Emerging Unisex Footwear Label untitlab Finds the Perfect Smart-Casual Balance
Delivering boots with belts and zip bags, derbies with chunky sole units, and a small array of jewelry.
Emerging Shanghai-based label untitlab is all about pushing forward, erasing the boundary within gender, and developing a radical but approachable aesthetic. Thankfully, then, its Spring/Summer 2021 collection delivers just that.
As seen in the lookbook above, its footwear options are stylistic oxymorons as they’re part formal, part sports-informed. For example, its “Reel Derbies” reference a typical commuter’s shoe and a hiking boot, crafting the pair from Kakishibu hand twist-yarn fabric and raffia for the uppers and lambskin microfiber-textured materials for the liner, and then rounding it out with military nylon rope laces, a triple-layered welted sole unit, and a bang-on-trend square toe.
Elsewhere in the lookbook — which is styled on the pop-up window adverts that appear while browsing certain areas of the internet — we see the “Hitch Boots” in “Shiny Off White,” which takes a microfiber leather upper and combines it with elastic fabric tubes and, most notably, a leather belt that’s attached to a zipper bag.
Various other derby styles appear throughout the SS21 collection, while a particular pair in “Grass Weave Black” make a standout appearance as they sport a unique eco-friendly microfiber and hand-woven raffia upper that’s been dyed using plants. Take a look at untitlab’s SS21 collection in the lookbook above, where you’ll also find a smattering of its jewelry offerings, and check out the full collection on its website — you’ll even find the “Reel Sandals” there too, which take the “Hitch Boots’” bag and add them to a heeled slip-on.
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