Tan France collabs with Pakistani shoe brand Atoms for a signature pair of sneakers

Sneaker company Atoms has teamed up with Queer Eye star Tan France to release a special edition shoe.

France is of Pakistani origin and Atoms is owned by a Pakistani couple based in the US.

The pre-sale for the shoes will last from February 23 to March 2. According to the company, the shoes "bring together two of style expert Tan France’s favourite things: Atoms ultra-comfortable white sneakers and stripes".

France is quite popular among South Asian fans of Queer Eye partly because he is of Pakistani origin. Tan stands for Tanvir. France's father is originally from Pakistan and his mother from Pakistan and India, and so every time his fans get a peak into his thoughts about Pakistan, they want to know more.

When asked about Pakistan designers in an interview with Hello!Pakistan he said he has noticed they aren’t that great with social media as opposed to their Indian counterparts. "I got so much flack when I wore Indian designers at the Emmys [...] I don’t know any Pakistani great designers — they don’t have great social media accounts so it makes it really hard."

But now he has found Atoms, whose story was highlighted by Humans of New York.

Atoms was founded by Sidra Qasim and Waqas Ali, who are both from Okara. They built their brand from the ground up and moved to the US to get funding. Their story on Humans of New York touched a lot of hearts and helped them gain more attention.

Atoms are pretty expensive shoes — they cost $129 a pair — but if the reviews are to be believed they are worth the hype. According to their website, they also ship to Pakistan but that costs another $18 plus customs duties.

Hopefully they'll start supplying Atoms to stores in Pakistan so we can get our hands on a pair too! We love seeing Pakistani brands thriving and collabs with other prominent Pakistanis are icing on the cake for us.