspired by vintage recording gear and handwoven fabrics, the shoes echo intimate moments from the creators’ lives. This isn't fashion for fashion’s sake—it is fashion as autobiography.
Central to the storytelling is the fingerprint feature embedded into the sole of each sneaker. This element isn't just a design flourish; it’s a tactile signature, allowing each wearer to step quite literally into the world of the artist. It is a nuanced detail that transforms ownership into connection and invites wearers to walk with intention. With only 2,020 pairs produced for each design, the exclusivity echoes the rarity of the stories themselves. There are no re-releases, no reruns—each drop is final, further enhancing the value and emotional gravity of each release.
This rarity, however, is not rooted in scarcity marketing. Instead, it emerges from Novella’s philosophy of reverence. Reverence for artistry. Reverence for individuality. And reverence for the idea that creativity should never be diluted by mass replication. These limited-run editions encourage the wearer to cherish not only the item but also the creator’s soul woven into its fabric.
Adding a layer of personalization and duality, every sneaker comes equipped with two distinct lace options. The first, referred to as the “mild” version, harmonizes with the shoe’s overall color scheme, offering a refined, understated look. The second, affectionately called the “wild” lace, introduces a burst of personality. Whether it’s a thread dyed in the creator’s favorite childhood hue or a material drawn from a nostalgic anecdote, the wild laces are a quiet nod to the unpredictability and vibrancy of artistic life. This detail allows the wearer to oscillate between expressions of subtlety and boldness, mimicking the dual nature of creativity itself.
Chapter 01 is far more than a product release—it is an embodiment of Novella’s belief that every human story deserves a platform, and every piece of design should carry emotional depth. These aren’t just shoes. They are chapters in a living anthology. They are invitations to slow down and consider the hands, minds, and histories behind what we wear. Each pair extends beyond the foot into the realm of identity, memory, and art.
Purposeful Creation: The Strategic Vision Behind the Brand
The strategy behind Novella’s rise wasn’t crafted in a boardroom lined with trend reports—it was cultivated through years of immersive development led by Two Things, the visionary creative agency founded by Paulo Ribeiro. Unlike typical branding agencies that enter a project post-ideation, Two Things was embedded in Novella from its inception. The agency worked hand-in-hand with co-founder Phil Marineau III to architect a brand with intentionality in every molecule.
This wasn’t a superficial exercise in logo design or copywriting. It was an act of holistic creation, one that involved laying down the structural framework of the brand while threading the DNA of storytelling through every aspect of production and identity. From conceptual strategy to artisan selection, from packaging form to tone of voice, the agency helped define what Novella would become—not only as a product line, but as a cultural artifact.
Every touchpoint was approached with meticulous care. The unboxing experience, for example, was designed to evoke the feeling of opening a treasured literary work. The interior packaging includes artist statements, symbolic textures, and archival materials that narrate the thought process behind each shoe. Even the paper wrapping the sneakers mimics pages from a creative journal—faint ink marks, sketched ideas, and subtle fingerprints creating a visceral connection between creator and consumer.
The brand’s messaging was sculpted with linguistic precision. It avoids commercial clichés in favor of poetic clarity. Descriptions of the product aren’t inflated marketing copy, but narrative extensions of the creator’s artistic ethos. This linguistic tone reinforces the brand’s core belief: that fashion is most powerful when it is sincere, emotive, and reflective of real life.
According to Ribeiro, helping build Novella was not only a creative opportunity but also a rare business endeavor that allowed Two Things to embody its mission fully. The agency exists to partner with brands in moments of transformation, and Novella represents a perfect case study in strategic metamorphosis—from idea to impact, from silhouette to storytelling.
The selection process for creators wasn’t governed by reach or reputation. It was governed by authenticity. The agency embarked on deep discovery work to identify artists whose practices were rooted in dedication, nuance, and vulnerability. These weren’t traditional collaborators. They were sculptors of culture, working in mediums that required discipline, emotional intelligence, and vision.
With each new chapter, Novella proves that innovation doesn’t always come from disruption—it can come from devotion. Devotion to material honesty, creative truth, and narrative depth. This commitment to meaning over marketing has already begun to differentiate Novella in the saturated premium sneaker market. It attracts an audience that doesn't just want to wear style—they want to inhabit story.
As Novella continues to evolve, its first chapter remains a beacon of what is possible when artistry and strategy align. It offers a vision of fashion that is rooted in reverence and shaped by story. It offers products that don't just reflect trends—they reflect truths. And it offers a glimpse into a future where creativity is not commodified, but cherished.
