Tenkaippin, or Tenâichi as fans call it, is a ramen restaurant chain in Japan. Tenâichi has over 230 locations across the country, as well as one in Hawaii. And now, it also has collab sneakers.
Weâve seen collabs with Dragon Ball, Gundam, and Animal Crossing. Those kinds of collabs seem typical! I believe this is the first one Iâve seen with a noodle restaurant.
French sporting equipment brand Le Coq Sportif has joined forces with Japanese ramen Tenkaippin chain to make these officially branded sneakers.
The sneakers mark the 50th anniversary of the first Tenâichi, which was founded as a ramen stall by Tsutomu Kimura near the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto in 1971. Kimura opened his first bricks-and-mortar Tenâichi restaurant in August 1975, and then established the ramen restaurant chain in 1981. Itâs become one of Japanâs more ubiquitous noodle chainsâso much so that it now has its own limited edition shoes.
These sneakers, Le Coq Sportifâs LCS R model, were designed with the restaurantâs ramen in mind. For example, the beige color echoes Tenâichiâs famous, thick soup broth. The green represents green onions, while the laces are supposed to look like ramen noodles, and the red accents represent ramen bowls. While Iâm not sure if I actually like the shoes or not, thatâs pretty cool.
Whatâs more, Le Coq Sportifâs logo is a rooster, and on the back heel tab itâs depicted a chicken skeleton, making a further nod to ramen chicken bone broth.
Clever, no?
The shoes also come in a special box, and to be honest, for a walking Tenâichi advertisement, you have to admire all the thought that went into these shoes.
Priced at 14,300 yen ($126), the sneakers will go on sale November 10.
