KANYE WEST X NIKE SPORTSWEAR= AIR YEEZY
31 March, 2009 08:59am | Posted in Air Yeezy, Bunker, Cuisine, Kanye West, Nike, Nike Philippines | No Comments »
As you may have noticed, I took a break the past week for an international sneaker expedition, thus the long break. Before I go on to talk about my trip to SG, there’s something more important to hype here in sneakerland. Way back early ’08 (during his performance at the Grammys), Kanye West, the style guru that he is, was seen rocking an unknown pair of Nikes. Only to find out a few weeks after that he was sporting the Air Yeezy. Some artists do collaborations with sneaker brands, Kanye ups the ante by getting his own sneaker. How do you like dem apples? The hype surrounding the shoe has been off the charts and heads have been asking when or if they’ll ever drop. Well, my friends, that time is now.
But before I break the great news, here’s why this sneaker will make a mark in 2009: The Air Yeezy, which takes Kanye’s nickname, draws upon the innovations from Nike’s rich sporting history and fuses them with original lines, materials, and design elements that reflect West’s unique style.
Nike celebrates talent and the Air Yeezy was developed from a strong relationship between the two. Nike Creative Director Mark Smith took Kanye through the usual product creation process to get the ultimate piece. As he would put it, “Kanye is a truly creative talent; He’s a natural designer- partnerships like this always enhance the creative experience and the end product.” King Louis (his supposed new name) agrees that the partnership with Nike has been exciting. “Nike is such an important brand to me,” said West. “Whether you are on the court, in the street, in the club, at school, Nike represents excellence, the standard in design. Growing up, we looked forward to the release of new Nikes the way we would an album by our favorite artist. So the opportunity to collaborate on a design with Mark Smit and Nike Design been a dream come true, and a great experience.”
Kanye and Nike shared the same vision- create a modern classic. And that’s just what they did. The creative process of the Yeezy began with the discussion around ideas and inspirations. The shoe began to take shape through a series of drawings and samples each pulling inspiration and reference from some of Nike’s iconic innovations and rich design history. A careful balance of the past and present had to take place to make the ultimate sneaker. Smith refers to this as “reductionism”.
Like all of Nike’s products, the shoe had to go through the same process. At Nike, the ultimate test is one of performance, where the design meets the athlete’s movements. “Kanye could wear and perform in these shoes and really identify how we cold make the shoes perform better. And that’s what Kanye did. He wore them during a performance so that the people over at Beaverton can get it right.
THE NIKE AIR YEEZY: THE NEW SCHOOL OF COMFORT.
Born from Kanye West’s creative passion, built with Nike design and performance innovation, The Air Yeezy was fine-tuned on stages around the globe, challenging convention by remixing the past to create something uniquely new, as only Nike Sportswear can.
Kanye’s been known for his non-stop energy both on and off stage and the Yeezys had to support and sustain West from start to finish. An almost obsessive focus was put on delivering supreme comfort throughout the development of the shoe. Equipped with debossed ankle collar pods for added support and protection, extra-thick sock liners, a forefoot support strap, original functional tension lace loops, and Phylon tooling taken from the ’87 Air Assault for added performance and comfort- all developed and integrated with one goal in mind: to keep Kanye on lock down in cushioned comfort during his performances during his many notoriously strenuous artistic live performances.
These performances attributes have been meticulously wrapped in premium full grain leather uppers and adorned with original design details that are uniquely Kanye and identifiably Nike. The remastered Nike Air Assault outsole is treated to glow-in-the-dark properties and will illuminate when the light is low. The forefoot support strap is premium grade patent leather and is of no-stitch construction. Clean seams are used throughout except for a premium suede toe wrap feature with visible stitch detail. Emblazoned across the Air Yeezy is an exclusive “Y” repeat pattern, as either a debossed or lasered detail, which takes inspiration from the Jordan brands’ iconic Elephant print material. This graphic treatment was developed by West and Nike to pay tribute not only to the name of the shoe and it’s co-creator, but also to the various moments in history that spurred West’s initial inspiration for the Nike Air Yeezy.
Now are you psyched?!? This shoe has created so much buzz, paralleling the noise made by some SB pairs and the Hyperdunks. Limited pairs of the Nike Air Yeezy are set to be released on Saturday, April 4, 2009, 7pm exclusively at Bunker (check the blog for Bunker’s address). For a sneak peek and to find out how to purchase a pair, visit Embassy Cuisine this Friday, April 3, 8pm.
So I guess I’ll see all you sneaker fiends this Friday? Be counted and be one of the lucky few that’ll have the chance to rock the Y-to-the-E-to-the-E-to the, you know the deal. YEEZY baby!