Brand: Akio Hasegawa x BEAMS SSZ x Clarks Originals
Model: Wallaroo
Price: ¥35,200 (about $305)
Release Date: January 15
Buy: in-store at BEAMS' Japanese flagships
Editor's Notes: Though it just dropped some exclusives with Levi's and Netflix, Japanese retail giant BEAMS isn't slowing its roll anytime soon, prepping a three-way Clarks collab as its first of 2022.
Specifically, the partnership involves BEAMS SSZ (Surf Skate Zine), a sub-label overseen by longtime buyer Tadayuki Kato. BEAMS SSZ usually oversees pop-ups and assorted collaborations, which occasionally involve popular stylist Akio Hasegawa.
Perhaps best known oversees for styling the extremely cool nanamica lookbooks, Hasegawa wears many hats. For instance, he juggles styling responsibilities with a creative director role at Nautica Japan with FREAKS STORE and AH.H, a creative and collaborative outlet overseen by digital magazine HOUYHNHNM.
Kato and Hasegawa actually just partnered on a pair of collaborative Vans Chukka sneakers but these Clarks, a forgotten model called the "Wallaroo," are much more interesting.
They speak to Hasegawa's obsession with '90s-era youth clothing, a passion made clear by his predilection for creating looks with tremendously oversized workwear and streetwear pieces borrowed from his personal archive.
According to Hasegawa, the Wallaroo was last made over two decades ago and he saw them at a showroom around the turn of the millennium, though they were apparently never commercialized as the style never took off.
Hasegawa knows what he likes, though, so he asked for a pair — he still has and occasionally wears that sample pair to this day.
Mid-cut, laceless, and co-branded, the BEAMS SSZ x Akio Hasegawa x Clarks Wallaroo are pieced together from the requisite premium materials befitting the price tag.
They're really Hasegawa at his best, plucking cool bits from bygone eras and giving them new life with a contemporary feel. As such, the Wallaroo's not for everyone but those that get it will seek them out when they launch in Japan by mid-January.
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