Toyota and Huf continue partnership with Land Cruiser-inspired streetwear

Last year Toyota partnered with streetwear brand Huf for a line of clothing with a Toyota and TRD truck theme. This year the collab continues with a lineup of Land Cruiser-inspired apparel, timed to arrive with the return of the Land Cruiser nameplate. Most of the designs, however, feature classic Cruisers like the FJ40, FJ60, J70 and J80.

If you haven’t heard of the streetwear brand Huf, don’t feel bad. We don’t know much about it either. But from what we gather it’s one of those names like Supreme that had origins in skate culture but has since evolved into a fashion brand.

We think it’s worth mentioning when such a company partners with Toyota to market a line of “cool” apparel to fellow kids. Not so long ago it was difficult to imagine that the Toyota brand would be slick enough for something like this. But didn’t you hear? Overlanding is in now, and for better or worse, Toyota has long built the best globe-trekking rigs on Earth.

That is definitely the vibe Huf is going for here. Many of the prints emphasize The Land Cruiser’s off-road prowess, mainly by using the iconic “4 Wheel Drive” badges from the FJ40, FJ55, FJ60 and so on.

Not surprisingly, the FJ40 is a big part of the line, appearing on T-shirts, jackets, keychains, and mugs. You can even get it on a whole ass rug for $100, perhaps to go with the 2WD Ironman Stewart-liveried truck from the first release. Also, we were relieved to discover that at least one hat had a “dad” brim, proving that those of us who still prefer to curl our baseball caps aren’t hopelessly unhip.

The issue with any kind of hypebeast gear is that it’s more about the image of a thing than the actual thing itself. There’s a $220 jacket depicting an FJ40 but the “turbo” logo from an LJ70 is randomly tossed in below the image, because it looks cool we presume. Similarly, there’s a bunch of logos from made-up events on the front, which is unfortunate because the Land Cruiser actually has been competing in grueling rallies like the Paris-Dakar since 1979.

Speaking of which, a J70 with some semblance of Toyota’s Paris-Dakar livery does appear on a hoodie. If you do buy this, be sure to choose the green hoodie because the alternate livery on the black hoodie never existed. It probably doesn’t need to be said that the actual Paris-Dakar race rig never had Huf sponsorship.

Perhaps the most authentic piece is this “Big Poppa” T-shirt, which features an FZJ80 with the New York skyline behind it. That’s a reference to Biggie Smalls and his red 80 that sported the same brush guard. That is legitimately cool, but the front is regrettably negated b the words printed on the back, “Bumps and bruises, Huf and Land Cruisers.” The modified “Who Shot Ya” lyric exemplifies in our opinion what is wrong with the clothes: the insistence on inserting “Huf” everywhere, even in places it doesn’t belong.

And that’s ultimately the problem with these sorts of collabs. We would absolutely love a genuine line of authentic Land Cruiser apparel from Toyota. But showing up to a rock crawl in one of these shirts might make one look like not a skater, but a poser. One of the items is a vintage-style leather-and-metal-disc key ring, the type that anyone who grew up in the 80s would be familiar with. But why would you pay $15 for it when you can get genuine period correct ones for less?

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1 Response to Toyota and Huf continue partnership with Land Cruiser-inspired streetwear

  1. Fred Langille says:

    Sox are neat.

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