Just as Clarks Originals is synonymous with British shoemaking, D*Face (aka Dean Stockton) is inextricable from British street art. United by their roots and the significant influence they have had on British culture, the heritage footwear brand’s decision to select the legendary street artist as the new ambassador for its latest release, the Trigenic Evo Knit, is a logical one.
Clarks has been making shoes for over 190 years—that’s longer than Nike, adidas, and Reebok collectively. Considering all the changes that the footwear industry has undergone during this time, the shoemaker’s prevailing relevance is a testament to the strength of its brand and to the timelessness of its designs. This reputation has, unsurprisingly, attracted some of streetwear's most influential heavyweights and in the last years Clarks Originals has teamed up with Supreme, Stüssy, and WuWear, cementing the brand’s place within street culture.
D*Face too has amassed a wealth of experience during his career and contributed heavily to the meteoric rise of British, and global, street art. He has been a leading figure in Urban Contemporary Art for over 15 years, starting out by covering London with his hand-drawn stickers and going on to deface walls and billboards around the world as well as design album covers for the likes of Lady Gaga and Blink 182.
The statuses that both Clarks Originals and D*Face have attained have given them the weight to transform the ordinary into something iconic. For D*Face, the unremarkable walls that serve as his canvases are elevated to iconic and valuable points of interest, attracting fans like pilgrims who flock to see his works in person. While Clarks Originals' models including the Desert Boot and the Wallabee are well-established icons that feature in the footwear rotations of Kanye, Drake, LeBron James, and even Breaking Bad’s Walter White.
Following a launch-cum-exhibition at New York’s Extra Butter where Highsnobiety’s Jeff Carvalho sat down with the contemporary artist to discuss his prolific career and the evolution of street art, Clarks Originals has released a film showcasing the artist at work in the new sneaker.
Shot this summer, the film follows D*Face as he travels from his sell-out show in Paris to the creation of his mural in Koreatown, L.A. The video captures him bombing in paint-splattered Trigenic Evo Knits and delves into the hows and whys of his art.
“Street art exists in every city around the world. It is uniquely free of age, race, gender or any restrictions to its participants. It gives you the freedom to say anything and everything—no limit,” he explains in the film.
Watch Clarks Originals' video above, and stay up-to-date with the brand on Instagram.
