Y-3 Qasa High

The Y-3 Qasa High arrived in 2013, more than a decade after Yamamoto first partnered with adidas — a collaboration born of rejection, since Nike had turned him down. The name reflects the equal union: “Y” for Yamamoto, “3” for the three stripes. The sneaker’s bulbous, sock-like silhouette features a neoprene upper with crisscrossed elasticated webbing straps, a leather toe cap, and a distinctive tubular rubber sole borrowing from adidas’s 1990s running technology. The EVA midsole creates the shoe’s most recognizable feature: a sculptural, almost organic volume beneath the foot that makes the wearer look like they are walking on architecture rather than rubber.

The Qasa High became an instant icon of the burgeoning goth-ninja techwear movement — a subculture that valued black technical fabrics, futuristic silhouettes, and the intersection of function and form that Yamamoto had been pursuing in clothing since the early 1980s. The sneaker translated his deconstructed tailoring philosophy into footwear, creating proportions that appropriated performance detailing in unexpected ways. Where most designer sneakers of the era simply applied luxury materials to existing athletic shapes, the Qasa High invented a new shape entirely.

In 2022, adidas and Yamamoto reintroduced the silhouette, acknowledging its cult status. On the resale market, original 2013 releases — particularly the Triple Black colorway — trade above original retail, a rare distinction for a shoe that was produced in reasonable quantities. The Qasa High is proof of what the Y-3 partnership achieved at its best: not a fashion brand borrowing athletic credibility or a sportswear company buying cultural cachet, but a genuine synthesis that neither could have produced alone.