ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 20, 2026--
Vionic, a lead brand in the Caleres (NYSE: CAL) portfolio, is introducing Weightless Walking with the debut of Hummingbird, the lightest walking shoe the brand has ever made. Weighing approximately seven ounces, Hummingbird features VioFeather™, a new innovation engineered specifically around the biomechanics of walking to create an exceptionally lightweight experience without compromising Vionic’s defining support and comfort.
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The innovation starts with a simple premise: walking isn’t running. The two movements place different demands on the body, yet footwear innovation has historically focused heavily on running mechanics. Vionic set out to rethink the walking shoe from the ground up – asking what could be removed, refined and re-engineered when a shoe is designed specifically for the way people walk. And then how could the shoes be made lighter to further enhance the biomechanical benefits.
The result is Weightless Walking by Vionic: a new approach to everyday movement, with Hummingbird as its first expression. Developed over more than a year through collaboration between biomechanical experts, performance footwear designers, physical therapists and Vionic’s VioLab innovation team, VioFeather™ is designed to make walking lighter while preserving the stability, guided movement and comfort essential to every step.
“Running is a performance act. Walking is a life act,” said Natelle Baddeley, Chief Design & Product Officer at Caleres. “We walk to work, through airports, around our neighborhoods, and simply as part of everyday life. Walking and running place very different demands on the body. With VioFeather, we asked what could happen if we engineered specifically for walking – and then challenged ourselves to make every step lighter. You count your steps. We counted every ounce.”
VioFeather™ combines several new material and construction innovations, including:
The result is what Vionic calls “intelligently light, biomechanically right, and remarkably comfortable.”
LIGHTNESS TESTED. COMFORT PROVEN.
Hummingbird marks a new proof point for Vionic, becoming the first shoe from the brand to earn the Heeluxe® Certified Comfort designation following extensive independent lab testing by Heeluxe®, a leading footwear testing and comfort certification company.
Hummingbird achieved a comfort score of 91, earning high marks in heel cushioning, forefoot cushioning, arch support and overall comfort performance. According to the Hummingbird working brief, the shoe also ranked among the top 10% of shoes in the Heeluxe database for cushioning and arch support and was the lightest shoe among the competitive walking shoes tested.
“Hummingbird earned the Heeluxe® Certified Comfort badge by meeting demanding comfort standards,” said Dr. Geoffrey Gray, Doctor of Physical Therapy and President of Heeluxe. “With optimized support as its foundation, responsive cushioning for comfort, and energy return to keep you moving, Hummingbird delivers Vionic’s premium comfort experience in an ultra-lightweight shoe.”
As walking continues to gain cultural momentum alongside growing interest in longevity, wellbeing, low-impact fitness and everyday movement, Hummingbird represents more than the introduction of a new silhouette. It marks the first expression of VioFeather™, a new platform for walking innovation that gives Vionic a foundation to continue exploring how footwear can better support the way people move.
With Hummingbird, Vionic is beginning a larger exploration of what walking footwear can be when it is engineered around the way people actually move.
Hummingbird launches exclusively at vionicshoes.com on October 20, 2026, as a limited release. Beginning in early December, the full range of colors will also be available at Nordstrom, Dillard’s, and specialty retailers nationwide, both in-store and online.
ABOUT VIONIC
Vionic designs its VIO-MOTION technology into every shoe it makes, resulting in unparalleled stability, ultimate arch support, and cushioning. As pioneers in foot health with a global team of experts behind the brand, Vionic brings a fresh perspective to fashionable, supportive footwear. Featuring a wide range of silhouettes, premium materials, and thoughtful design for women and men, Vionic offers the style you want with the comfort you crave across a vast selection of active, casual & dress options, sandals, and slippers. Press features for Vionic include the cover of O, The Oprah Magazine, as well as coverage in InStyle, Women’s Health, BuzzFeed, Refinery29, Men’s Health, Travel + Leisure, People, and on The Today Show. For additional information about Vionic footwear, visit www.vionicshoes.com.
