Wearing Yeezy 750 Boosts at the Gym Is Not a Crime Against Sneaker Culture

People wear Yeezys to play ball in and more, it's not a big deal.

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Complex Original

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The unthinkable happened recently: Someone, how dare they, worked out in a pair of Kanye West's adidas 750 Boosts. My colleague over at Four Pins, Skylar Bergl, wrote a piece about it and freaked out, questioning if the guy was wearing fakes or if he's ever had sex before. The guy was lifting light weights and was in more danger of dropping a barbell on his foot than creasing his toe box. He's wearing athletic sneakers for an athletic purpose. News flash: Sneakers were made for people to do an sport or two.

Nate Robinson has balled in Yeezys. Gilbert Arenas played in Dolce & Gabbana sneakers. Kanye West even played basketball in a pair of 750 Boosts himself for his birthday this year. Piro Sierra skateboarded in a pair of Yeezy Boost 350s, and sneakerheads wanted to kill him. Michael Jordan played in basketball in a ton of sneakers that would go for large sums of money (and actually have sold at auction).

If you think that's egregious, people have done way worse things in Yeezy Boosts. You think some dude doing bicep curls on a dry gym floor is a crime against sneaker culture? Deon Point from Concepts wore his pair in a chlorine-filled pool. Bun B played a game of beach volleyball in his pair. Diddy had a pair dyed red. The Shoe Surgeon has even split pairs open and mixed them up with soles and uppers of other sneakers. 

 

Sure, we do our fair share of freaking out over people ruining sneakers, but there's a clear difference between wearing your kicks and messing up shoes to troll Instagram. Don't go out of your way to ruin sneakers on purpose. That's lame. But don't be afraid to wear these things, either—they're sneakers, and that's what they were meant for. If someone can ball in Nike Mags, then lifting weights in Yeezy Boosts is small potatoes.