Yeezy doubled down Saturday on the puffed-up boot aesthetic that won the approval of “Love Yourself” singer Justin Bieber.
The distinctive YZY KNIT RNR BT builds on the design of September’s sulfur-yellow slip-on Yeezy Knit Runner, adding a heavy knit collar, as well as larger treads on the outsole. A label printed on the knit upper claims the $400 boots are waterproof.
The eye-grabbing footwear debuted eight days after the Yeezy NSLTD BT. Like the YZY KNIT RNR BT, the khaki boot features a quilted, lace-less collar. The shoe, which sold for $340 a pair, appears to offer slightly more structure, with what resembles a Yeezy Foam Runner serving as the base.
Yeezy’s chunky NSLTD boots received a high-profile endorsement from Bieber, a long-time friend of Yeezy’s owner, Ye—the musical artist commonly known as Kanye West. According to GQ, the singer was seen wearing the shoes to brunch Nov. 6, just one day after they dropped.
Though both silhouettes are still selling above their retail price on resale sites like StockX—one individual shelled out $1,117 for a pair of 9.5 Knit Runner boots—neither received particularly warm welcomes among the Yeezy community. When Yeezy Mafia, an online community devoted to but unaffiliated with the Yeezy brand, posted its first pictures of the boots on Instagram, comments largely trended toward the negative.
An October post unveiling the NSLTD boot, for example, received more than 52,000 likes. In the comment section, however, users racked up hundreds of likes each commenting “what the [expletive] is this,” “Nah nah nah” and “I didn’t think Kanye could make anything worse.” On Nov. 3, Yeezy Mafia unveiled the Knit Runner boots. Though fans were more receptive than with the NSLTD boots, the most-liked comment—“At this point Yeezys just putting anything together”—was far from a stirring endorsement of the brand.
The two bulky boot styles are not the only Yeezy winterwear to drop this year. In June, Yeezy and Gap debuted the first item from the highly valued collaboration—a $200 blue puffer jacket. In July, the duo opened up pre-orders for a black colorway of the jacket. Both sold out instantly. In August, former Gap CEO Mickey Drexler revealed that each release made $7 million overnight. Days after that interview, Yeezy and Gap dropped a red puffer, which also sold out almost immediately.