EAGLE-EYED Versace fans will recall the sighting of a familiar footwear staple at Versace’s Spring/ Summer 2026 show last September: Onitsuka Tiger’s trademark Tai-Chi’s.
Unveiled during his debut (and only) collection as creative director for the Italian fashion house, Dario Vitale conceptualised a line of covetable Tai-Chi’s together with Onitsuka Tiger Creative Director, Andrea Pompilio. Marking a major fashion-meets-footwear moment, this signalled a new chapter for the storied shoe – one where its characteristic Japanese precision and Versace’s Italian design vernacular were combined to great effect.
Now — just in time for sunny strolls — the collaborative shoes are finally hitting the stores this Spring. Bringing finesse to the footwear, Versace has suffused the classic silhouettes with premium Italian suedes and nappa leather, delicate double stitching and its enduring Medusa symbol – explored through studded embellishments on the shoe’s tongue.
Popularised during the 1970s, the Tai-Chi’s are no stranger to success. Originally conceived as a nimble martial arts shoe, they were famously favoured by Bruce Lee in the film Game of Death, while a thicker, mustard-coloured ‘Mexico’ iteration was memorably donned by Uma Thurman in Kill Bill Vol I. Since then, it has been a quiet albeit powerful player in the shoe scene, a quality harnessed by Versace through this collaboration, where the Italian fashion giant brings new green, blue, pink and two-tone metallic leather colourways to the table.
With the foremost emphasis placed on performance, durability and feather-light form, each pair has been meticulously crafted in the Onitsuka Innovative Factory, Japan. Alongside the bestselling sneakers, collaborative Tai-Chi Sakura penny loafers are also being produced, available in waxy brown calf leather iterations. Then, as a final artisanal flourish, the surfaces of both Sakura models have been buffed to produce a vintage-inspired ‘worn-in’ texture.
Accompanying the hotly anticipated drop is a campaign captured by British photographer Frank Lebon, with youthful imagery that centres around the multi-cultural energy, stylistic expression and physical prowess at the collaboration’s core.
This Versace X Onitsuka Tiger Tai-Chi line-up makes a convincing case as your new go-to soles this Summer – suitable for the most lively or leisurely of days – bolstered by a bold, impressively sleek Italian vision.
by Ella O’Gorman
Shop the Tai-Chi’s now, available online and at select Versace stores worldwide.