Last week, tastemaking style/design blog Hypebeast took notice of Tokyo biking-aficionado collective Kinfolk’s collaboration with sneaker icon K-Swiss. The pairing centers around K-Swiss’ “Malibu ‘66”  collection: following the inspiration for the collection, Kinfolk curated a series of images, “A Celebration of California Culture,” that capture the classic Cali sports lifestyle, especially around the heritage pillars of beach and bike culture. It’s an apt pairing: just as K-Swiss is known for its timeless designs, Kinfolk’s aesthetic pivots around those classic elements that prove fresh and essential from generation to generation. In these images, that gestalt spans everything from idyllic Golden Coast’s beach views to fixed-gear cyclists and their time-tested gear, all bathed, naturally, in radiant sunshine.

The K-Swiss/Kinfolk collaboration also extends to an edited, limited-edition collection of gear, in line with Kinfolk’s passion for the ultimate in handmade, modern and enduring. Custom made and branded with K-Swiss’ ‘66 shield, the project embodies and combines the best of each company’s culture, imbued with the artisanal Japanese quality of Kinfolk with the SoCal flavor of K-Swiss. The bikes were recently unveiled at at Kinfolk’s bar in Tokyo’s Nakameguro nabe, and are currently being showcased in the window of the flagship K-Swiss store in Tokyo. Ten handcrafted bags and fifty hand-dyed indigo scarves from the collaboration also were commissioned—proof that when it comes to sports and innovative design, California and Japan make for good kinfolk, indeed…