Jimmy Gorecki Puts Philly Water Ice on the Saucony ProGrid Omni 9

Lapstone & Hammer released two colorways of the Saucony ProGrid Omni 9 on July 3, built with Jimmy Gorecki and named after the frozen dessert Philadelphia refuses to call Italian ice. The lookbook was shot at Via Veneto in Norriton, Pennsylvania, a working water ice stand rather than a set dressed to look like one. Two details about this release travelled through the feeds wrong, including through this post, and both are worth correcting before getting to the shoe.

The ProGrid Omni 9 was not a shoe anyone was nostalgic for. Saucony’s own copy dates it to 2010 and calls it the ninth iteration of the Omni line, a motion-control stability trainer built for road and light trail running, with a TPU midfoot cage, a structured upper and GRID cushioning run through the ProGrid system over an EVA midsole. It was the sensible shoe in the wall, the one recommended to runners who pronated. No designer is credited for it anywhere in Saucony’s material, so none is named here. What has changed is Saucony’s willingness to work it. The parent style, 56179U, now carries eighteen colorways on Saucony’s own site, with TMY, Prism, Suede, Disrupt, Distract, Faded and Armor variants spun off it. The Omni 9 has quietly become one of the more productive platforms in the Saucony archive program.

Saucony writes the two colorways ViZiRed | Multi and Mint | Multi. The red pair runs bright red mesh under silver, grey and mint green leather panels with reflective overlays, and the mint pair runs mint mesh under silver, orange and royal blue leather. Both sit on a recycled linen footbed. Here is the correction this post needs most: the style codes were reversed. S101245-1090 is the red pair and S101245-1091 is the mint, confirmed on Saucony’s own product page, on both of Lapstone’s product pages and at three other retailers. This post previously had them the other way around, following JustFreshKicks, which assigned them backwards. Separately, the flavor-style colorway names circulating, Watermelon and Blue Razz for the red and Mint and Tangerine for the other, came from Sneaker Freaker and are not Saucony’s or Lapstone’s wording.

The interesting work in retro running right now is happening on shoes nobody was asking for, and a 2010 motion-control trainer is about as unglamorous a starting point as the category offers. That is the read on why this works. Gorecki’s whole catalogue is built on specificity rather than reach, with projects for the Philadelphia Eagles, for Temple University, and going back to Vans and DC. He picked Temple for its proximity to LOVE Park. On the naming he is blunt: “I know for most it’s Italian Ice, but for me it’s water ice. Water Ice is too hyper local. That’s the point behind Italian ice.” One thing worth getting right, since this post got it wrong: he is not Philadelphia-born. montco.today calls him a Norristown native and Temple has him graduating from Norriton Area High School, while Complex and GOAT frame him as Philadelphia, which is true of his skate identity rather than his address. He now works out of Los Angeles. WWD calls him an ex-pro skater and Complex describes him as an amateur in the early 2000s earning $250 a month, so former sponsored skater is the phrase that survives both.

Retail was $155, and the $165 in circulation, including in the earlier version of this post, came from Lapstone’s own announcement blog. Sneaker Freaker and JustFreshKicks repeated it. Lapstone’s product pages, Saucony’s own site, Extra Butter and Sneaker Room all charged $155, which is also the standing price of a general-release Omni 9. Against Saucony’s ProGrid range, which runs from $135 for the Guide 7 to $185 for the Paramount, a three-way collaboration priced level with the stock shoe is restraint rather than a bargain.

Released July 3 at 10am Eastern, in store and online at Lapstone & Hammer first, then wider through Saucony and international stockists. S101245-1090 is ViZiRed | Multi and S101245-1091 is Mint | Multi, both $155, parent style 56179U, men’s 5.5 to 13. The capsule also carried a B.J. Betts tee and hand-dyed New Era caps. Still findable at Lapstone & Hammer and Saucony. More in the ProGrid Omni 9 hub and on Jimmy Gorecki, including the Westside Gunn Omni 9.

Source: Justfreshkicks

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The Sneakers Team

The Sneakers Team is the editorial desk behind becausesneakers, founded and edited by Nick Engvall. Nick has spent more than two decades in the sneaker industry. He built the original Eastbay Blog, led the first dedicated sneaker team at Complex, ran the first UGC and seeding programs at Finish Line, was employee number nine at StockX, and served as Senior Director at Stadium Goods. He hosts the Sneaker History podcast, and his first book, Small Luxuries: Sneakers, arrives in October 2026 from Motorbooks. Release details on this site are checked against the brand's own product information before publication, and anything we cannot confirm is labelled rather than stated.

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