The Founder of Palace Designed FILA’s Best Shoe in Years
A new era has begun at FILA.
Lev Tanju, the founder of British streetwear giant Palace, is heading a new division: a premium, streetwear-adjacent line titled FILA+. And its debut launch is already stocked at buzzy fashion boutiques such as Dover Street Market and leading Milanese retailer Antonia.
Inside these fashion-forward stores, is FILA’s new range of elevated sportswear — think minimally-branded velour track sets, knitted jerseys, and oxford shirts — alongside a seriously clean new boot.
The F+ Drill Boot is FILA+’s debut footwear offering. And Tanju is kicking things off with a bang.
The Drill Boot is a chunky boot decked out with a grippy Vibram sole and lusciously fuzzy suede panels on the upper. Especially in a brown build with contrasting orange paneling, this shoe is a looker — almost like a Timberland boot with a more sporty shape.
This is a progressive design entirely detached from FILA’s mainline offering (which is populated by run-of-the-mill retro sneakers ranging from court shoes to its notorious chunky Disruptor model). And it’s not only detached from FILA’s usual output in a design sense, it’s also far more pricey.
A price tag partly justified by being Made In Italy, the F+ Drill boot will set you back £315 (that’s $408, for American readers).
This is considerably more expensive than the FILA shoes you’ll find in your local Walmart. Lev Tanju aims to honor FILA’s heritage through his new line and, with these Made In Italy shoes, he’s bringing the label back to its high-end roots.
“FILA+ is 100 years of history, and it’s bringing value back to sportswear,” Tanju told Highsnobiety before the launch of FILA+. “It’s a nod to FILA’s heritage, but it’s elevated, creating new products and doing new things.”
It’s still early days, so there’s no knowing how successful Tanju's new venture will be. However, combining this new collection with the wild horn-wielding boots FILA made with Thug Club along with the experimental hybrid sneakers it recently debuts, it’s fair to say there’s a new energy around the sportswear label.
