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Nike has unveiled a new iteration of the Sacai x Nike Cortez 4.0, which comes clad in a grayscale colorway, marking the Cortez silhouette's 50th year anniversary. The latest Bill Bowerman-designed silhouette features the iconic Sacai's signature twinned design, found across its other footwear collaborations with the swoosh label, including VaporWaffle and Blazer Low.
After releasing the original 4.0 color, the dynamic team has decided to produce a grey rendition of the silhouette. The Chitose Abe-funded label has often applied a twinning or "shadow" design over Nike silhouettes, and their latest designs are no exception to this design rule.
The parties are yet to disclose an official release date for the sneakers, but they're slated to be released in 2022, in honor of the silhouette's 50th anniversary.
More about the upcoming Chitose Abe's Sacai x Nike Cortez 4.0 Grey sneakers
The Japanese fashion label, Sacai, has a knack of creating new silhouettes and transforming the era of shoe collaborations. Previously depended on to make minor color palette adjustments to current models, the Swoosh label's latest creative partners are now required to entirely redesign the sneaker while retaining the OG spirit.
The next endeavor for the Japanese label (with the swoosh label) is to modify the Cortez silhouette. The silhouette follows the same stacked technique, with one shoe above the other and hefty layers inside and atop the heel.
The upper of the sneakers is made of nylon and is double stacked, with suede panels atop the heels and overlapping distinctive swooshes on the lateral walls of the shoes.
Dark grey covers the mesh upper, while lighter shades of grey are used to cover the shaggy suede overlays. A similar two-toned color pattern continues throughout the sneakers, including the multilayered tongues.
Nike and Sacai's co-branding features over white leather heel tabs, and laces come in pairs. The twinning theme is continued with double-layered collars, and double swoosh logos.
The first swoosh logo is made of white leather, and is layered with grey tonal laminated swoosh pattern.
The chiseled midsole design features a trademark lip at the heel and forefoot. Adding a performance aspect to the silhouette is the extended heel piece, with the visible Zoom Air unit at the forefoot. The exposed Nike Air unit towards the front of the sneaker brings the classic 1972-released shoes into a modernistic era.
The Zoom Air unit is a common detail added over the swoosh label's running and basketball kicks. These Zoom Air bubble pucks on the split midsole and grooved rubber outsoles. A black outsole and stacked rubber midsole with cream, grey, and black accents complete the sneaker's design.
Chitose Abe completes the look by printing her famed Japanese label's logo on the heels.
The pair is expected to be released on the official e-commerce site of Nike SNKRS and select retailers this fall 2022 for an expected retail price of $160. The Swoosh label, however, has not issued an official release date.
Sacai x Nike have previously collaborated for Air Max 90, LD Waffle, and Dunk High iterations.
