Haven’t heard of Needles? Founded in 1988, Needles is a fashion brand under the Nepenthes umbrella, designed by Keizo Shimizu. The brand explores a mix of both American and Japanese designs using different shapes and fabrics. Being truly Japanese, all of their products are produced in Japan.
In line with Keizo Shimizu’s fascination with American culture, Needles has partnered up with Vans for a collection of two Slip-Ons. This collaboration merges the worlds of both brands—simplicity and high fashion. Through this, we are met with the Vans Classic Slip-On donning mismatched zebra and leopard prints.
The first colorway of the Needles x Vans Slip-On is a lighter tone of grey and white. The zebra and leopard prints are found on the sneakers’ uppers, while the midsole and lining remain free from any print. This provides the sneaker with enough contrast to emphasize the mismatching animal prints.
The second colorway of the collection makes use of dark brown tones throughout the sneaker. Providing contrast through a much darker midsole and linings, this colorway is a little bit more low-key. Similar to the light grey colorway, Needles injects a touch of high fashion into the design through metallic embellishments of loops and tassels on the sneaker’s forefoot.
The collaboration is set to release on October 9, 2020, with a retail price of $90 (~Php 4.4k). Commonwealth does sell items from Needles, so there’s a good chance that they will be made available here. Are you planning to cop a pair if you get the chance? Let us know in the comments below!
