Planters Releases a Mr. Peanut High-Top, the Crunch Force 1
Marketing tends to latch on to trends, with the basic idea being that, if it worked for brand X, maybe it can work for us too. We’ve seen an arms race of bizarre branded products, whether it’s a bearskin rug Colonel Sanders or a Honey Baked “ham”mock. Craft beer tie-ins have been extremely popular, regardless of whether you’re Wawa or Sheetz. And plenty of big names in the food world have dipped their toe into footwear: be it Dunkin’ or Gatorade or even Dominique Ansel.
This past October, Planters’ monocled mascot Mr. Peanut jumped on one of those trends, getting his own Mr. IPA-Nut beer. Now, he’s hoping for another marketing slam dunk: Mr. Peanut has released his own official athletic shoe.
Mr. Peanut’s Crunch Force 1 by Planters go on sale today — Tuesday, June 18 — at 8:30 a.m. Eastern and will continue to be on sale until Friday, June 21 at 6 p.m. while supplies last. “Mr. Peanut has been a dapper dresser for over a century, but now he’s hanging up his spats for custom high-top sneakers,” a brand spokesperson quipped via email. “Each pair is made with premium leather, Mr. Peanut shoe tongue, peanut insole and iconic monocle detailing all brought to life by sneaker designers and artists Jeff Cole and Seth Fowler and sneaker manufacturer Richie Range.”
“I’ve worked with some major national brands, and I was thrilled to partner with Mr. Peanut to produce a high-quality sneaker that Planters fans and basketball fans can go nuts for,” said Rich Franklin, the man behind Philadelphia-based Richie Range. “Planters came to us with a vision of how to unite the snack, fashion and hoops worlds, and these kicks bring it to life in a truly unique way.”
The limited-edition shoes — which feature “high quality blue and yellow pebble-grain leather inspired by Planters, with accents of suede and a natural gum sole” and are “handcrafted in the U.S.A.” — are currently available to order at crunchforce1.com for $170 per pair.
