Nike Sportswear and Grammy award winning recording artist Kanye West present the highly anticipated Nike Air Yeezy sneaker in Spring 2009.The shoe, which takes West’s nickname Yeezy, 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.
The Air Yeezy was developed from a strong relationship between West and Nike. Partnering with Nike Creative Director, Mark Smith, Kanye was taken through the product creation process, the same way athletes have with Nike Design for the past 37 years. This creative partnership of Smith and West’s talents as designers yielded a unique Nike Sportswear sneaker worth the wait. “Kanye is a truly creative talent,” said Smith. “He’s a natural designer-partnerships like this always enhance the creative experience and the end product.” West 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 Nike’s the way we would an album by our favorite artist. So the opportunity to collaborate on a design with Mark Smith and Nike Design has been a dream come true, and a great experience.”
From the start, West and Nike’s shared vision was clear: to create a modern classic. An original Nike footwear style, that reflects elements of Nike’s sporting past, and remixes them with Nike innovation to deliver a unique shoe.
The creative process of the Air 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, across both Basketball and Sportswear styles.
A careful balance was sought, each time new elements were added, with existing elements being taken away – a design process Smith refers to as “reductionism”. “Nike shoes need to function and always be innovative,” said Smith. “So the first thing we did was to make sure the design process that Kanye and Nike Design went through, mirrored that of our athletes.” “I’ve been designing Nike’s in my sketch pad since the fourth grade,” said West. “So to say I’ve been prepared for this would be an understatement. The really fun and challenging part for me was learning about Nike’s design process, learning more about fabrics and functions and colorways, and all of the details that go into designing a shoe of this quality.”
Following the fabled tradition of Nike’s design process, West and Smith went through a series of one-on-one design sessions. 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 could make the shoes perform better.” Supplanting center court with center stage, West provided critical feedback on how the shoe performed throughout the course of his 2-3 hour performance sets, where the first prototypes of the Nike Air Yeezy were seen outside of Nike’s World Headquarters in Beaverton, OR.
THE NIKE AIR YEEZY: 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.
West is known for his non-stop energy both on the stage and off so the Air Yeezy 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 1987 Nike 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 performance 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 Smith 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.
The Nike Air Yeezy will release in Spring 2009. Three colorways will be available. The first in April 2009 will be the Zen Grey/LT Charcoal color way, followed this will be followed in May by a Black/ Black version, and in June with the final Net/Net color way.
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Nike Air Yeezy – Spring 2009 Collection
Nike Air Yeezy – April 1st, 2009 Release
Style: 366163-002
Color: Zen Grey/Light Charcoal
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Nike Air Yeezy – May 2nd, 2009 Release
Color: Black/Black-Pink
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Nike Air Yeezy – June 2009 Release
Color: Net/Net
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Nike Air Yeezy – Glow in the Dark
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Photos of Kanye West Wearing the Nike Air Yeezy:
Kanye West wearing the Air Yeezy during 2008 Grammys
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Kanye West sketching the concept for the Air Yeezy sneaker while on the Nike Air Jet from Beaverton to NYC for the 1Night Only performance
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BELOW ARE THE CURRENT LISTINGS FOR THESE KICKS ON EBAY:
[If kicks below are a random assortment, desired kicks are not currently available on eBay.]
April 18th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
wtf is he wearing? haaa
April 18th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Definitely, going to buy. !!!!!
))
April 18th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
LOL I like the sneakers a little bit… but what the hell is he wearing? gawd his outfits are ridiculous
April 18th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
not good looking at all…not down with this morphed/fushion type shoes. not very original.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
pretty close to being ok
April 19th, 2008 at 5:43 am
these kicks are crazy i love the way they use all the difrent shoes like the 3’s and the revolutions and if you look you een see a lil bit of the ol’school marty mc’flys and they glow in the dark defintly a must cop
April 19th, 2008 at 6:00 am
yea those are some fly azz kicks…..i kinda like that shirt too except for the orange part hanging down
April 19th, 2008 at 11:02 am
man, i’m diggin these. not the colorway really. but if the straight black ones that he wore at the grammy’s come out, i’d definitely cop. long as they dont end up costin more than like 2 just cuz they are kanye’s
April 19th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj140/gppo33/air_yeezy.jpg
think i may have figure it out . . .?!
April 20th, 2008 at 12:58 am
doesnt matter what hes wearing cuz none of you can dress better then him or have more money then him as for the kicks they are tuff i am definitely coppin
April 20th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
i like em he just not fresh wit it at all
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:57 am
so if i wear these can i be a power ranger to
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Lamo to the braino. Stop the insanity… when will it stop. Stick with the uptowns my man…. Look at the tongue on these slides, I would rather wear yellow see through Shaqs. They are dookie, peace and love…….
April 24th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
He really need to stop playin, in step his game up because he’s making the Chi look real stupid. those are the uglyest shoes i have ever seen and I would wear some K-swiss before putting those things on my feet.
June 5th, 2008 at 12:14 am
drop these mutha fukkas before i change my mind.
