Jerry Lorenzo
Jerry Lorenzo
Jerry Lorenzo is an American designer born in Evansville, IN on October 5th, 1977. Throughout his professional career, Lorenzo has worked as an on-floor sales associate at Diesel and Los Angeles party-promoter, but he's best known for his own fashion label, FEAR OF GOD.
Before the American designer turned his aforementioned brand into a household name, he was employed by Kanye West and Justin Bieber to design merchandise for their respective “YEEZUS” (2013-14) and “Purpose” (2016-17) tours, as both artists had become fans of Lorenzo's apparel and personal style. Throughout this time, Jerry Lorenzo was often spotted wearing BOOST-cushioned sneakers from adidas – including the original UltraBOOST and Y-3 PURE BOOST ZG Knit – but he signed a partnership with NIKE, Inc. at the tail-end of 2017.
While part of the Swoosh roster, Lorenzo designed a number of sneakers, most notably the Nike Air FEAR OF GOD 1. In interviews throughout the years, the FEAR OF GOD-frontman has emphasized how important designing a brand-new silhouette was to him inking a deal with Nike, as he didn't want to be limited to simply adding new colors to an existing sneaker. Drawing inspiration from the Nike Air Max 180, the high-top design resembles a luxury “sneaker boot” with its tall trim, minimal aesthetic, mostly-tonal colorways and high price tag of $350 USD. The Air FEAR OF GOD 1 debuted on December 15th, 2018 in a black colorway to much fanfare. Orange, “Frosted Spruce” and “Amarillo” styles also appeared on Lorenzo's first Nike sneaker, which saw its last release on November 19th, 2020 via Instagram Shop. Additional products from the Nike x FEAR OF GOD partnership included: the Nike Air FEAR OF GOD Shoot Around; Nike Air Skylon 2; Nike Air FEAR OF GOD Moc; and Nike Air FEAR OF GOD Raid. Lorenzo also launched versions of the Converse Chuck 70 under his ESSENTIALS line.
On December 22nd, 2020, adidas announced that it had entered a long-term partnership with Lorenzo, effectively ending his relationship with NIKE, Inc. The official press release shared that Lorenzo would become Creative Director of adidas Basketball, while also launching another pillar of his FEAR OF GOD empire: FEAR OF GOD Athletics. This new branch under Lorenzo’s tutelage will focus on performance basketball and active-lifestyle products, likely in a similar fashion to Beyoncé’s IVY PARK imprint. Although he’s overlooking adidas Basketball’s current program – which includes athletes the likes of Derrick Rose, Damian Lillard and James Harden – Lorenzo may design an adidas x FEAR OF GOD sneaker. Furthermore, the American designer has stated that a collaboration with Kanye West’s YEEZY isn’t off the table.