The Creative Force Behind the Footwear
Novella's Chapter 01 collection is a testament to the transformative potential of storytelling in design. With each pair of shoes, the brand redefines the notion of collaboration by offering not just a product, but a platform—a way to amplify the personal narratives of creators whose disciplines are typically distant from the sneaker industry. By aligning its limited-edition footwear releases with deeply rooted artistic stories, Novella challenges the prevailing notion that fashion should be dictated by commercial appeal or celebrity culture.
Chapter 01 introduces three unique visionaries: Rudy Francisco, Katherine Entis, and Marcus Fischer. Each artist brings their own medium, voice, and emotional sensibility to the table, resulting in three highly distinct yet thematically intertwined sneakers. These shoes are not simply inspired by their work—they are their work, translated into a tactile, wearable format. The thoughtful details, rare materials, and symbolic flourishes demonstrate what can happen when design is approached as biography rather than branding.
Rudy Francisco – Verse 01 | Love Poem
Rudy Francisco is one of the most influential voices in contemporary spoken-word poetry. Based in San Diego, his performances are known for their unfiltered honesty, lyrical precision, and emotional resonance. His themes range from racial identity and social justice to introspection, love, and personal growth. For Novella, Rudy brings this evocative approach into the physical world through his signature sneaker: Love Poem.
The design of Love Poem transforms poetic language into texture and form. Oiled leather overlays suggest the worn exterior of a cherished notebook, something that has been handled repeatedly over time—reflecting the life of a working poet. The tongue label is frayed purposefully, a subtle nod to Rudy’s favorite journals whose edges are softened by years of use. Subtle embossing across the upper includes fragments of verses, layered with intention rather than decoration. These details allow the shoe to speak quietly, like a poem whispered instead of shouted.
The color palette is subdued and emotionally weighted, offering a sense of melancholy and warmth—tones associated with intimacy, reflection, and honesty. The shoe's overall aesthetic mirrors the ebb and flow of Rudy’s poetry: at once simple and deeply layered, personal yet universal. Even the wild lace included with the shoe tells its own story, dyed in a shade reminiscent of a San Diego sunset, a metaphor for the end of things and beginnings yet to come.
Wearing Love Poem is not simply an act of fashion. It is an act of empathy. It invites the wearer to inhabit the emotional space of the poet, to walk with awareness, vulnerability, and openness. It’s a rare example of how literary nuance can be channeled into fashion without losing its essence.
Katherine Entis – Verse 02 | Momotaro
Katherine Entis is a textile designer and founder of the experimental design studio Soft Century. She studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and has since built a career centered on tactile experience, playful forms, and emotional storytelling through fiber and color. For her, fabrics are not just materials but vessels—capable of holding and transmitting memory, nostalgia, and whimsy. Her Novella sneaker, Momotaro, draws its name and inspiration from the Japanese folk tale about a boy born from a peach.
As a child, Katherine’s mother frequently told her the story of Momotaro. It was more than a bedtime tale—it was a link to heritage, imagination, and maternal comfort. These personal connections are embedded into every facet of the sneaker’s design. The upper combines a medley of plush textiles, ranging from velour to corduroy, creating a visual patchwork that feels deliberately childlike without being naive. The use of soft, pastel tones punctuated by brighter accents evokes both a sense of play and memory, mimicking the way we recall childhood in fragmented, vivid moments.
The stitching mimics hand embroidery techniques, bringing an artisanal dimension to the shoe’s construction. Inside the shoe, a lining pattern reveals iconography associated with the Momotaro legend—peaches, rivers, and distant mountains—delicate references that turn the sneaker into a layered narrative artifact. These are not immediately noticeable details; they’re discovered through wear, much like how deeper meanings in folklore are revealed over time.
Her wild lace option features a multicolored yarn blend, reflective of her studio’s own palette selections for home goods and textile installations. It’s playful and spontaneous, intended to provoke joy. The result is a shoe that feels alive, tactile, and emotionally connective—an embodiment of heritage retold through modern design language.
Katherine’s contribution to Chapter 01 reminds us that childhood, when remembered with love and interpreted through craftsmanship, can become a potent design language. Momotaro isn’t just a sneaker—it’s a fable turned footwear.
Marcus Fischer – Verse 03 | Two Worlds
Marcus Fischer is a multidisciplinary sound and visual artist known for his ambient compositions and spatial installations. His work occupies liminal spaces—between noise and silence, digital and analog, memory and moment. For Novella, Marcus channels this duality into his sneaker, Two Worlds, a meditative design that embodies contrast and introspection.
