Converse’s new Urban Utility collection delivers a series of structured staples that form a monotone utilitarian look that catapults the brand into contemporary street fashion.

The pieces, highlighted by the Utility Jacket (made from three-layer nylon waterproof, breathable GORE-TEX® fabric with fully sealed seams), Chuck ’70 Hiker (the original Chuck Taylor All Star reconstructed as a GORE-TEX® hiker) and Converse Jump Boot (a Jack Purcell-style ode to paratrooper footwear) are introduced through a radical collaboration between Converse, Italian streetwear powerhouse Slam Jam and artist Cali Thornhill Dewitt.

The capsule is inspired by a generation that rallies around community and freedom of expression, and for whom functionality means nothing if it’s creatively limiting. Dewitt’s graphics, formed of his notorious all-caps punk-style lettering and translated into English, Farsi, Italian, Korean, French, Russian and Hebrew, aims to deliver a powerful message. It may seem in contrast to the starkness of the Urban Utility aesthetic but serves to balance ideas of freedom of motion and freedom of thought.

The 17-piece capsule collection is built with cross-seasonality in mind and features layering options from short-sleeve Converse Essentials jersey tees and long sleeve thermals and hoodies to the pinnacle men’s GORE-TEX® Utility Jacket.

The “Your Silence Gets You Nothing” capsule collection by Converse, Slam Jam and Cali Thornhill DeWitt and the Converse Urban Utility Outerwear pieces are now available at slamjamsocialism.com and from December the 5th  from select retailers and on converse.com.