Brand: sacai x Nike
Model: Cortez 4.0
Release Date: August 31
Price: TBC
Buy: Nike SNKRS and select retailers
Editor's Notes: I, for one, am a pretty big fan of sacai doubling up on things for no reason whatsoever. I mean, how many layers is too many layers for the LDWaffle? Only time will tell.
In the meantime, the Japanese label’s highly-anticipated take on the Nike Cortez looks to be dropping imminently, six months on from its initial reveal in the brand’s Fall/Winter 2022 presentation.
Officially titled the Nike x sacai Cortez 4.0, the silhouette – which celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year – arrives with a fresh new lip at the rear (of course), clad in its OG 1970s colorway of white, red, and blue, with the darker iteration below also set to land.
The Cortez is held in high regard at Nike HQ, thanks to it being the brand’s first ever shoe. Designed by Bill Bowerman when Nike was still under its Blue Ribbon Sports guise, the Cortez has gone on to become one of the brand’s most popular and recognized sneakers globally.
That being said, what can’t do with an extra lip? And an extra tongue, for that. Double everything up, while you’re at it.
Talking of doubling up, the Cortez has been the focus of another collaboration recently, alongside American outfit Union LA, who dropped two iterations of the classic silhouette, following a debut link-up midway through last year.
For me, sacai and its double approach to the Nike Cortez easily trumps the lot. And while I’m almost pretty certain I’ll be getting a double L when the raffles drop, it’s worth trying, at least.
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