Another great collaboration between Onitsuka Tiger and our dear friend Yoske Nishiumi/ Koi Klub. Here's the full lowdown: Onitsuka Tiger collaborates with Koi Koi, the third sneaker that it has created in collaboration with Berlin design collective Koi Klub. The sneaker has a two-tone “nude” color scheme, which ...uses contrasting flesh tones – pink for the body and a pale brown for the heel stripes and toe caps. This is combined with detailing in orange. The nude colour scheme is intended to symbolize the bare skin of
lovers, while the orange signifies the heat of intense passion. The lining is grey.
Each shoe in the pair is laser-etched with a different Japanese character, 濃い on the left and 恋 on the right. These characters mean “intense” and “love” respectively, but of course both are pronounced the same way – “koi”. The word “koi” has as many as six meanings in Japanese, and Koi Klub uses these linguistic possibilities as the inspiration for all its designs. The repetition of the word in the phrase “koi koi” translates as “intense love” in English. The design of the sneaker is based on that of the LAY-UP 72. This is a contemporary replica of the classic LAY-UP NYLON shoe from 1972, an early example of the trend in youth fashion towards sports shoes as eisure wear.
