The countdown has begun — Rocky Balboa style (well, minus all the running in the snow, chopping up gigantic slabs of wood as a form of weight lifting, and other crazy training antics). If you're a sneaker lover, you're probably focused (and I do mean stalker-like focused) on these crazy rare, make-your-eyes-pop-out-of-their-sockets joints designed by tokidoki for Onitsuka Tiger, which hit stores June 1st. The limited-edition collection includes both lo-tops and mid-tops (though I must say the mids are way fresher) in four color ways: beige/orange, white/black, black/silver and pink/white.
If the designs look somewhat familiar, it's because you've probably come across tokidoki characters before: the 3-year-old, Japanese-inspired lifestyle brand has collaborated with Le Sportsac on various limited-edition handbag collections, with Strange Co and Toy2R on everal collectible toys, and even with New Era. Plus, their fan base is fanatical (look through the tokidoki blog, and you'll actually see users posting up pics of tokidoki tattoos — no joke).
All the shoes are intricately designed, with animé-style details throughout — from the clear soles (which feature panoramic, collage-style illustrations of iconic tokidoki characters like Sandy, the sassy green cactus and Mozarella, the blue-haired badass in the cow-print costume) to the inside lining, which also flaunts cool characters and colors.
The most prominent character, however, is a mischievous-loking tiger character with portruding fangs, which was created exclusively for the collection by tokidoki creator Simone Legno (the character will be retired after this run). The embroidered tiger character pops up on the shoes' uppers (for the mid-tops) or along the back of the shoe (for the lo-tops).
The kicks are made of suede and synthetic leather and feature velcro straps (I'm not usually a fan of this, but it works nicely here) to optimize fit and comfort. The velcro strap is thin and rectangular on the lo-tops, but on the mid-tops, it's thick and placed lower on the shoe, making it way more discreet. The pink midtops are my personal fave, but the beige/orage kicks are also fire.
Oh, and every purchase comes with a matching plush tokidoki character dangling from a key chain.
$130. Available at Henri Bendel NYC in and Bloomingdale's. Visit http://www.onitsukatiger.com for more info and additional stores.