Yeezy Slide
Yeezy Slide
Yeezy Slide is a one-piece slip-on shoe released by Kanye West and Adidas. [1]
History
The Yeezy Slide was first leaked by Kim Kardashian on October 18th 2019 in an Instagram Story where she previewed some children's Yeezy Slides. This came shortly after the reveal of the polarizing clog-like Yeezy Crocs in September.
Launch
The shoes were launched on December 6th 2019 on adidas.com/YEEZY and in select retailers in adult, kids and infant sizes.
They come in Bone and Resin colors and launched exclusively on YEEZY SUPPLY and in certain cities in Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, India, and Latin America. A special Desert Sand color is only available on the YEEZY SUPPLY website. [3][5]
They're priced rather affordably at only $55 for adults, $45 for kids and $35 for infants.[3]
Design
The Yeezy Slide mostly consists of EVA foam which is injected to provide lightweight durability. The fortitude of the foam is accentuated by a cushion on the footbed. Grooves on the outsole are strategically placed for optimal comfort and traction, in case a situation comes up that requires running. [1][4]
Reception
When they were first teased on Instagram, the internet had a field day calling them jail slippers and crocs without holes. Snoop Dogg even tweeted out: [6]
"She been getting dudes out of jail now he gone sell jail slippers.
W. T. F. None of my bidness"
Kanye's History With Slides
In March of 2018, Kanye West’s YEEZY label released the first iteration of in-house slides. They were plain, slightly oversized, built for comfort and produced mostly in earthy tones. Later, in April of 2018, Kanye released what he called a "rough draft" of a slide prototype. The shoe was blue and looked like it had been 3D printed, with jagged soles intended for grip and comfort. [8]
In August of 2018, Kanye wore a Louis Vuitton suit designed by Virgil Abloh with a pair of slides that were a few sizes too small to 2 Chainz's wedding. The internet responded with a cacophany of opinions about the ill-fitting slides. Kanye corrected the record by explaining that the Japanese wear them that way. Even designer Virgil Abloh chimed in on the conversation, saying: [7]
"That was the most important outfit of recent memory.
It gave me hope after all the over-saturation of fashion where every two weeks there’s a new It shoe.
The brands [that West was wearing] were everywhere, but there was no identifiable brand.”
Kanye would later have a sense of humor about the incident, wearing oversized slides for the music video of his Lil Pump collaboration "I Love It." Finally, in September of 2019 images for Kanye West's YEEZY Foam Runners, also known as Yeezy Crocs, were leaked. They're constructed entirely of foam and are set to be released in 2020.[8]