adidas Y-3 Ajatu Court High 'Black White'
Colorway: Black/Black/Core White · Style code: H05621 · Release date: August 11, 2021 · Price: $352 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: adidas Y-3 Ajatu Court 'White Black' (HR1929) · adidas Y-3 Ajatu Court Low 'Bliss' (H05626) · adidas Y-3 Ajatu Court High 'Bliss' (H05622) · adidas Y-3 Ajatu Court High 'White Black' (HR1932) · adidas Y-3 Ajatu Court Formal 'Black Bliss' (GY3800)
Y-3 introduced the Ajatu Court in 2021, and the high-top is the version that makes the concept legible. Its outline follows the adidas Nizza, the canvas basketball shoe adidas first sold in 1975, but every part is drawn heavier: a thicker rubber toe cap, a deeper sole and a collar that sits well above the ankle.
Hardware does most of the talking. A zipper wraps around the shoe rather than sitting at the ankle, and gunmetal rings replace grommets at the top of the lace panel. The cord lacing runs around the upper so the shoe can be stepped into, which is why the zipper reads as trim rather than as the entry point.
This black pair with a white sole came in the first year of the model, before the wider run of colours that followed. Yamamoto has directed the line with adidas since the label's Paris debut in 2002, and the Ajatu Court sits in the part of that catalogue built from adidas archive shapes rather than from running platforms.