By Julian Loh
A few years ago, Nike stepped out of their usual constraints by developing a signature sneaker for a non-athlete. As a sports-orientated company, they usually don't go there, but when the person in question is a Mr. Kanye West, we guess some changes in internal policies could be made.
After much teasing, three colourways of the highly coveted Air Yeezys were released and sold out to peeps who made the effort to queue up. On one hand, many thought that the hype campaign was to pave the way for a slew of general release versions so that Nike and Kanye could cash in. On the other, "official" inside word was that the trio of releases were the first, second and final for the Air Yeezy. Surprisingly, the latter was true as the original Yeezy sneaker never saw a public release again.
Fast forward to 2012 and most people into kicks have probably seen pics of Kanye wearing the much hyped Air Yeezy 2, but here we are with an actual production pair for your viewing pleasure!
First off, although the colour scheme bears a similar resemblance to the original "Zen Grey" Yeezy release, the actual description on the box is "Wolf Grey/Pure Platinum".
Aesthetically, the most striking difference from the original is the hard ridges that run along the back of the shoe, somewhat similar to the recently released 'Urban Swift' by Hussein Chalayan for Puma. The shoe also seems to take inspiration from ancient Egyption mythology, as the logo on the tongue is most definitly of the mythological god Horus, which Kanye had infamously made into an oversized gold pendant. On the inner side of the shoe there's pyramid shaped holes, while hidden under the velcro forefoot strap are Egyption hieroglyphics.
However, inspiration and hidden meanings aside, Kanye seems to have chosen a really good mix of materials to breath life into his new signature kicks. Performance Torch fabric is used for the tongues, while the rest of the shoe is comprised of nylon mesh, suede and most notably snake skin leather.
Other details include glow-in-the-dark soles, leather lace locks and chunky metal lace tips, which are also used on the included drawstring bag.
The shoes will be released at Limited Edt Vault, Singapore, as well as other stockists across the world on April 13th, 2012. Good luck in getting a pair, but as with anything in the sneaker world, if there's a will (or money), there's a way!
Images: Jules @ Streething
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