CDNCE was started with the simple question:

Why aren't there sneakers we can rinse fresh when needed?

We live by the beach and found ourselves constantly burning through shoes. They trapped sweat from wearing them barefoot, a bit of saltwater and sand here or there.... and then be toast after a couple of months.

We needed shoes that had everyday appeal but could still keep up during more active or adventurous outings.

Once we committed to creating a sneaker, we had to go all out and create the most functional shoe on the market.

We wanted to reevaluated what a shoe could do and asked ourselves:

Why are crocs popular?

Why do so many non-runners wear running shoes?

What makes a sneaker timeless and fashionable?

Our conclusion? We need to blend the convenience of crocs, support/comfort of running shoes, and lifestyle versatility of sneakers.

None of us comes from the footwear industry.

Our ignorance led us down the paths of ridiculous concepts, burning cash, and multiple prototype failures. In hindsight though, ended up being necessary iterations to get us here.

And perhaps our biggest weakness at the time ended up being one of our biggest strengths. Our naivety gave us the ability to design a shoe without preconceptions or guidelines.

Or as Olive Schreiner puts it:

"A child sees everything, looks straight at it, examines it, without any preconceived idea; most people, after they are about eleven or twelve, quite lose this power; they see everything through a few preconceived ideas which hang like a veil between them and the outer world."

We didn't quit though and our ignorance, failures, and resilience ultimately led us to create our patent-pending CDNCEcore + POWERdrain midsole.

After an extensive R&D process we knew exactly what we wanted but knew we couldnt afford to get it wrong again. We needed to bring in a technical shoe designer to nail it and found the perfect guy.

His early career was spent with Vans, DC, Element, and other skate/sneaker brands but his passion and recent work involved desiginging high end running shoes. It was the perfect cross over of sneakers and perfomance.

With his experience, he was also able to introduce us to our suppier. A tier one factory that also produces high end shoe brands like Topo, Globe, Paul Smith and others.

Things started falling into place. Our vision was now a reality.

We launched in August 2025, and here we are today. We have had an amazing reception and still remain 100% independant.

We are doing things on our terms and hope you join us as we continue to write this story.