Nike Air Yeezy 'Net'
Colorway: Net/Net · Style code: 366164-111 · Release date: April 4, 2009 · Price: $1999 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Nike Air Yeezy 1 Sneakers (366164-002) · Nike Air Yeezy 'Blink' (366164-003)
For a shoe presented as something new, the first Air Yeezy was assembled substantially out of parts Nike already owned. That is clearest on this version, where the midsole is taken directly from the Air Jordan 3, a 1988 basketball shoe, and carried under an upper that otherwise looks like nothing in the catalogue. Borrowing tooling is ordinary practice in footwear; doing it on a debut signature model for a musician is less so, and it kept the project grounded in the company's own archive rather than floating free of it.
Three colorways came out across 2009 at $215 each and sold out on release. This was the last of them, arriving in June, and the one that reflected West's input most directly.
Beige leather covers the upper and rises to a high collar lined in pink. The patent strap across the midfoot is smooth and glossy where the vamp beside it is perforated, and the suede toe wrap carries a repeating Y embossed into the surface. The contrast between finishes does most of the work; the colour does very little.