Way back in 2006, Kanye West touched down in Hong Kong as part of his “Touch the Light” tour, in his first ever appearance in Asia. Connecting with CLOT’s co-owner Edison Chen – who had coincidentally opened the show for Kanye – the Chi-town rapper and producer was desperate to design a Nike shoe. At the time, CLOT had just released the iconic and heavily sought after “Kiss of Death” Air Max 1, so had some foothold with the Oregon powerhouse and managed to persuade them to make it happen.
Through Nike iD, in a time period of just two months, Kanye designed a pink and grey Air Max 1 adorned with “CLOT” calligraphy laser-etched onto the lateral foot. Four pairs were produced, two going to Ye for use on his tour and the remaining pairs going to CLOT’s co-owners Edison Chen and Kevin Poon. In a minor slip-up, Nike failed to realise that the colors were available to the general public, and for a couple of days fans were making the sneaker themselves (albeit devoid of the laser etching). Once they realised, Nike removed the colors from the Nike iD software.A full decade and a half later, Nike and CLOT are set to be reissuing the hallowed colorway as the third and final addition to their 2021 “Kiss of Death” series, which saw the east-meets-west brand retro the iconic, transparent-toed Air Max 1 as well as adding another color option through the “CLOTCHA” pair. As usual, we see detailing throughout alluding to the Chinese art of Acupuncture, as well as a special box adorned with Graffiti from artist MC Yan.
The pair releases July 17, 2021, presumably through Nike SNKRS and other retailers like Juice Store.
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