Awake NY is not your typical streetwear-brand-turned-sneaker-collaborator. It moves at its own pace and in its own direction. It doesn’t work on the most hyped silhouettes or the guaranteed sell-outs, instead choosing its models carefully and putting the same amount of effort into the execution of each project.
That’s why it doesn’t come as a huge surprise that the brand’s next footwear collaboration will be on the Merrell Jungle Moc, a shoe that few sneakerheads are probably aware of, and even fewer still actually own.
Awake shared a single shot of the project on Instagram yesterday, revealing parts of the upper, outsole, and heel. We can see Awake NY branding on the lateral quarter panel, where it is embossed on a nappy gray suede upper. The Jungle Moc’s distinctive outsole traction is left untouched and rendered in a darker shade of gray. Red accents are present on the heel tab and the outside of the outsole, where it wraps over the midsole at the arch of the foot.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CQJ0skgtprD/
The Merrell Jungle Moc is about as Y2K as footwear comes. It’s a rather unremarkable shoe that you’d perhaps have seen your dad wear to mow the lawn or slide into before driving around running errands on the weekend in the early ’00s.
The shoe features no laces, opting instead for a slip-on construction that underpins the overall comfort of the shoe. The Jungle Moc is function-first and was designed to offer all-day comfort. It’s about as dad-shoe as dad shoes come.
For anyone surprised by the Awake NY x Merrell link up, don’t be. Merrell is on a come-up, benefiting from the functional and outdoors trend that has swept footwear over the past few years. The same trend that has allowed brands such as Salomon and, in part, Crocs to flourish has now set its sites on Merrell.
Merrell also has a few very stylish performance sneakers on offer, some of which wouldn’t look amiss on the shelves of a sneaker boutique. The Jungle Moc, however, is an OG design that leans more towards the “hate it or love it” aesthetic, similar to the brand’s Hydro Moc.
As of now, Awake NY has only shared an initial teaser of the project, however, more information is set to follow soon. Stay tuned and, in the meantime, check out the teaser above.
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