TheSoloist x Converse Jack Purcell Zip Ox 'Black Americana'
Colorway: White/Black/White · Style code: 164835C · Release date: May 23, 2019 · Price: $133 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Converse TheSoloist x Converse Jack Purcell Zip Ox 'Americana' (164836C)
Takahiro Miyashita founded TAKAHIROMIYASHITA TheSoloist. after leaving Number (N)ine, and the label's habit is to take a familiar garment apart and rebuild it with something added that ought not to work. His second Converse collaboration, part of the Spring/Summer 2019 collection, applied that to the Jack Purcell.
The changes are structural rather than graphic. A chunky zip runs up the tongue, and the lacing is a detachable interlaced speed system rather than conventional eyelets, so the shoe closes two different ways. The canvas carries Converse's Stars and Bars print, a heritage pattern the company first used in 1991, and translucent outsoles let printed messaging read through from below. A dual-branded plate sits at the heel.
Two pairs made up the footwear half of a capsule that also held a convertible jacket, a hoodie and a tee. Both released in May 2019 through Converse and the designer's own channels at $120, priced like an ordinary Jack Purcell in spite of everything happening on top of it.