Young North Korean soccer stars have sported expensive cleats from Western brands like Nike, Adidas and Puma at recent international tournaments, despite the state’s crackdowns on bourgeois culture and its claims that new domestic boots are “favored by the people of the DPRK.”

The DPRK men’s national team, as well as the U-17 and U-20 women’s squads, have all worn premium boots from the American and German companies in recent months, sometimes even bearing the logos of Hollywood blockbusters banned in North Korea.