Converse Seeks Camouflage with Gorillaz

Britain's Gorillaz band may be just four cartoon dudes with 'tude, but that didn’t stop the group’s second album, 2005’s Demon Days, from going five times platinum in the UK, double platinum in the States, and nabbing five 2006 Grammy Award nominations, one of which they won.

It also hasn’t stopped the band from making a deal with Converse to design a line of shoes, according to Spin.

One of the band’s flesh-and-blood cofounders, comic book creator Jamie Hewlett of Tank Girl fame, “has designed a series of Gorillaz-themed prints for the Gorillaz Chuck Taylor All Star collection,” Spin reports.

They are due to hit shelves in February, the same month that the NBA All-Star game is scheduled to take place in Orlando. But who knows if that is going to happen or not with the way owners and players are facing off in a collective-bargaining standoff that is getting tenser.

Still, just because extremely large well-paid men won’t be running the court anytime soon, there are millions of Americans who will be playing ball themselves or just want to make a fashion statement. That’s where Gorillaz comes in. The “shoes will carry a suggested retail price of $60 and be available in four different styles,” Spin reports.

As Rolling Stone notes, in the sneak peak from Converse, the camouflage print shoe recalls the artwork featured on the band's self-titled debut album, released ten years ago. It's edgier than Converse's last high-profile collaboration, a women's shoe collection with Marimekko, but definitely in keeping with the brand's rock'n'roll roots.

Along with the shoes, Gorillaz will be releasing a new tune to go along with the footwear, which will officially launch Dec. 1st at London’s famed 100 Club in an evening of “music, live percussion, and projected visuals.”

That’ll be right on the heels of the animated band releasing a greatest-hits disc on Nov. 29. And in February, the virtual band will release a new song as part of Converse's ongoing "Three Artists, One Song" campaign.