Victor Kan Built Third of June for Himself. His Timberland Is No Different.

New York has long been a mecca for retail. From Union and Supreme to Alife and Nom de Guerre, the city’s most influential stores helped shape generations of consumers who spent just as much time building relationships with the people behind the counters as they did studying the products on the shelves. Victor Kan was one of those kids.

A first-generation immigrant who arrived in New York with his family in 1999, Kan grew up in an era when Jordans, Timberlands, Dolomites, Vasque boots, North Face Steep Tech jackets, and whatever else was making its rounds through the hallways could determine your social standing before you even introduced yourself. “If you didn’t have the Jordans from Saturday, you were kind of a bum,” Kan recalls. “And I was a little bit of a bum at the time.”

With just one or two pairs of shoes to last an entire school year, Kan developed an appreciation for products that didn’t necessarily carry the same status as the latest release. A white-on-white Air Force 1 was just as worthy of consideration as a new Jordan, and Timberland’s Euro Hiker had its own appeal despite living in the shadow of the brand’s more coveted 6-Inch and Field Boots. “It’s much more compelling and interesting to just see the beauty in some of the lesser-explored product,” he explains.

Kan spent his early years researching the footwear he wanted, learning to appreciate the details of what he could afford, and eventually developing relationships with the people working at his favorite stores. Rather than waiting in line for every Saturday release, he’d stop by Kith’s Brooklyn location on quieter days to catch up with a friend who worked there, talk shop, and occasionally buy something. “That relationship was more important than just being another customer standing in line hoping to get a pair,” he says.

It’s the kind of retail experience Kan hopes to cultivate at Third of June, his independent storefront in New York’s West Village. For him, the relationships built around a shared appreciation for product have become increasingly important as sneaker culture has grown into an industry where resale value can dictate whether something is worth owning. “People check whether a shoe is reselling immediately after release, and if it isn’t, they lose interest,” he explains. “At that point, you have to ask yourself what made you want the shoe in the first place.”

Before entering the footwear industry, Kan was studying pre-med and pre-pharmacy, pursuing the kind of stable career familiar to many children of immigrant families. An opportunity to intern at Kith in June 2013 would eventually lead him in another direction. Over the next three years, he worked his way through the retailer’s stockrooms, sales floor, and buying department, eventually becoming a full-time Footwear Buyer. “It was a very small team at the time, maybe 25 employees and six or seven interns. Everybody did everything,” Kan recalls. “Those years were very formative. It was like university for me.”

In August 2016, Kan joined Packer as a Buyer, expanding his responsibilities from footwear into apparel before becoming Brand Director in January 2018. He held both roles until his departure in January 2025, helping shape the New Jersey retailer’s assortment and collaborations with brands including Reebok, adidas, Clarks, Diadora, On, and Timberland.

His work on Packer’s Reebok collaborations, including the Answer IV, Trinity Premier, and Club C, reflected his interest in revisiting silhouettes that deserved another look. “There’s a reason why a product exists in a brand’s lineup. It might be underappreciated, but that doesn’t make it bad,” Kan says. “Sometimes it’s just about recontextualizing that product and presenting it in a way people haven’t seen before.”

Working across buying and brand direction also gave Kan a clearer understanding of what makes a collaboration worth pursuing. After years of seeing products developed around seasonal marketing calendars and commercial priorities, he’s become increasingly selective about the projects he believes deserve to exist. “There’s so much product out right now that if nobody involved genuinely wants to get something across the finish line, it probably shouldn’t exist,” he explains.

That philosophy now informs Third of June, the store Kan opened earlier this year after more than a decade working for established retailers. Its tightly curated assortment reflects his own tastes, from the brands he carries to the individual products he chooses to stock. For some labels, that might mean selecting just three or four pieces from an entire collection.

“The brands are specific, the assortment is specific, the buy is specific, and the combination of brands isn’t something you see at a lot of other retailers,” he explains. “Some people come in and ask, ‘This is all you have?’ Others might not be interested in the footwear at all, and that’s okay.”

Kan is interested in building a business around products he believes will hold their value to the person wearing them long after the initial excitement of a release has passed. When buying for the store, he often considers whether a customer will still appreciate a purchase two or three years down the line. “What can I sell someone today that they’ll still have in their closet two or three years from now, without looking back and asking, ‘Why did I buy this?’”

