Vans and Nintendo team up for Mario sneakers

NINTENDO keeps finding new places for its console characters to go, a tie-in with skate shoe manufacturer Vans the latest platform for plucky plumber Mario and friends.
Designers for the California footwear company have been able to exploit a wide range of characters and motifs from Nintendo's archives in order to come up with the special collection.
Nintendo x Vans had surfaced as an unofficial rumour a month before European retailer 43einhalb went public with a pre-release spread on May 3.
Even that rollout appears to have been premature, with the Germany-based outfit withdrawing its listings soon after.
What we do know, then, is that the collection is to launch in June and, as Sole Collector observes, draws upon material from the mid-1980s.
High-tops with panel prints modelled after the Nintendo Entertainment System's blocky controller, navy slip-ons sporting Legend of Zelda iconography, bright lace-ups with early Mario motifs, Duck Hunt camo prints and a pink celebration of Princess Peach were among the images included in the early leak.
But it was a high-top shoe featuring Mario's face superimposed over a collage of characters from the Super Mario games that emerged as the hero shoe of Nintendo x Vans.
Diverse sources of inspiration
Fifty years old in March just passed, action sportswear brand Vans has developed a specialism in design-conscious collaborations with a variety of firms, artists, and interest groups.
Those have ranged from country living brand Barbour, Japanese visual artist and designer Yusuke Hanai, Taiwanese retail chain Remix and British womenswear store Liberty, artisans from the Huichol tribe in Mexico, and LA-Ghanaian socially responsible fashion line Della.
The firm's custom sneakers usually retail for US$60 and up.
Nintendo has enjoyed several significant anniversaries already in 2016, with February seeing the 30th birthday of The Legend of Zelda and the 20th anniversary of Pokémon.
The Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64 both launched in Japan on June 23, 1996, while July will see Donkey Kong – Mario's first ever appearance – turn 35 years old. — AFP Relaxnews