adidas Y-3 Kaiwa 'Trace Khaki'
Colorway: Trace Khaki/Trace Khaki/Fox Orange · Style code: FX0908 · Release date: October 15, 2022 · Price: $425 · Availability: Available now
The Kaiwa arrived in Y-3's Fall 2018 range, named for the Japanese word for conversation and presented as the running back-and-forth between Yamamoto's design office and adidas's factories. Its construction sets a close-fitting upper of leather, neoprene and nylon against a midsole that swells outward in rounded pods, so the shoe looks considerably heavier than it is.
The first pairs went out in plain black and plain white, which made the contrast between the slim upper and the bulging foam the whole point. The extended tongue with debossed branding and the suede tab on the midsole came from that original build and carried through later runs.
This khaki version landed in autumn 2022 and works against the model's usual logic. With upper and sole closer in tone, the lobed midsole no longer reads as a separate object bolted underneath, and the silhouette settles into something quieter than the black and white pairs that introduced it.