Sourced and bottled in Monterrey, Mexico, mineral water brand Topo Chico has long been a staple of Mexican culture. For this year’s Cinco de Mayo festivities, Converse and Topo Chico dropped a collection of footwear and apparel designed in collaboration with street artist Victor "Marka27" Quiñonez to celebrate the beverage and its Mexican heritage.
Born in Juarez, Mexico, Marka27 is an internationally acclaimed artist who blends elements of pop culture with Mexican and Indigenous aesthetics—a style he calls “Neo-Indigenous.” His award-winning creative agency, Street Theory, activates communities and global brands through experiential marketing, bringing the vibrancy of art and street culture into all aspects of life and work.
The collection includes three footwear styles, a black fleece hoodie, and a white t-shirt. On the Chuck Taylor All Star Hi, Marka27 applies tattoo-inspired prints and rose petal graphics to its canvas upper. The iconic yellow Topo Chico label appears on the tongue, while water droplets on the Chuck patch mimic condensation on a bottle of cold water. The shoe’s icy, translucent green outsoles are inspired by Topo Chico’s signature glass bottles.
The All Star Ox is covered in a bodega-inspired all-over print that features Spanish phrases such as Qué Sabrosa! (“How Tasty!”) and Fría Gusta Mas (“Better Cold”). Bottlecap graphics appear on the insoles and midsoles. The third footwear style in the collection is the Fastbreak Pro, an ’80s basketball classic turned skateboarding shoe. The most lowkey of the three, this pair features subtle red stitching at the toe, indigenous-inspired gold graphics at the ankle collar, a Qué Sabrosa! tag at the bottom of the eyestay, and a bottle-green rubber outsole.
Rounding out the collection is a black fleece hoodie and a white t-shirt adorned with the same Mexican and Indigenous-inspired graphics found on the footwear.
“Once you look closely, the details tell the story,” says Marka27 of the project. “The embroidered line art, the lithograph roses, the stitching lines—they’re all subtle nods to the many handcrafts that are done in Mexico. Converse and Topo Chico have been a part of my life and many people’s lives for so long. Both have such strong cultural connections with their fans. So, we wanted to create a collection that creatively mixes their distinct DNAs while honoring their legacies.”
Converse x Topo Chico is available now. Scroll down to see the designs, then head to the Converse website to shop for a new pair of kicks.
“Once you look closely, the details tell the story.” — Victor "Marka27" Quiñonez
Victor "Marka27" Quiñonez: Website | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok | Converse x Topo Chico
All photos published with permission of the artist(s).
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