Sure, we could (and do) talk endlessly about the clothes we love, but for our column Line Item, we ask some of our favorite designers to tell us what they think about the best pieces from their newest collections. Today, Greg Champan of Generic Surplus tells us about the shoe company's latest collaboration with tattoo artist Thomas Hooper, available for sale here.
Generic Surplus is brand that has been built on great relationships, which is how this collaboration came about. I met Thomas over 10 years ago after a recommendation for the kind of work I wanted tattooed on my chest. During the session we found out we share a lot of interests, one of them being footwear. We said then, that we should work together. I was actually getting my back tattooed when I received an email from Brandon, Generic CEO and founder, requesting a unique pattern to line one of our shoes. As I was surrounded by Thomas' artwork, which is some of the most amazing geometric patterns that highlight spiritual influences and feature fine detailing, it just flowed and made perfect sense. Most tattoos are covered up by clothing and only seen on appropriate occasions—this was my inspiration when we were planning the collaboration and why the tattoo pattern is on the inside of the shoe.