Casablanca Taps Into Skate History With the Del Mar

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Who is Casablanca?

Casablanca is the Paris-based luxury house founded in 2018 by Franco-Moroccan designer Charaf Tajer. Paris-born to Moroccan parents who met in a Casablanca couture workshop, Tajer named the label after the city where he spent childhood summers, in a place he’s tied to escapism, color, and travel. Before launching it, he was a fixture of Parisian nightlife and street-couture culture, co-founding the Pigalle label and the Pain O Chokolat collective behind the cult nightclub Le Pompon. That background, with equal parts fashion and party, feeds directly into the brand’s DNA.
The house built its identity around what Tajer calls an “après-sport” aesthetic: luxury leisurewear that lives somewhere between the tennis court, the casino, and the French Riviera. Think silk shirts loaded with maximalist prints, terry cloth, and a vivid color palette drawn from architecture, sport, and travel, all filtered through a vintage, almost Ralph Lauren-by-way-of-Monaco sensibility. The momentum came fast — Casablanca was an LVMH Prize finalist in 2020 and an International Woolmark Prize finalist in 2021, picked up by Mr Porter, Net-a-Porter, Selfridges, and Browns, and worn early by the likes of Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner, and Skepta

Where the Del Mar fits

Casablanca isn’t new to blending worlds, and the Del Mar sneaker is one of the cleaner examples of that. The Del Mar represents the other side of Casablanca‘s footwear story: its own in-house line rather than a collaboration. The model takes its name from the famous 1980s Del Mar skatepark in California and channels late-’70s and early-’80s skate shoes — canvas panelled uppers, a rubber cap toe, a flat sole, chunky laces, and contrast eyelets, all finished with the house’s subtle branding and made in Portugal. It’s become a signature staple in the brand’s core range, offered in everything from clean white and the classic Casablanca green to brighter multicolor panelling that nods to the clashing palettes of the era. Born out of the Spring/Summer 25 “Can’t Get Enough” collection, a season that mixed LA’s sun-soaked energy with the house’s Parisian roots, its luxury-meets-leisure formula into an everyday silhouette of its own.

The sneaker resume

For sneakerheads, Casablanca‘s name carries real weight thanks to its New Balance partnership. The two linked up in 2020 on the New Balance 327 “Idealist” — Casablanca‘s very first sneaker, and one of the releases widely credited with helping reframe New Balance as a genuine collaboration heavyweight rather than just a “dad shoe” brand. They followed it with a take on the 237, then graduated to an entirely original silhouette in 2021 with the XC-72, an angular, split-sole design Tajer pitched as a “sports car for your feet,” directly inspired by exotic automotive design and the roads around Monaco. Across roughly a year, the collaboration produced a string of releases that consistently went toe-to-toe with bigger-name drops.

Design-wise, the Del Mar leans into the classic codes of skate footwear with canvas panelled uppers, rubber toe caps, a flat sole, chunky laces, and contrasting eyelets. with Casablanca‘s very own elevated touch throughout. The slightly exaggerated, puffy proportions give it that era-accurate feel, and the kidney pool-shaped logo ties it all back to the concrete waves that defined the sport before skateparks even existed. If you know the history, you’ll catch it.

The colorway lineup has expanded well beyond the original green/white and off-white/sand launches. The Del Mar family now includes a vibrant blue suede with croco-debossed texture alongside core Casablanca tones in red/white, navy/white, black, and green. Each shade is designed to complement key pieces from the collection, giving the shoe range whether you’re building a full look or letting it stand on its own.