July 30th, 2008 at 8:28 am
these colours be shit but i’d buy the black colour way
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:20 am
hes wearing his tour gear for when hes on stage, u fool
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:39 pm
those shoes are tight, some don’t what ya are talking about
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:40 pm
i’m going to get me some of those but different color
March 11th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
what is he wearing. Omg he looks like ge is a robot or someone from other space. the outfit is so much stupid. i cant believes he wears that outfit. the retro kids and the cool kids wear better outfit than what he does. man if you wanna wear tight clothes do it good and proper, you can dress like the 70s if you want but man this stupid outfit makes your sneakers ugly.
March 19th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Thats great.kanye is a lyrical genius and so are his products.I cant wait till da day i will see him personally.
March 20th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
those are some gangsta shoes, cant wait to get me some
March 21st, 2009 at 4:03 pm
its funny how u guys r making fun of his outfit, but did ya guys go to the glow in the dark tour? im assume not..but i think the shoes cool
March 22nd, 2009 at 2:01 am
kanye west shit out of control i juss love fashion and the way yeezy put it together maybe one day il stand by his side and shit with him yall fukin haters
March 24th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
estan super las reebok
March 24th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
i like em alot
April 13th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
MAN ALL YA’LL COMMENTERS ON THE SHOES ARE SOME LAMES WHO PROBABLY CAN’T DRESS. THE SNEAKERS ARE DOPE AND WHO CARES ABOUT THE COLORS IT ALL DEPENDS ON HOW YOU ROCK THEM AND WHAT YOU WEAR WITH THEM. KANYE’S STYLE IS DOPE AND HALF OF YA’LL PROBABLY JOCK HIS STYLE. HE’S ONE OF THE FRESHEST DUDES OUT RIGHT NOW. EVEN THOUGH HIS STYLE IS TO THE EXTREME, IT DOESN’T MATTER CUS HE TAKES FASHION TO THE NEXT LEVEL AND MAKE YA’LL STEP UP YOUR GAME AND SWAGGER. SO BYE HATERS aka EVERYONE WHO DISSED YEEZY’S SNEAKERS. YA’LL SOME LAMES.
April 17th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
KANYE WEST WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR “AIR YEEZY” SNEAKERS THEY’RE ONLY A CERTAIN AMOUNT GOING TO THE STORES!!!
” HOW CAN YOU BE SO “HEARTLESS”!!!!!!!!!!
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:32 pm
where can i buy these
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:50 am
dem sneaks r ill but more colour wud help though
April 27th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
could u fix the top of the shoes like that ? i mean its different from the original pics compare to how he wear it
April 30th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Can Someone tell me were there gonna b released in Southern California
May 2nd, 2009 at 2:08 pm
[...] Source 1, Source 2, Source 3 [...]
May 4th, 2009 at 11:31 am
y da fuck ur shoes so much dig?
May 4th, 2009 at 11:32 am
y da fuck ur shoes so much dog?
May 4th, 2009 at 11:38 am
but they hot dow
May 6th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
damn i just copped the black and pink pairs..fuckkk jimmy jazz ..im getting the tan one next
May 9th, 2009 at 3:54 am
R you must didnt go to the concert. That was for the Glow in the Dark tour when he was in space. Damn do your research but I can wait for the Tan color to come out.
May 9th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
shytt these bitches r too flly i would buy dem if dey werent soo HIGH!!!but they defintely r kool and yall need to STOP HATIN on kanye cuz he did step up his game!!!shytt how bout yall try 2 make sum leather nikes and see if terrance j (106&park)will wear them mutha fuckers i didnt think soo!!!but lyk i said kanye did a AWESOME JOB WITH THESE SHOES {iLLY}
May 20th, 2009 at 8:20 am
i REAllY lOVE tHESE SHOES! iM GNE tRY MY bESt 2 GEt tHESE SHOES diS WEEkENd
June 5th, 2009 at 4:08 am
i told u so, YEEEEEEEEZZY IS BACK WITH HIS BIG SUCCESSFUL NOTION S. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM LOVING IT.
June 5th, 2009 at 4:10 am
I AM LOVING IT YOH YOH YOH YOH YOH
June 6th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
hahaha i got one air yeezy net. This shyt is dope, really f ucking sweet! DOPE!
June 9th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Dem muthafukaz go mayne im kopn me a pair wen dey kum out tha glow n tha darkz izz amazin 916
July 15th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
maine… is y’all fa real?! stop dick boppin’, y’all know det shit ain’t rockin. maybe to you skate board mu’fuckas. git it right, kanye pulls dis shit off cuz he’s rich and established in the game;don’t y’all lame ass, broke ass – wanna fit in lookin’ ass niggas try to pull dis off cuz it won’t work! remember wut rocko said,”you jus do you, i’mma do me.” hit det video on youtube and git back reality boi’s.kanye you cool,but ya shoes jes don’t do it fa me maine,real talk.
July 15th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
HI,everyone,
i want one pair of nike air yeezy?
where can i get one?
August 20th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
i soo want them shoes ill be all geeked up
August 31st, 2009 at 11:57 pm
this is drop shipping order by::
http://www.excelkick.com
free and fst shipping per days!!!
thx!!
September 3rd, 2009 at 2:15 pm
kayne west these are thre best shoes youve made yet i like them and yes and going to get a pair cuz a nigga stay fresh, fly, fitted
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:06 pm
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