The Rise of Off White Sneakers

How Virgil Abloh and Off white became one of the most iconic designers changed the sneaker game.

Virgil Abloh, one of the most biggest names in the fashion industry, created Off - white and changed the sneaker game and the fashion industry for years. Its only normal for us to discuss the rise of Off-White and its influence within the sneaker game.

Origins

Before we get to talk about Virgil's Off White success, we need to take look at the early beginnings of Virgil Abloh and how he found his place in the fashion industry.

Born in 1980, Abloh was an artist, architect, and fashion designer. After earning a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he obtained a master’s degree in Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Virgil Abloh broke boundaries in the tradition-soaked fashion industry, bringing streetwear to the highest levels of the luxury market, as well as becoming one of the few Black designers to take the creative helm at a major luxury house.

It was in 2002 Virgil met Kanye West, designing merchandise and album art, West and Abloh interned together at Fendi in the summer of 2009, during which they become better friends. Abloh officially took on the title of West’s “creative director” in 2010.

Abloh’s first big public project with West was art direction for West’s joint album with Jay-Z, Watch the Throne, which pulled him into the broader hip-hop social and commercial circle.

Pyrex Vision

In 2012 Virgil Abloh opened a boutique named Pyrex Vision, which was primarily centred around a viral scam. Buying simple, cheap Champion basics and Ralph Lauren dead stock flannel shirts bought at whole sale, then screen-printing his own super-simple graphics on top of them and selling them for hundreds of dollars.

Pyrex Vision was the blueprint for future Abloh projects, as he used to implement the infamous 3% rule. Whereby if you change a design by 3% then you can turn it into something new.

Pyrex Vision's principle garnered a lot of infamous attention and critics. Even a HighSnobiety editor commented on the rule, stating that Virgil basically used simple Ralph Lauren flannel shirts and champion basic white t-shirts just to put his own personal branding and sell them for hundreds of dollars. The ironic thing is, that was Virgil's main point all along, to change certain aspects of a design and to make a new design all together.

Pyrex Vision was especially significant, it was an era of streetwear rebirth, by which streetwear brands cherry pic references from luxury designers and re-imagine them, and paying homage to what Virgil loved, it took inspiration from vintage adverts, poster designers and Raf Simmons. This in itself was a bit controversial as many accused Abloh of stealing from previous designers and others.

Even though Virgil had his fair share of critics, it goes without saying that Pyrex Vision transcended streetwear, as he subverted both streetwear and luxury wear into one, by reducing Ralph Lauren flannels and blank champion tees by screen printing PYREX branded treatment.

Off White...

Following Virgil Abloh's successive creation, Pyrex Vision, in 2013 Virgil Abloh founded his label Off- White, which its design was centred on diagonal lines and iconography of American cities, white arrows, plain labels, industrial packaging with a signature zip tie.

The first Off-White womens wear line debuted at Paris Fashion week in 2014. Alongside his finalist prize, this pushed Abloh into the fashion spotlight with all the top buyers and designers in predominately rich and infamously white industry.

Off-White was a different breath of fresh air, it was caught in place that no other brand was really ascribing to. Off White brought both luxury, youth and hip hop culture together, while there has been other brands in the past that have taken this approach, many haven't reached the pinnacle of Off white.

Off White's philosophy was matched with that of the inner city hip hop culture, and with its growth came popularity and attention from celebrities and athletes, such as the likes of Jay Z, Kanye West and Lebron James.

By combining both themes of streetwear and luxury wear, Off White would create waves in the fashion industry and would soon reach its pinnacle in 2017...

"The Ten" -Nike x Off White

In 2017, Off-White partnered with Nike to redesign 10 of the company's best selling and iconic styles, from the larger Nike, Jordan and Converse family.

Virgil Abloh's relationship with Nike began in 2016 whereby he visited the company's headquarters in October 2016 to start a new collaboration. As a teenager, Virgil would sketched shoe ideas and mail them to Nike, now he's with collaboration with Nike.

The Ten shoes were split into two categories, revealing and ghosting, with five silhouettes each.

The 'revealing' shoes were meant to show off a deconstructing look and were comprised of the Air Jordan I, Nike Air Max 90, Nike Air Presto, Nike Air VaporMax and Nike Blazer Mid.

The Ghosting category was defined by its translucent materials throughout the shoes, as designed with translucent uppers to further the idea of revealing and unite the second set of silhouettes through common material. It includes the Converse Chuck Taylor, Nike Zoom Fly SP, Nike Air Force 1 Low, Nike React Hyperdunk 2017 and Nike Air Max 97.

The shoes were teased non stop for months on end before eventual release. It cant be stated on how big of an impact Virgil and 'The Ten' were in the streetwear industry as in my opinion this changed a lot for collabs, and defined sneaker culture in the 21st century.

My personal favourite would of course be the Off White Black Air Force 1, I love the fact that the shoe doesn't crease, and the materials were of a high synthetic materials, definitely a grail of mine.

'The Ten' transcended the Nikes classics such as the Jordan 1 high and Converse, by making them a collective catalyst for streetwear and luxury fashion. Which highlights the prevalent designs from Nike and its years of athleisure.