Harcourts has crowned the winners of its inaugural Sneaker Day, a fundraising campaign that saw offices across Australia and New Zealand trade corporate footwear for sneakers in support of Orange Sky, the charity’s Foundation Partner.
Orange Sky provides free laundry, shower and conversation services to people experiencing homelessness and hardship.
The overall Sneaker Champion 2026 title went to Wendy Lenaghan and the team from Harcourts Broadbeach | Mermaid. Accepting the honour, Wendy credited Harcourts Managing Director Mike Green for the inspiration.
“If it’s good enough for Mike Green, it’s good enough for me!” she laughed.
Aimee Garside of Harcourts Dapto took out Best Sneaker for a bespoke Harcourts design, while Harcourts Melbourne City won Best Team Sneaker Moment for its office-wide sneaker parade.
The Sneaker Parade from Harcourts Melbourne City
Harcourts Alliance and Harcourts Mandurah were named joint winners of Most Creative Sneaker Moment, after judges couldn’t separate the two.
Pauline Smith, Head of the Harcourts Foundation, said picking the winners had been one of the hardest parts of the campaign.
“After a lot of debate, we now have the winners from our very first Sneaker Day,” Pauline said.
“We honestly couldn’t split the winner of our Most Creative Sneaker Moment category, so for the very first Sneaker Day we have two deserving winners. The creativity, enthusiasm and effort shown by everyone across the network absolutely blew us away.”
Pauline said the response had grown beyond what organisers expected.
“What started as a fun idea quickly became something much bigger. Offices embraced the challenge, colleagues rallied behind one another and people who may never have donated before found a simple and enjoyable way to support the Harcourts Foundation and our Foundation Partner, Orange Sky.”
She added that the day reflected the culture within the network.
“Sneaker Day reminded us that generosity doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes it starts with simply putting one foot in front of the other.”
Mike Green said the first-year event had exceeded expectations.
“Sneaker Day captured everything that’s special about Harcourts – community, generosity and a willingness to have a bit of fun while making a genuine difference,” Mike said.
“Seeing our network embrace the idea with such enthusiasm has been fantastic. I have no doubt Sneaker Day will become a much-loved tradition across Harcourts for years to come.”
Organisers have already flagged Sneaker Day 2027, with this year’s effort setting the benchmark for offices to beat.