Two of the most worn shoes in menswear just got a Copenhagen edit. NN.07 x Clarks Originals takes the Wallabee and the Desert Boot, keeps the crepe soles everyone knows, and adds a few small changes that do a lot of work. NN.07 members get early access on Monday, November 9, and the global release follows on November 10, online and in NN.07 stores.
The Desert Boot, with a buckle
This is the one people will talk about. The NN.07 Desert Boot keeps the low heel and clean lines, then cuts across the front with a wide strap and a silver metal buckle that NN.07 designed for the collaboration. It is done in soft black full-grain leather, sourced from a Gold rated tannery, set on a natural crepe rubber sole, with NN.07 branding on the heel quarter. It is made in Portugal.
NN.07 pitches it as the boot for someone who wears sharp tailoring and then throws the blazer in the wash, a night that starts at the opera and ends at a punk show. The buckle is what makes that line land. On a classic chukka it reads half monk strap, half moto boot, and it turns a shoe you have seen a million times into something new without touching the shape.
The Wallabee, with better hardware
The NN.07 Wallabee is the quieter of the pair. It comes in a rich brown full-grain cowhide with silver lacing tips, silver metal eyelets and bespoke NN.07 hang tags. The full natural crepe outsole has its sidewall inked to match the upper, for a clean, tonal finish where the whole shoe reads as one colour. It keeps the full moccasin construction and the wide toe box, the leather is tanned in Germany at an LWG Gold rated tannery, and it is made in Portugal.
One practical note from NN.07: these run large, and if you sit between sizes the brand recommends going a size down.
Two hundred years in the background
NN.07 frames the project around the meeting of an old maker and a young one. Clarks started in 1825, when two brothers began making shoes in Street, a small town in Somerset, England. Clarks Originals is the part of the company that keeps its classic styles alive in modern versions, and the Desert Boot and Wallabee are the starting point here. NN.07 works out of Copenhagen, and its own line is that it reimagines timeless design to create future classics. The collab calls it contrast in conversation, and that is a fair description of both shoes.
Why it matters
This one is Surfacing. Clarks collabs come around often, but most of them change the colour and stop there. The buckle on the Desert Boot is an actual design move, and the tonal Wallabee is a cleaner take for people who find the original a bit too casual. If you are new to the shape, start with our Clarks Wallabee explainer, and for more leather footwear worth the money, our heritage boots guide covers the long haul options. Want another collab with boots in it? Look back at Stüssy x Our Legacy Work Shop Vol. 11.
