It’s common knowledge that Animal Collective’s Keep Shoe designs were being marketed toward the masked consumerism and intentionally underplayed fashion sense of the hipster community — granted, it’s for a good cause. Now, not only can they sport their own pair of AC kicks, but so can their overly dressed youngsters! Geologist, the third member of the band to step up to the plate, has designed his own pair of Keeps, only this batch is specifically geared toward the oft-ignored little ones.
Apparently the decision to go with the kid’s model was inspired by his own offspring, and to give a little more insight, the dude had this to say:
My design was inspired by three things — a doodle I often draw based on an image of a shark I saw on a beach closed sign, a birthday card Abby Portner made me a while back that had sort of a wall paper feel to it, and having to get clothes for my kid. I just thought about how psyched I would be when I was a kid to have had sharks on my shoes and how psyched my kid will be to wear a pair if he ends up liking sharks. So basically I wanted to make a shoe for him and I decided to combine the above three things.
Sounds pretty rad! What’s cooler and more badass than sharks when you’re a kid? Nothing. Except for maybe “Macho Man” Randy Savage.
These babies don’t go on sale for another couple weeks, but go ahead and pre-order them to ensure your tape of unreleased Animal Collective sounds. Oh, and due to the obvious high demand and an overpopulation of developmentally challenged adults, Keep has decided to release the shoes in adult sizes as well. Now before you go and decide which Animal Collective footwear you adore the most, I would go ahead and wait until Panda Bear’s design is revealed, which should happen VERY SOON.
• Animal Collective: http://www.myanimalhome.net
• Keep: http://www.keepcompany.com
• Socorro Island Conservation: http://socorroislandconservation.org/socorro