What Does the End of Yeezy Mean for the Sneakerverse?
The end of the Yeezy reign over the sneaker ecosystem could spell the end of the sneaker phenomenon altogether.
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Yeezy brought with him a number of notable sneaker-related properties to the big screen, as well as a number of celebrity sneaker fans. And despite some of the hype surrounding the release of his own sneaker, Yeezy has continued to work hard on his own project, releasing two new YEEZY VOYEUR sneakers to mark the end of his exclusivity.
“I love YEEzy,” sneaker and gear designer Jeff Crawford told me this week. “He’s the biggest sneaker influence to me. He’s been instrumental in me growing as a designer. But he made a very bad choice [with the YEEZY III] and he’s got a lot of catching up to do. He needs to make a good sneaker. He has to go get another Yeezy II. I hate seeing him working on these things, and he’s had too many iterations of these shoes.”
Yeezy, for his part, has never shied away from talking about his love for the sneaker world, and that love is well-known. He has appeared at numerous sneaker events around the world. He’s been an analyst for Nike’s Reebok brand. He’s appeared on a number of “Yeezy Time” episodes on CNBC with the host of “Shark Tank,” Mark Cuban. He also helped launch the Adidas Yeezy brand in 2014. He’s had several sneaker collaborations, and he’s had a hand in the design of a number of other luxury sneaker brands.
Yeezy’s influence on the sneaker market, both in terms of the success of his own YEEZY brand and in terms of the success of other brands, cannot be understated