Heads up, fun stuff is coming. New Amsterdam Surf Association, the surf-inspired streetwear crew, linked up with Suicoke, the masters of chunky, elevated sandals, and together made a boot that is quite literally the best of both their worlds: surfwear meets Japanese workwear. On one side: the North Sea, grey and relentless, basically demanding you wear boots. On the other: Japan, birthplace of two things we love—Suicoke and the iconic tabi boot.
The Japanese jika-tabi needs little introduction—sock-like split-toe workwear boots that fit like a second skin. A cult object if we dare say so. But turns out surfwear had a secret, lesser known twin all along. European surfers, the ongoing muse for NASA, spend most of their year zipped up to the top in neoprene, pragmatic boots on—split at the toe, and fit like a sock. Sounds familiar!!
For the collaboration, neoprene comes naturally as shared territory between surf boots and Suicokes footwear, soft but resilient, thriving in both water and the streets. Leather pulls the object back toward the city: pavement, friction, durability. And the steel details are a wink to Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands’ surf mecca, where waves crash under the looming shadow of one of Europe’s biggest steel factories—classic New Amsterdam inspiration.
What results is neither a surf boot nor a work shoe – a “work/surfwear boot,” if it must be named – a textbook definition of a collaboration. It feels almost overly direct, as if the connection was always sitting there, fully formed, waiting. In true collab mode, the two-for-one now transcends elements. Why choose between water or earth when you can have both.
Words by Pykel van Latum
Images courtesy of the brands
