Two years ago, Protect London told Vanity Teen that its dream collaboration would be with Jellycat plushies. Fast-forward to October 2026, and the UK streetwear label is teaming up with Salomon instead.
Not quite the same kind of soft toy, but the playful energy is still there.
The Salomon ACS NEXT PROTECT: SLUSHIE launches on October 28, bringing Protect’s bright, slightly chaotic visual language to one of Salomon’s technical silhouettes. In the campaign video, a guy’s shoes turn into rocket boosters, sending him flying around London. The stills are just as fun, with the crew hanging around an ice cream van and the bright trainers matching a blue-and-red slushie. It’s silly, colourful and actually fun to watch.
A slushie, not a manifesto
They called the shoe SLUSHIE and left it at that. As they should. It’s inspired by the colourful ice drink, so why would it need some elaborate story about identity, transformation or whatever else brands usually come up with to justify a name? The bright yellow tones, spiky accents and slushie-inspired gradients do the job. Childhood nostalgia is the reference here, but the result doesn’t feel like a shoe designed for kids. It just brings a bit of colour and mischief to a technical silhouette.
Protect gives the ACS NEXT a different personality without stripping away what makes it recognisably Salomon. The shoe still has that performance-driven shape, but the saturated colours and graphic details make it feel more at home in a streetwear campaign than on a hiking trail. At €150, it’s another take on the technical sneaker that has become part of everyday city dressing.
For a UK streetwear label founded by lifelong friends Peter and Egor, the partnership makes sense. Protect has built its identity around bold graphics, youth culture and a visual language that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The name Protect came from an inside joke, as they told us back in 2024.
Salomon gets playful
Heikki Salonen joined Salomon as its first-ever creative director in early 2026. Before that, he built his own label and worked at MM6 Maison Margiela, where he helped shape the brand’s evolution while staying largely behind the scenes. He’s not exactly a household name outside fashion circles, but his background makes him an interesting fit for Salomon: he understands how to take an established design language and push it somewhere new without losing its identity.
Since his arrival, Salomon has had room to explore different moods, from earthy, understated colours to collaborations with a more expressive edge. The Protect partnership sits firmly in the latter camp. Rather than trying to make the ACS NEXT look even more technical, it leans into colour, nostalgia and a sense of humour. It’s a reminder that performance footwear doesn’t have to stick to the serious outdoor aesthetic to work.
Taking Protect beyond London
The campaign might have its main character flying across London, but the founders have a much bigger destination in mind. They want to bring Protect around the world, including the smaller towns that don’t always get much attention from fashion brands. A Salomon collaboration gives them another way to reach people beyond their existing audience.
The ACS NEXT PROTECT: SLUSHIE launches globally on October 28 through Protect’s website, priced at €150. And if the Jellycat collaboration ever happens, I hope they keep the same energy.
