Nine Inch Nails reveal official Dr. Martens collection: “This collaboration just makes so much sense”

After announcing their huge collab last week, Nine Inch Nails and Dr. Martens have just shared a proper look at their absolutely stunning Downward Spiral-themed boots.

This dreamy collection drops tomorrow (July 19), and as previously teased, features three “hard-hitting silhouettes incorporating industrial design references”.

Speaking with Hypebeast, NIN’s creative director John Crawford enthuses: “This collaboration just makes so much sense. Not just because of the countless fans I’ve seen wearing Dr. Martens at NIN concerts over the years – myself included – but because NIN and Dr. Martens are both known for rejecting convention and expectation in favour of innovation.”

In a great Reddit AMA earlier this week, John also answered fans’ questions all about the Dr. Martens project, revealing that mainman Trent Reznor was “involved throughout and very involved in the beginning of the project about what we wanted to achieve”. He added that, “I also want to specifically mention how important Trent’s wife, Mariqueen, has been in the whole development process. Her opinion and taste level are invaluable for projects like this, and I’m very fortunate to have her to bounce ideas off of.”

Interestingly, John said there’s no NIN logo on the bottom of any of the boots – but that was “something that was considered, but it didn’t make sense for these designs. Maybe next time!”

“Related to that,” he added, “several of the first samples of the shoes did have a NIN logo on the bottom of the sole, but after reviewing the samples and considering it, I decided to remove it. It just felt unnecessary. ‘Less is more’ was a consistent theme across all of the designs. I treated these shoes the same way I’d treat any official NIN release, which to me meant it was very important that the shoe designs favoured subtlety and detail over having them feel overly brand/logo-driven. Dr. Martens were a fantastic and supportive partner in these decisions.”

Check out the NIN boots below, and read the full AMA all about the collab here.

Read this: Trent Reznor: “The Downward Spiral beat the shit out of me”