Since it was exposed in 2019, the first color matching will be released in the spring and summer of 2020. This year, a number of different color matching have been launched one after another. Foam Runner, because of the hot sales, it is difficult to find a shoe, it has also become a veritable explosion in the past two years.

Among the many brands and products, why is YEEZY Foam Runner so popular?

In 2019, YEEZY Foam Runner debuted at the Fast Company Innovation Festival summit.

Fast Company Innovation Festival Summit, Kanye West and YEEZY Design Director Steven Smith

Kanye West Wears YEEZY Foam Runner at “ASTROWORLD 2019” Music Festival

 

01/

Behind the scenes Steven Smith

The reason why Foam Runner is very popular is not just because it is a product launched by Kanye West, but also behind the blessing of YEEZY design director and legendary sneaker designer Steven Smith.

Steven Smith, Design Director, YEEZY

Steven Smith graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Art in 1986 and entered New Balance the same year. He has worked for famous brands such as New Balance, Reebok, NIKE, adidas, etc., and later joined YEEZY as the design director.

New Balance’s 996, 574, 675, 676, 1500 and 997, Reebok Instapump Fury, NIKE’s Zoom Streak Spectrum Plus and Zoom Spiridon Caged, YEEZY 700 Series, Qntm, 451, Foam Runner and other classic shoes are all by Steven Smith .

The birth of YEEZY Foam Runner, compared to other works of Steven Smith, there is no doubt that it has a completely different design aesthetics from the past in terms of appearance and production process, breaking the public’s inherent cognition of sports shoes.

02/

Focus, innovator in the field of footwear

In an interview, Steven Smith talked about Kanye West’s work environment and work style. In order to stay away from the clutter of celebrity circles and paparazzi, Kanye West moved his studio to remote Wyoming, where he gathered creations in the fields of clothing, shoes and music. It provides designers with a highly inspiring environment and free space. Steven Smith also revealed that he has 1,700 finished YEEZY designs in his iPad.

When other brands are re-engraving classics and busy making joint products, YEEZY is the only brand that innovates in the field of footwear. The YEEZY series of shoes over the years are all good examples.

Kanye West has exposed hundreds of pairs of YEEZY shoes in “Forbes” magazine

The emergence of the YEEZY Foam Runner, compared to the sports shoes with many pieces and many sewing processes, this one-piece futuristic new design simplifies the shoe-making process. In addition to speeding up production efficiency, it can also save unnecessary manpower. workers to minimize the cost of shoes.

Series of shoes such as YEEZY Foam Runner, YEEZY x D.Rose, YEEZY 450 and YEEZY 450 Slide are gradually affecting the entire footwear industry.

Influenced by the YEEZY Foam Runner, 1017 ALYX 9SM, Merrell, Kacimi Latamene and RAL7000STUDIO have all followed suit with similar designs.

Left: 1017 ALYX 9SM / Right: Merrell Hydro Moc

Kacimi Latamene

RAL7000STUDIO x adidas Originals

03/

Aiming for “environmentally friendly shoemaking”

The Global Biodiversity Outlook pointed out that most future projections predict that within this century, a large number of organisms will go extinct, various species will continue to be lost in large quantities, and the decline of some related ecosystem services will be related to human. Well-being is all about. With the frequent occurrence of forest fires, the prediction of mass extinction, and the global raging of the new coronavirus, human beings are facing more and more environmental challenges. Therefore, environmental protection has become a hot issue of global concern.

When YEEZY Foam Runner first appeared at the summit, Kanye West and design director Steven Smith said that they would promote the formation of environmentally friendly materials in a large number, and hope that in the future, environmentally friendly shoemaking will be the goal. The Foam Runner just fulfilled this promise and became the first shoe to use the one-piece foam rubber extracted from “algae”. Even the size of the shoe box has been reduced to reduce material production and unnecessary resource consumption. Compared with previous products , Foam Runner has fewer tags and cardboard, and information such as shoe name and size label are directly printed on the inside of the shoe box.

YEEZY Foam Runner Shoe Box

04/

Satisfy the consumer mentality of “no one has what I have”

Although the production process of YEEZY Foam Runner is simple, and a pair can be made in less than 30 minutes, Kanye West still has some control over the output and adopts a consistent hunger marketing strategy, which makes it difficult to find a single shoe after the sale, with more than 500 sales. The second-hand market once sold 4000+ pairs. It is this sales strategy that greatly stimulated the consumer mentality of “no one has me”.

Coupled with the innovative and forward-looking design of YEEZY Foam Runner, it is highly recognizable and highly individualized, which is more in line with the preferences of young hipsters.

Of course, some people say that even if it is given to him for free, he will not wear it. What do you think of YEEZY Foam Runner? See you in the comments…