With the Foam Runner, Kanye West wants to save the sneaker game

After the US Only launch almost a year ago, the YEEZY Foam Runners are finally ready to make their large-scale debut with a worldwide release set for today March 26 in two colours, the MXT MOON GRAY and the more traditional SAND. Recognized immediately as one of the most controversial releases among those released by Kanye in recent years, the Foam Runners find their roots in 2019, when during an event organized by Fast Company West and the legendary designer Steven Smith presented the first version to an audience astonished and perplexed by the statements of the founder of Yeezy. But time is a gentleman and as already happened with the Yeezy Runners before they became the 700 Wave Runners, it took little to convince those few who managed to get their hands on a pair of Foam Runners, transforming them into one of the most symbolic releases of 2020.

Although a more conservative part of the sneaker game continues to disapprove of them, the truth is that the Foam Runners are the step forward that a world that was too firm and anchored in its convictions had and needs. Halfway between a sneaker and a clog, the idea behind Kanye West's new creature is to have a shoe made from a single piece made entirely using an algae-based foam, thus winking at sustainability and creating an easily reproducible sneaker with low costs. West's plan also includes the possibility of producing the Foam Runners directly in the United States, adapting nearly 2,000 hectares of land in Wyoming into a new branch of the Yeezy factories with hydroponic cultivation that would allow the local production of the algae used to make the Foam Runners. . In West's plans, the cultivated algae could help clean up waterways, reducing the use of fossil fuels in the production process.

If the world of sneakers will necessarily have to remain anchored to its traditional forms, it is undeniable that a model like the Foam Runner is proof that it is possible to change course, reinventing a concept that becomes strong on the request of a happy public to passively attend releases. in series with cyclically repeating patterns and silhouettes. The time has come to accept reality: the sneaker game has run out of ideas and it takes the courage of Kanye West to move forward, we need brands to start putting development and design first and stop hiding behind the excuse of profit. An excuse that is no longer credible, as evidenced by the steady growth in Yeezy sales over the past few years. If sustainability is an important aspect in the future of sneakers, the design will have to be the turning point to start seeing the light in a tunnel that currently only has one exit, the one marked by Kanye West.