Converse and JW Anderson are teaming for a second season on a sneaker collection, and are planning a pop-up in London’s Soho to showcase the new goods. The four-day retail venture aims to take Anderson’s latest approach to the Converse Chuck 70, and translate it into an experience that resembles a traditional art gallery, according to Women’s Wear Daily in a 2018 report.
Anderson’s new Chucks, with loud patent vinyl instead of canvas and terry toweling as laces, mirror the playground quality of the gallery. “There was something I really liked about the collaboration being just bizarre,” Anderson explains of creating the dégradé gel and soft pile materials to Vogue in a 2018 report. “Sometimes you want something that is, in a weird way, slightly ugly, because I think that’s where you find newness. You always find newness through things that your eyes aren’t used to.”
The collection is called Toy, and there will be a pop-up store called Toy Gallery. It will run from July 19 to 22 at 20 Beak Street in Soho, displaying works by the Los Angeles-based artist Delfin Finley inspired by the Converse x JW Anderson Chuck 70 styles.
There are also plans for exclusive programming outside gallery hours, and Converse said the aim is to engage and inspire the diverse creative communities of London. The collection will also be sold as of July 19 on converse.com, according to a 2018 Women’s Wear Daily report.
“Converse called the collaboration the result of Anderson’s obsession with collecting art and objects. It said the designer applied his process of searching and collecting information and imagery — as well as and his passion for art and craft — to this latest version of the Chuck 70,” said Women’s Wear Daily in a 2018 report.
Anderson told Vogue he gets a kick out of others wearing his creations, though. “Sometimes in design you go places internally, but you don’t actually see the physical reality of someone wearing the product. You’re so consumed by the show outfit, and then when you get surprised by it [in real life], it’s completely different from how you imagined it.”