It’s a luxury he didn’t always have when buying for larger retailers, where the demands of an established business sometimes meant carrying products outside his personal preferences. At Third of June, the opportunity to make those decisions for himself has become one of the most rewarding parts of running the store. “I guess I built the store for myself, and people who think like me really enjoy the space,” he admits. “That’s good enough for me.”

Located at 801 Greenwich Street in the West Village, in the former home of Maison Margiela’s neighborhood boutique, Third of June shares its space with TUFT, a barbershop founded by Kan’s close friend Miles Martinez. The partnership came together naturally, following years of friendship and conversations about their respective ambitions. “Miles and I met right after Covid hit and became fast friends,” Kan recalls. “After a few drunk conversations about expanding Tuft and me opening my own shop, we decided to create the shared space.”

The result is an open-concept space that brings together grooming, retail, and community under one roof. Visitors are greeted by TUFT’s brown and cream leather barber chairs before making their way across chocolate-brown tiles to Third of June in the back. There, Kan’s mid-century-meets-wabi-sabi sensibility comes through in a carefully considered mix of furnishings, including pieces from friends and local design studio Lichen NYC, alongside a pair of Klipsch Cornwall speakers. Much like the products on his shelves, every detail feels considered without demanding attention.

The shared space also brings Kan’s appreciation for neighborhood retail full circle. Where he once spent afternoons talking shop with employees at his favorite sneaker stores, he’s now helping create a place where someone can stop in for a haircut, discover a new brand, or simply spend time with people who share similar interests. His latest collaboration with Timberland extends that approach to product development.

Streetwear and luxury fashion have spent decades borrowing and reinterpreting references from one another. From Dapper Dan‘s early interpretations of luxury house monograms to Demna Gvasalia’s approach to everyday clothing as luxury, Maison Margiela’s reinterpretations of the German Army Trainer and Nike Moon Shoe, or Hender Scheme’s handcrafted takes on familiar sneaker silhouettes in raw, vegetable-tanned leather, the line between homage and imitation has always been a subject of debate.

Kan is particularly interested in reversing a familiar exchange. Luxury footwear has long borrowed from athletic and outdoor silhouettes, and he sees an opportunity to bring those references back to the products that helped inspire them. “My references almost always come from another product I’ve seen. It’s very rarely architecture or nature,” he explains. “It might be an old America’s Cup or a Raf Simons shoe.”

His approach draws from the colors, materials, and proportions of products he’s collected or admired over the years, reapplying those references to silhouettes that exist in entirely different contexts. The goal is to create something that works independently of its inspiration, while offering an additional layer of appreciation to those who recognize the reference.

“I believe that, unless it’s something very specific, no brand or person owns a colorway,” Kan says. “Someone who understands the reference might appreciate it on another level, but someone who doesn’t should still be able to enjoy the product for what it is.” That thinking is reflected in his first footwear collaboration under his own name, a Timberland Euro Hiker arriving at Third of June on October 17.

Growing up, the Euro Hiker occupied a secondary position in Timberland’s lineup, overshadowed by the 6-Inch and Field Boot silhouettes that dominated New York’s streets. Kan’s interpretation brings a new color and material combination to the familiar model, drawing from the product references that have informed his work throughout his career.

Even with his name attached to the release, Kan is careful about how he describes his contribution. The project is officially titled Curated By Victor Kan, a distinction he makes between selecting colors and materials for an existing silhouette and designing something entirely new. “That’s absolutely a skill set, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it designing,” he explains.

Four months after opening Third of June, Kan is preparing to release the Euro Hiker from behind the counter of his own store. The significance of that moment is still sinking in, particularly for someone who grew up making one or two pairs of shoes last an entire school year and spent his early adulthood studying products from the other side of the counter.

“Honestly, if I had the choice, I probably would’ve changed the branding to the shop name instead of my own,” he admits. “But it’s a little late for that now, and people have responded really positively, so I’m grateful.”

As for what he expects on release day, Kan is keeping his expectations modest. “We might open up Saturday morning and there’s nobody outside. Or maybe there’s a couple of people. I really don’t know what to expect,” he says. “Hopefully there’s a nice, respectable line. Nothing too crazy.”

For a retailer whose appreciation for sneakers was shaped as much by the people he met in stores as the products he couldn’t afford, there’s something fitting about releasing his first collaboration in a space he’s built entirely around his own point of view. And whether a line forms outside Third of June on Saturday or not, Kan will be there behind the counter, ready to talk shop.