Everything looks cooler with a leather jacket, even Crocs.
The casual clog shoe has partnered with Beams, a Japanese fashion brand, for a two-item collection of shoes wearing jackets, and the result is both silly and punk rock.
Beams has reimagined the Crocs Classic Clog with a faux-leather upper that looks like a tiny black leather motorcycle jacket, sporting many of the design details you’d want on a real moto jacket: cross-front zippers, metal snap pockets, and a stud spike Jibbitz (that’s a shoe charm, to the Croc-unitiated). The other shoe in the collection, the Dylan Clog, is designed to look like a quilted jacket with an embroidered tiger and “Japan” written out in cursive.
The shoes will be released September 6.
The Crocs x Beams promotional video and photo shoot leans heavily into an aesthetic that is both 1970s punk rock and 1950s rockabilly with an edge. (Crocs never really was one to do things halfway.) A pair of models—one wearing a black motorcycle jacket and the other sporting a varsity jacket with tiger motifs—exit their muscle car, showing off both their super-stylish Crocs and their gloriously coifed pompadours.
The Crocs brand retains high visibility thanks to its seemingly constant collaborations, including some unlikely partnerships with fast-food and snack brands. Earlier this year, Crocs and Pringles collaborated on clogs with an ankle holster to carry the chips, and last year the brand produced a line of footwear with McDonald’s. There have been Crocs for Shrek and SpongeBob SquarePants. And the list goes on. These are shoes people either love or hate, but for fans, the more eccentric the better.
While the quirkiest Crocs collabs are heavily promotional, its forays into fashion have turned foam clogs into art. The Beams contribution brings a bit of Japanese punk rock flair to the Crocs canon.