Rei Kawakubo never ceases to amaze. Despite the designer's well-documented “unconventional ethos” when it comes to product, the COMME des GARÇONS designer and Dover Street market founder delivers the goods time and time again – and her latest Nike collaboration under the COMME des GARÇONS HOMME PLUS line is no different.
First revealed during CdG’s Spring/Summer 2022 presentation midway through last year, the label has taken a swing at the nineties-infused Air Max Sunder, which is presented in a trio of simplified black and white styles – officially dubbed “White/Black”, “Triple White”, and “Triple Black”.
Featuring a leather base wrapped in a nylon shell, the AM Sunder comes equipped with zipper fastening covering its boring old laces (who needs ‘em?), with each sneaker’s outer adorning heat-welded overlays, mini Swoosh branding, and an archetypal Air midsole for good measure.
The collaborative Air Max Sunder launches exclusively at all COMME des GARÇONS and Dover Street Market stores — and, yes, the DSM E-SHOPs — on July 21 and comes soon after Nike’s head-turning Shox Mule MR4 alongside British designer Martine Rose, which had the internet chatting in its droves thanks to its unique mule-sneaker hybrid look.
The Air Max Sunder however is a little more conventional than the MR4, closely resembling its original 1999 build. That being said, it isn’t derived from an epochal Kawakubo touch of class with minimalist branding on the tongue and pull tabs, nicely rounding out a trio of understated traps.
While CdG and Nike aren’t reinventing the wheel when it comes to laceless sneakers, it is a timely reminder that we probably need more of them, right?
