nike air yeezy - what is it all about?

The Nike Air Yeezy in numbers:
_3 materialways
_1000 units per colorway
_7 days before the actual release was the earliest line up
_164464 most viewed thread on Hypebeast Forum (12th July 2009 -19.36 German time)

This is probably the hardest shoe to write about this year. The Nike Air Yeezy in collaboration with multi talented artist Kanye West.
This shoe is probably the most beloved and disliked one – I ever experienced.
Peeps who are into archives have not much love left for them while the entire hype and effort people pulled out to get them - showed that they are beloved by many.
Anyways, I am not talking about how much I like them but what is nice and what can be improved from my perspective like I did for the Visvims before.
Everything below refers to the black colorway only.

Upper:
The material mix is very interesting and varies from leather (heel, collar and tongue) to synthetic (vamp) to suede (toe cap) to textile (heel loop) – which makes the shoe quite busy but on the other side shows the possible spec – ing options. The different texture and finishes creates a very interesting visual appearance. The special lace lock that has been created is very nice and innovative and for sure something that hasnt been offered by usual suppliers.

Tooling (outsole unit):
At the beginning I thought that the Air Yeezy shares the production mold with the Air Jordan III but by observing the two toolings I realized its only inspired by the AJIII. The outsole is very similar only the grooves are slightly different and of course it says NIKE and not JORDAN.

The grooves in the midsole of the Yeezy s are deeper and the air bubble window is bigger than the AJIII.
The insole (sockliner) are well thought and has a binding to prevent the lining from getting flimsy – which would happen with that kind of material.
The Glow in Dark feature is of course that goes well with the concept of Kanye’s tour theme.

MY BAD - the tooling is from the Air Revolution.
Thanks Charlie from Crooked Tongues.

How is the design?
As the Yeezy is inspired by the McFly this shoe is very extraordinary and probably not build for any special sport or having any special functionality. So some parts are not made for comfort but visual look – the extremely high collar for instance.
Overall very brave design PROPS NIKE!
My only question would be – If it is not with Kanye would this shoe be as successful as it is? Probably not!

What can be improved?
Packaging -
I would expect for such a special shoe a special and more durable box / packaging.
Mine traveled from HK to Germany in my luggage and the box is pretty messed up which decreased the value of the shoe in my perception since I like to keep my collectables in original boxes.

Laces –
The oval laces are generally fine but I could see some special lace tips to lift up the overall appearance of the shoe.

Lace lock –
I like the lace lock a lot since it is newly created (I love new stuff) but I would have attached it on the tongue. If you do not want to lace them to the upper three eyelets - the lace lock is all over the place or you would have to put them under the strap. For my taste its too cool not showing them.

Vamp Synthetic –
The synthetic of the vamp is not mine (zen and tan colorway are out of leather > much better). It is already wrinkling although they haven’t been worn.

Tooling –
Since it is not sharing the mold with the AJIII I would have gone a bit further with the outsole grooves and texture and make them visually more futuristic. For my taste they are too similar with the AJIII. How would they look like in 2015? If they still look like the AJIII from 1988 then we have a problem.

Swoosh –
I would have done the Swoosh in glow in the dark as well. So there is a link with the outsole instead of going tonal.

Craftsmanship -
The craftsmanship is very poor around the toe area. Pls make sure you glue them properly - especially when the material is suede which is very sensitive.

Overall I have to say I like the shoe. And by looking at some other brands that all of a sudden have a huge strap in the midfoot –it seems that I am not the only one.

Who’s sending me the Zen colorway in US8?

ac

July 12, 2009