Kanye West Has Created a ‘Yeezy Croc’

Kanye West’s Yeezy sneakers always sell out–just ask the hypebeasts trolling Grailed for new pairs. But his latest style has fans scratching their heads. West’s new creation, the “Yeezy Foam Runner,” was unveiled to the world Thursday afternoon via the Yeezy Mafia Twitter account. And Twitter users quickly dubbed the shoe the “Yeezy Croc.”

The space age shoes, displayed on a pair of models astride a motorcycle, really do look like sci-fi crocs. They’re closed-toe and squishy looking, with holes for ventilation running up the foot. North West has already been spotted in a pair for kids, and the newly-relaunched version of much-ballyhooed British magazine The Face already featured a pair in an editorial.

The social media mockery has been relentless. But isn’t that what always happens? Kanye does something, people make fun of it, rush to buy it, and then it kicks off an inescapable trend. The man is always on it.

West is far from the first designer to take inspiration from Crocs. Chistopher Kane showed sparkly versions for spring/summer 2017. And Demna Gvasalia, fashion’s greatest troll, showed platform Crocs for Balenciaga spring/summer 2018. People made fun of the shoes–and then they promptly sold out. “Balenciaga x Crocs isn’t impossible, the question of taste is a very subjective value,” he told Vogue Paris at the time. “We’ll see if this works in six months’ time in the stores. I wore Crocs this summer to see how I felt about them and they are the world’s comfiest shoes! I just wanted give to give them a fashionable touch: a platform. At the end of the day, fashion is all about having fun.”

Even Ariana Grande rocked a pair of Crocs the other day. Give it time–we’ll all be wearing them soon.