ABOUT CALERES
Caleres is a market-leading portfolio of global footwear brands that includes Famous Footwear, Sam Edelman, Stuart Weitzman, Allen Edmonds, Naturalizer, Vionic and more. Our products are available virtually everywhere - in the more than 1,000 retail stores we operate, in hundreds of major department and specialty stores, on our branded e-commerce sites and on many additional third-party retail platforms. Combined, these brands make Caleres a company with both a legacy and a mission. Our legacy is nearly 150 years of craftsmanship and our passion for fit, while our mission is to continue to inspire people to feel great… feet first. Visit caleres.com to learn more about us.
Introducing Weightless Walking by Vionic
Come Election Day, a Quaker leader will travel from the nation's capital to her home state of Ohio. A Christian minister and a Jewish rabbi will stand vigil outside a polling place in Arizona. A Buddhist nun will offer support to voters in Wisconsin.
In battleground states across the country, these faith leaders and hundreds of their colleagues will assume the role of poll chaplains for one day. They will deploy to nine states — Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Virginia and Texas — where contentious races are expected to raise political tensions.
Faiths United in Saving Democracy, a nonpartisan coalition of interfaith and secular partners, is helping to train and certify this volunteer force of clergy members and lay peacekeepers in time for the Nov. 3 elections.
They’ll wear identifying hats and vests, and stay outside the poll centers, with the goal of maintaining a calm, reassuring presence to encourage more voters to exercise their rights without fear or hesitation, said co-founder Barbara Williams-Skinner. As of Oct. 19, they've recruited 1,235 poll chaplains and peacekeepers, she said.
While the idea of poll chaplains has been around for several years, Williams-Skinner said “2026 is going to be different” because there is widespread concern that the presence of federal immigration agents could create a chilling effect.
“The fear is real,” she says, worrying that it could deter eligible voters in mixed-immigration-status families and communities of color. Department of Homeland Security officials have consistently said they have no plans to send immigration agents to the polls, although DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said they could show up for a specific reason, such as arresting someone if they have a warrant.
The coalition has offered training online and in person. Participants get information about immigrant rights, de-escalation techniques and phone numbers to call in tight situations, Williams-Skinner said.
The initiative, strongly rooted in the Black church, has expanded to include diverse faiths as well as non-religious people, she said.
“This is a movement built by unusual coalitions,” she said. “You have white, Mainline Protestants, Quakers, traditional Baptists, Black church leaders, imams, rabbis — all kinds of people who probably would not work together or haven’t worked together in the past.”
While most participating groups are moderate or progressive, Williams-Skinner says it is a strictly nonpartisan initiative.
“We don’t get hung up on who’s moderate or who’s conservative. People just need to be able to vote, unafraid,” she said.
A Pew survey following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September 2025 showed 85% of Americans, across political lines, believe political violence is on the rise.
Polling places have been targeted by protesters in past elections. In 2022, members of a group claiming to monitor ballot drop boxes in Arizona were ordered to stay at least 250 feet (75 meters) away after voters complained about intimidation. In 2020, following Election Day, a crowd stormed a vote-counting center in Detroit, many incited by online conspiracy theories about election fraud.
As the mob banged on the center’s doors and windows, the Rev. Steve Bland was among several faith leaders who put their bodies between the building and the crowd. Bland, who leads Detroit's Liberty Temple Baptist Church, is continuing that work as a poll chaplain.
The pastor says de-escalation often involves “using the right words to calm a situation” or giving intimidated voters the moral support and reassurance that they are safe to exercise their civic right. Bland said he did precisely that for an elderly, Black woman during a prior election.
“She left and came back with two of her grandsons who also voted,” he said. “Without that intervention, three people wouldn’t have voted that day.”
The Rev. Bankole Akinbinu, senior pastor of Baptist Grove Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, said training in conflict resolution and de-escalation has given him the confidence to serve as a poll chaplain. A millennial, he has sought to engage younger people by recruiting peacekeepers from college campuses.