Two Worlds is minimalist on the surface, but layered in meaning and material. The upper is constructed from muted, natural fabrics—canvas, suede, and recycled cotton—that echo the utilitarian elegance of the instruments and environments Marcus often works within. The textures are carefully selected to mimic the grain of aged audio equipment and well-used photography gear. These choices root the sneaker in the physical tools of Marcus's creative process.
Perhaps the most compelling detail is the eyelets: they’re coated in a special finish that gradually reveals a bronze patina as the shoe is worn. This aging effect reflects the temporal nature of sound—how it exists briefly, then decays. The insoles are printed with abstract, analog visuals taken from Marcus’s field recordings and Polaroids. The entire shoe feels as though it belongs in both a sound lab and a gallery.
The mild lace is understated, matching the tonal quality of the shoe, while the wild lace includes a woven wire pattern—an allusion to old cables, cords, and circuitry, turned into something wearable and aesthetic. Each shoe is accompanied by a sound loop composed by Marcus himself, accessible via a QR code, allowing the wearer to immerse in the auditory world that inspired the design.
Two Worlds serves as an homage to the unseen, the background noise, the liminal textures of life that often go unacknowledged. It invites the wearer to pause, to consider transitions and tensions, and to engage with fashion in a slower, more mindful way.
Weaving Artistry Into Every Step
Together, these three visionary designs form more than just the first collection of a luxury sneaker brand—they form an interconnected series of lived experiences translated into material form. Each artist has transformed their primary medium into something physical and accessible, crafting shoes that are not only stylish and exclusive, but also intellectually and emotionally profound.
Novella's Chapter 01 is not just about creating beautifully made sneakers. It’s about elevating underrepresented voices, preserving the integrity of personal narrative, and showing that storytelling has a place in every part of our lives—even what we wear. Each pair is an opportunity to wear history, emotion, and meaning with every step.
Craftsmanship as Culture: A Return to Slow Fashion Values
In a fashion industry propelled by constant churn and disposability, Novella stands in quiet yet firm defiance. At a time when many consumers are inundated by fast fashion cycles and factory-made sameness, Novella reintroduces craftsmanship as a cultural imperative—placing value, intentionality, and human connection at the forefront of every design decision.
Every Novella sneaker is assembled by hand, constructed with precision and care by skilled artisans who understand that luxury is not just about price, but about purpose. The materials used are carefully sourced, selected for their durability, beauty, and symbolic resonance. From full-grain leathers to custom-woven textiles and unique insole patterns, each component is chosen not to impress but to express. The shoe is no longer a commodity. It becomes a conduit for meaning.
This deliberate approach is underscored by Novella's commitment to ethical production. The brand collaborates with workshops that uphold fair labor practices and maintain high environmental standards. There is no reliance on exploitative labor or ecologically harmful methods. Instead, Novella leans into a slower, more considerate process that respects both the maker and the planet. Every pair is produced in strictly limited numbers—not as a marketing ploy, but as a conscious decision to reduce waste, maintain quality, and preserve the sanctity of each story being told.
By choosing to operate within a small-batch model, Novella resists the industry pressure to overproduce, overstock, and overconsume. This restraint allows the brand to focus on depth rather than breadth, permanence over popularity. When a design is sold out, it is not reproduced. This reinforces a sense of timelessness, encouraging buyers to form an enduring relationship with the product rather than treat it as a fleeting trend.
The brand’s adherence to these values is not performative. It is foundational. Novella doesn't merely add sustainability as a feature—it builds from it. The result is a product that doesn't just reflect changing consumer preferences but helps shape them. Through its philosophy of sustainable sneaker design, the brand is quietly cultivating a new archetype of fashion consumption—one that is emotionally rich, materially sound, and socially aware.
Rewriting the Rules of Sneaker Culture
Sneaker culture has long been dominated by the allure of hype, celebrity collaborations, and exclusivity for exclusivity’s sake. Shoes have become symbols of status, often valued more for the name stitched on their side than the story behind them. Novella disrupts this narrative by centering its identity on storytelling, artistic integrity, and ethical relevance.
Rather than chasing endorsements from professional athletes or pop culture figures, Novella chooses to collaborate with creators whose impact is felt on a different frequency. These are poets, visual artists, sound designers, textile visionaries—people whose contributions to culture are subtle yet profound. Their influence may not be measured in media impressions or market shares, but in the emotional resonance of their work. Novella elevates these voices by embedding their essence into every pair of shoes, ensuring that each design is not just inspired by an artist, but created with them.
