When Lucien Clarke announced that he was launching a sneaker partnership with DC Shoes last year, we asked the question on most people’s minds: can the stylish skater make DC cool again?
And, in my opinion, the partnership hasn’t quite managed to change people’s perception of DC (yet).
That’s not a dig at the first DC x Lucien Clarke release, the collaborative DCV’87 was an objectively good-looking skate shoe, but the failure to follow up on the momentum of their first collaboration with more models meant that I’d forgotten Clarke was even involved with DC. Well, that was until his neon-colored new sneaker popped up on my screen (the color makes it pretty hard to miss).
Yes, the follow-up to the DCV’87 is arriving and it’s a new model made for the skater, aptly named The Lucien.
While the first collaboration between Lucien Clarke and DC looked back at the Californian footwear maker’s rich history, this one looks forward and delivers a skate shoe with more contemporary, technical looks.
Covered in a thick, mesh base, the chunky shoe features a woven strip of fabric that zig-zags along the upper to replace eye holes, reflective detailing, and leather overlays.
This new sneaker certainly looks the part of a contemporary, cutting-edge skate shoe, its techy fabrics are almost akin to something you’d expect from stylish outdoor sneaker labels like Salomon (which is big praise, considering how much this magazine loves Salomon).
Based on Lucien’s videos skating in the new model, the shoe isn’t just a looker, it skates well too — something the public will be able to test when the shoe releases on June 22.
In its early-naughts heyday, DC was amongst the leading skateboarding brands known for it’s big, bulky sneakers. However, as sportswear giants like Nike and adidas started to enter skateboarding, it’s slowly been pushed out of the market.
Of late, it’s found some success in bringing back some of those uber-chunky skateboarding models of the past. However, nostalgia alone isn’t going to bring it back to the forefront of skate footwear.
Lucien Clarke is the perfect skater to help bolster its image, the skater has strong links in fashion having worked with luxury brand Louis Vuitton and skating for British streetwear heavyweight Palace. And now that he’s created a forward-thinking, technical, and frankly great-looking sneaker, the partnership between Lucien Clarke is looking even more promising.
Lucien Clarke is making DC cool again.