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K-Swiss is bringing its sharp sneakers an easygoing streetwear spin, courtesy of Engineered Garments.
The tennis brand’s newest collaboration features three new unisex iterations of its staple Classic GT shoe in hues of black, white and warm caramel brown. Originally launched in 1966, the duo’s $115 Classic GT style features its signature round-toed uppers with side stripes and flat rubber soles. Engineered Garments’ versions, however, revamp the style with split symmetric uppers in complementary suede and leather, as well as bungee-style toggled laces for added edge.
“For K-Swiss it was an honor to collaborate with Engineered Garments — a brand that, just as ours, seeks to elevate designs, posing the question of how to redefine a Classic,” said K-Swiss’ senior designer of collaborations, Jon Tang, in a statement. “This collaboration speaks to our identity, to push the limits of what elevated Classics can be.”
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The line’s merge of Engineered Garments’ utilitarian aesthetic with K-Swiss’ signature sophistication was also an organic one, as Engineered Garments’ founder Daiki Suzuki has been intrigued by the brand since discovering it in the ’80s.
“To me, K-Swiss shoes at their core are tennis shoes, and the Classic GT is…pretty close to what I liked and grew up with in the ’80s, with its D-ring eyelets and mountain shoe-like blucher construction,” said Suzuki in a statement. “I wanted to maintain the authentic K-Swiss look, so I kept everything except the D-ring straps on one side.”
The collaboration was later celebrated with a launch party at Nepenthes New York’s store in New York City, where guests previewed the line and were distributed 88 limited-edition pairs of a Classic ’88 shoe.
K-Swiss x Engineered Garment’s collaboration is now available on K-Swiss’ website, Nepenthes New York’s website and select retailers.
