Following on from the success of last year’s link-up with Converse – and, for that matter, other major connects including a plant-based rework of Nike’s Air Penny 2 – Stüssy is once again back on its impeccable, hemp-crafted collaboration game with another Chuck 70 Hi.
This latest drop, which includes a welcome re-up of the 2022 shoe – a dual-branded effort in Converse’s instantly-recognizable black and white colorway – keeps the structure and material make-up of the silhouette basically the same, with the 100% hemp supper still very much the star.
Many of the design details, too, are back for the reboot: the low-key “blank” Chuck patch, crafted from hemp and affixed to the exterior medial, and the internal heat transfer patch located on the inside of the sneaker are both present again. As are the co-branded sockliner and the custom Stüssy “All Star” woven label at the tongue.
But this isn’t a full-on repeat. The 2023 iteration does have a few bits of stylistic flair to set it apart from its predecessor.
First and foremost, there’s the decision to eschew iconic monochrome in favor or something a little more neutral – an off-white hue that doesn’t have the quite the same arresting quality as the black and white, but may well be easier to pair and prove less divisive than the signature style.
And then, speaking of stylistically-divisive choices, there’s also the addition of a studded Stüssy SS-link logo at the lateral: it’s big and it’s bold and it’s a design pushed even further by the addition of a pearlized effect that both contrasts and compliments the toned-down quality of the shoe in general.
They’re not real pearls, of course, which puts this collaboration firmly in the FUTUREVVORLD preferred camp: a shoe that utilizes a sustainable, fast-growing, and low-impact plant as the basis for its upper construction – sat, in this case, atop a thick rubber sole – and which doesn’t let the side down with high-impact or animal-based additions for the sake of some misplaced ideas about the luxury aesthetic.
You can take a closer look at the hemp-based Stüssy x Converse Chuck 70 Hi in the gallery above – shown in both the original black and white colorway and the new off-white iteration – and, as of this moment, you can shop both versions in a variety of sizes over on the Stüssy website for $110 USD. And, elsewhere, if you’re interested in more plant-based footwear news, MSGM’s FG1 marks a first foray into vegan sneakers for the Italian brand.