Yeezy Knit Runner: Behold, Kanye’s Weirdest Sneaker Yet

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Kanye West is by now liable for a person of the funkiest shoe releases of 2021. His Yeezy 450 pairs a knit upper with a toothy foam midsole, and not significantly else—the sole dictates what small shape the shoe has. But for his most up-to-date trick, Kanye is heading even floppier. The new YZY KNIT RNR (Yeezy Knit Runner) is essentially fully knitted—a sweater for the foot. It may possibly be Kanye’s strangest shoe yet—but it’s fully of a piece with his recent pursuits. The 1st colorway, a mustard-tan mix known as “Sulfur,” is established to drop September 23rd.

When images of the shoe initially leaked, social media users accused Kanye of thieving Mickey Mouse’s kicks. And, guaranteed, the Knit RNRs truly do resemble upscale shoe booties. But there is a small extra happening below than satisfies the eye. Photograph the shoe in foam and sliced with cutouts and you are going to see what I signify: the Knit RNR is in essence similar to Kanye’s beloved Foam Runner—except, of program, this shoe trades out foam for the knit substance.

The shoe implies that Kanye is increasingly disinterested in developing what we perceive as regular sneakers. Midway by means of the Yeezy task, Kanye pivoted absent from his early experiments to extra basic sneaker silhouettes: the a few iterations of the 700, the QNTM, and the 500, pretty much tedious as opposed to the new Knit RNR. But it appears to be like Kanye has been doing the job towards a shoe like the Knit RNR since the extremely early days of Yeezy. What is the Knit RNR if not a Yeezy 350 stretched to its most shapeless form? The laces have been stripped absent, the higher puffed up, and the sole is now nothing additional than a slim line. Even laces look to be an extra he can do devoid of. Modern sneakers like the Slide, 450, and Foam Runner are paving the way for a long run without the need of rabbit-ear lessons.

Extra typically, shapelessness appears to be to be the new defining aesthetic of Kanye’s overall design and style eyesight. You know what else is blobby and lacks any type of closure? The flagship merchandise from the Yeezy x Hole collaboration, a jacket that has all the composition of a cloud. In that way, the Knit RNR is appropriate in Kanye’s existing wheelhouse.

It should really be mentioned that amorphous jacket was a finest vendor for Gap. Even Kanye’s significantly less-common footwear like the Foam Runner and Slides have turned into surprisingly hot goods on the resale sector. When the 350 originally arrived out, it was an oddball in the sneaker world—and now it is a top-10 marketing shoe. Though the Knit RNR looks (extremely) humorous now, Kanye has a keep track of file of transforming mass flavor to match his individual.