This shift redefines what it means to have influence. Novella invites wearers to consider their clothing as more than a visual statement—it becomes a philosophical one. Wearing a Novella sneaker is an act of alignment. It signals a preference for purpose over hype, depth over surface. It connects the wearer to the artist’s vision, creating a silent dialogue between creator and consumer.
In doing so, Novella creates a new kind of community—not built around clout or competition, but around shared values. It’s a gathering place for those who see fashion as an extension of identity, and who understand that what we wear has the power to reflect what we believe. This growing audience doesn’t just buy products. They invest in a worldview, in a movement that prizes intentionality, narrative, and ethical consciousness.
Novella's approach pushes back against the noise of the mainstream sneaker industry. Instead of leveraging artificial scarcity, it embraces authentic rarity—products that are rare because they are meaningful, not manufactured to be unattainable. In doing so, the brand reorients the conversation, placing substance at the center of style.
A Movement in the Making
To call Novella merely a footwear brand would be to miss its broader impact. It is, in essence, a cultural manifesto wrapped in leather and thread. It speaks to a rising shift in the fashion world—an awakening to the idea that apparel can be a vehicle for storytelling, social reflection, and ethical clarity.
The slow fashion movement has gained considerable traction in recent years, as more consumers begin to question the environmental and ethical cost of their wardrobes. Novella is a natural extension of this evolution, combining artisanal sneaker design with a literary sensibility that’s rare in the realm of retail. Each release is not just a product drop, but a chapter in an unfolding anthology—one that honors creativity in its most personal forms.
This story-first philosophy allows Novella to stand apart from other labels that rely heavily on visual novelty or influencer culture. Novella's shoes are not about spectacle. They are about soul. Whether it's a sneaker that echoes the rhythm of a poet’s verse, or one that weaves a childhood fable into its stitching, each pair carries within it a piece of human experience, a narrative worth preserving.
As Novella continues to expand, its model proves that sustainability and luxury are not opposing forces—they are, in fact, deeply compatible. By embracing restraint, craftsmanship, and cultural collaboration, the brand cultivates a deep emotional connection with its customers. This is not a relationship based on impulse; it is built on trust, admiration, and alignment of values.
The future of fashion does not belong solely to those who can move the fastest. It belongs to those who can move with the most purpose. In a market awash with noise, Novella offers a quiet, powerful alternative—proof that creativity, when approached with care and conviction, can still be revolutionary.
As the next chapters are written, one thing remains clear: Novella is not just producing shoes. It is crafting a wearable archive of modern culture, elevating those whose stories deserve to be told, and inviting all of us to walk with a little more intention.
Final Thoughts
In an industry dominated by flashy endorsements and mass-produced hype, Novella emerges as a refreshingly original voice—one that speaks to the heart of craftsmanship, emotion, and individuality. This is not a sneaker brand built around stadium lights or record-breaking performances; it's a quiet rebellion against the ordinary, honoring the nuanced work of creatives who shape culture through passion, not popularity.
At its core, Novella is redefining what it means to be celebrated in fashion. By placing poets, textile artists, and sound designers at the center of its narrative, the brand challenges the traditional gatekeepers of style. These creators don’t just lend their names—they infuse each sneaker with elements of their personal stories, giving wearers a chance to step into lives marked by imagination, discipline, and emotional depth.
More than just a luxury sneaker line, Novella is an evolving anthology—each chapter a tribute to a distinct voice, every pair of shoes a wearable storybook. Its commitment to quality over quantity, storytelling over spectacle, and artistry over algorithms signals a deeper shift in how brands can connect with consumers. The use of rare materials, limited runs, and ethically guided production practices adds another layer of authenticity that resonates in today’s conscious market.
Wearing Novella isn’t just a style choice—it’s a statement. It says you value meaning. You honor the unseen. You walk with purpose. This brand isn’t here to follow trends; it’s here to build a movement—one verse, one stitch, one footprint at a time.
As the fashion industry seeks more purpose-driven innovation, Novella offers a blueprint for how storytelling and design can merge into something truly transcendent. It's not simply about shoes—it's about giving space to voices that deserve to be heard, and crafting objects that carry their legacy forward.
In the end, Novella doesn’t just sell sneakers. It sells significance. And in doing so, it invites us all to consider: what story are we wearing, and whose story are we willing to walk in?
