No Two Pairs Are the Same in the KUON x SUICOKE x SASHIKO GALS Sandal Collaboration
Every pair is individually embroidered by artisans in Iwate Prefecture, making each sandal in the limited run structurally unique.
Name: KUON x SUICOKE x SASHIKO GALS Sandals
Colorway: TBC
SKU: TBC
MSRP: ¥132,000 JPY (approx. $820 USD)
Release Date: July 18
Where to Buy: KUON
KUON, SUICOKE, and SASHIKO GALS are releasing a triple-collaboration sandal on July 18, with every pair in the limited run hand-embroidered in sashiko by artisans based in Ōtsuchi Iwate Prefecture.
The collaboration sits at an unusual intersection. SUICOKE provides the sandal platform. SASHIKO GALS, a craft collective working out of Ōtsuchi on Japan’s northeastern coast, provides the handwork. And KUON, the Tokyo label that has built its identity around integrating traditional Japanese textile techniques into contemporary garments, provides the design framework and the philosophical underpinning that ties the three together.
The production method is the story here. Sashiko is a form of Japanese hand embroidery that originated centuries ago in northern Japan as a technique for mending and reinforcing worn fabric, particularly among agricultural and fishing communities in the Tōhoku region. The technique uses small, even running stitches, traditionally in white thread on indigo cloth, to create geometric patterns that simultaneously strengthen the textile and add a layer of visual texture. On these sandals, each pair receives its sashiko stitching entirely by hand from the SASHIKO GALS collective, and because the embroidery is applied individually rather than through a template or mechanized process, every pair in the run is a one-of-a-kind piece. The variation is not cosmetic; it is structural. Different hands, different stitch densities, different thread tensions across each pair mean the physical surface of every sandal is genuinely unrepeatable.
That one-of-a-kind status is central to what KUON describes as its guiding philosophy: “turning time into value.” The concept positions the hours of skilled handwork embedded in each piece not as a production cost to be minimized but as the material itself. Where most footwear collaborations derive their value from limited quantities, branding, or colorway exclusivity, this release locates its scarcity in the labor. The sandals are limited because the sashiko process is slow, because each pair demands individual attention from a trained hand, and because that time cannot be compressed or replicated at scale.
