MALLET London is joining forces with British photographer, broadcaster and DJ Normski (Norman Anderson) for a collaborative capsule called “GOT SOUL” a collection that brings decades of music and street culture into footwear and apparel. Releasing on Thursday, 29 October 2026, the collection reworks two of MALLET’s signature silhouettes, the GRFTR Lite and Kingsbury, alongside a series of T-shirts featuring images selected from Normski’s extensive photographic archive.
Known for documenting the people, sounds and style that shaped British hip-hop during the 1980s and early 1990s, Normski has spent much of his career capturing culture as it unfolded around him. His photographs span generations of musicians and creative communities, making the collaboration a meeting point between MALLET’s contemporary design language and an archive that has helped preserve important moments in music history.
Normski: Documenting a Generation
Born Norman Anderson in north-west London in 1966, Normski began working professionally as a photographer at just 17. Starting in Camden, he turned his camera towards the people and communities around him, developing an approach that placed music, personal sttle and everyday life at the heart of his work. As hip-hop gained momentum in Britian, he documented the emerging scene while also photographing influential artists from across the Atlantic.
His archive includes of Public Enemy, N.W.A, Run-DMC, De La Soul, Wu-Tang Clan, Ice-T, Cypress Hill alongside people such as Goldie, Miles Davis, Tina Turner and Stevie Wonder. The breadth of his work reflects a careee that has moved between music, fashion, broadcasting and photography, capturing the connections between different scenes and generations.
Normski also became a familiar face on British television through Dance Energy, the groundbreaking BBC Two programme he presented during the 1990s. His interesg in style has extended beyond documentating what people wear, with the photographer long interested in creating clothing himself. The MALLET collaboration brings that ambition into focus, using his own images and visual references as the foundation for a collection that moves between footwear, apparel and photographic storytelling.
Nine of his images were also acquired for the Victoria and Albert Museum’s permanent collection and has been exhibited at Tate Britian, the V&A, Somerset House and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. His book, Normski: Man with the Golden Shutter, was published in 2023, further documenting his career and the cultural history captured through his lens.
Reworking the MALLET GRFTR Lite and Kingsbury
Footwear has the focus for the collaboration, with Normski reinterpreting MALLET’s GRFTR Lite and Kingsburg silhouettes through details drawn directly from his identity and photographic work.
The GRFTR features a custom houndstooth pattern across the sole, constructed from Normski’s initial, the letter N. This graphic treatment gives the footwear a personal signature while incorporating a familiar pattern into a more individual design.
The Kingsbury takes a different approach, wifh its sole incorporating a reworked portrait of Normski. The image-based treat connects the silhouette directly to the photographer’s archive, turning the footweae into a canvas for the visual language that has defined his career.
Orange runs throughout the collection, reflecting Normski’s favourite colour and providing a further connection to the musical equipment that helped shape the era he documented. Specifically, the colour pays homage fo the Roland TR-808 drum machine, an influential instrument in the development of hip-hoo and electronic music durinh the 1980s.
Archival Photography Turns Into Apparel
Beyond the sneakers, MALLET and Normski extend the collaboration into a T-shirt collection featuring photographs selected from Normski’s own archive. The images bring the people, personalities and visual energy of his work into a wearable format.
His photographs have been exhibited at Tate Britain, the V&A, Somerset House and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. His work is currently exhibited at V&A East, the V&A and Tate Britain in The 90s: Art and Fashion (until 14 February 2027), and he will feature in Beyond the Streets at Saatchi Gallery (11 November 2026 to 5 May 2027).
The MALLET x Normski capsule collection launches on Thursday, 29 October 2026 at MALLET.com
