Mr. West had direct involvement in the concept, execution, and details of the shoe–from the initial sketches to the colorway choice to the tooling. West apparently got in touch with Mark Smith, who sculpted the Jordan XX3, to get the ideas cracking. Below you can see Kanye sketching preliminary ideas for the shoe which he said was inspired by the McFly. It’s amazing to see how the first ever non-athlete with a signature shoe from Nike designed his first shoe.
After meeting with Kanye, Smith gathered that Kanye wanted a clear Retro 80s feel without comprimising comfort. Early prototypes actually used a battery-powered LED blue sole, while the final product’s green sole was the result of extensive experimentation and honing.