His motivation comes from seeing voter suppression attempts in North Carolina and other states.
“I look at our forefathers and the struggle they had to endure to afford us the privilege of voting,” Akinbinu said. “I look at my children and the nation I want to hand them.”
Steven Huefner, deputy director of the Election Law Program at The Ohio State University, says poll chaplains might be able to calm the frayed nerves of a voting public that is constantly exposed to divisive rhetoric and news about political violence. While political violence has increased, he says, it's not widespread.
“Election workers are well-trained and can run elections quite well,” he said.
Faith leaders have historically played the role of peacekeepers, said Wendy Cadge, professor of sociology at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and founder of the think tank Chaplaincy Innovation Lab.
And now chaplaincy — beyond traditional worship spaces — is attracting more clergy.
“People are feeling called to chaplaincy because they want to be with people in difficult times,” Cadge said. “They don’t want to worry about what color the carpet is in the church or if their youth programs are attracting enough people. It’s a different kind of work.”
Clergy deploying on Election Day say they are heeding a strong, faith-driven calling to serve as poll chaplains.
In Arizona, Rev. Katie Sexton, executive director of Arizona Faith Network, embraces the initiative as a way to reach across the political divide.
“The ballot box is a place where we’re all seen as equal,” she said, adding that it reflects the Christian belief that all humans are created in the image of God. “There is such power in that.”
On Oct. 6, Sexton and several others participated in a training session — one of the last before the midterms — at Temple Chai, a Reform synagogue in Scottsdale.
Rabbi Emily Segal, who leads the congregation, will be a poll chaplain for the first time next month. The work, she says, aligns with what the Torah and Talmud teach about a healthy and just society.
Throughout American history, interfaith coalitions have created powerful change and served as sources of inspiration, Segal said. “Any time we can come together with faith partners around our shared values for societal good is a real source of holiness for our community.”
Bridget Moix, a Quaker leader, will travel to her native Ohio on Election Day.
“In our faith tradition, we think about voting as a sacred act we want to protect,” she said.
For Reirin Gumbel, resident teacher at the Milwaukee Zen Center, it’ll be a third time, come November.
“As Buddhists, the Metta Sutra we chant says every being has the same rights, and that we should have compassion toward all,” she said.
Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi, spiritual leader of the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, is considering becoming a poll chaplain for the first time. In a highly contentious campaign in Elahi’s state, Abdul El-Sayed is the first Muslim Democratic candidate to run for a U.S. Senate seat.
The imam said he is tired of anti-Muslim vitriol that has surfaced ahead of the midterms.
“As interfaith clergy, we stand for principles not personalities,” he said. “The Quran tells us to stand for what’s right — truth, justice, peace, human rights and the dignity of human beings, whoever they may be.”
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
T-shirts are ready to be handed out to newly-trained poll chaplains and peacekeepers during a training, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, ahead of the upcoming general midterm election, at Temple Chai in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rebecca Noble)
Senior Rabbi Emily Segal stands for a portrait during a training from Arizona Faith Network for poll chaplains and peacekeepers, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, ahead of the upcoming general midterm election, at Temple Chai in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rebecca Noble)
Cindy Weiser listens intently during a training from Arizona Faith Network for poll chaplains and peacekeepers, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, ahead of the upcoming general midterm election, at Temple Chai in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rebecca Noble)
Rev. Dan Hoeger and Brad Weintraub review a list of upcoming events during a training from Arizona Faith Network for poll chaplains and peacekeepers, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, ahead of the upcoming general midterm election, at Temple Chai in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rebecca Noble)
Rev. Medina Moore, voting rights organizer for the Arizona Faith Network (AFN), and Rev. Dr. Katie Sexton, AFN's executive director, lead a training for poll chaplains and peacekeepers, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, ahead of the upcoming general midterm election, at Temple Chai in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rebecca Noble)
