When it comes to footwear, Rick Owens thinks and works like a sculptor wielding a chisel and a chisel, and he's determined to take out what he doesn't need to. His sneakers don't come out of performance scores for athletes or seasonal trend reports. In contrast, each silhouette is born of a rich vocabulary of form, and each is deeply personal. The over-sized platforms, angular toe boxes and layered design are all products of his lifelong fascination with ancient Roman architecture and brutalist form. These shoes aren't silent; they come without a disguise or any embellishments. The silhouette conveys the designer's point of view prior to the first look at seams.

The history of footwear's journey from obscurity to authority.

Rick Owens' name starts in Los Angeles in 1994 when he founded his own brand, which specialized in clothing at the time with a raw, draped silhouette. His relocation to Paris in 2003 marked a change in attitude towards more international and institutionalized presence. The rick owens sneakers design started to appear in his collections gradually until the Geobasket line appeared in the late 2000s which really marked sneakers as a serious segment of his collection. The Geobasket's thick platform sole and the upper, which was deconstructed, were neither derivative nor nostalgic. It created a blueprint on which many future designs grew and developed, forming a recognisable lineage of form.

The design is conceptualized by Sole Architecture that has rejected the conventional cushioning.
The first thing that is apparent with Rick Owens sneakers is the sole which has no resemblance to common athletic footwear engineering. Unlike most performance shoes that feature molded foam units for energy return, Owens prefers to wear shoes that have large blocks of crepe rubber for platform stabilization and custom-molded bases that serve as a base but not a spring board. The thickness of the sole is sometimes greater than is necessary for the practical use, but rather is part of the composition and serves as a plinth to lift the entire work. This is a method that draws on the visual grammar of platform shoes, over the decades, but which doesn't reproduce any one era of the history of platform shoes. This leaves the sole, which is not a coincidence, but a deliberate choice, and not a manufacturing fault. Both models have only one profile, which sets them apart from any of the logos placed on them.

The selection of materials.The choice of material – moral and aesthetic commitment.

Always wanting to ensure leather quality, Rick Owens has been going beyond the surface finish and sourcing and processing hides. Leather in his sneakers is often made of leathers with aging properties as opposed to being pristine. Suede features come in understated shades of pearl gray, milk white, mineral green, and more, which are suitable to get old and patina over time, as would a synthetic alternative. Stitching is often visible, and is used structurally as well as as a design element. There are occasional "canvas" and "mesh" elements, but these are treated seriously, as are the leather elements around them. These material decisions are based on the understanding that garments are not just about a 'one size fits all' best fit, but build relationships over time and evolve as the wearer evolves.

Hazardous electrical components in the DRKSHDW Diffusion Line and Accessible Entry Points.

Diffusion brand DRKSHDW, which Rick Owens introduced to bring his design language to a more affordable price point, has the same aesthetic DNA, but uses more affordable materials, production techniques and methods. The DRKSHDW sneaker series often have a canvas or coated cotton upper, similar to the sneakers in the mainline with angular constructions and soles that are the same in construction as the mainline. The tiered system enables the brand to reach a larger audience and not lose the identity that is expected in the main collection. It isn't difficult to see that the price gap between DRKSHDW and mainline Rick Owens shoes can be quite significant, but the shoes are still easily identifiable as coming from the same design mind. Retailers will typically stock both, enabling the customer to be able to walk through the brand at various levels. Rick Owens Boots hit different when you pair them with the right top — check out our essentials shorts guide to complete the look.

Partnerships which reinforce not dilute identity

Rick Owens' collaborations are akin to appropriating his vocabulary for new technical scenarios, rather than wooing new audiences with new aesthetics, like many luxury designers do. Together with the footwear manufacturers, he has created several models of the Geobasket and other profiles, which are made using techniques that are different to his standard workshops. The natural signature sole, the subdued color and the “upper” framework of the Rick Owens shoes stays the same with each partnership. The technical abilities of the partner assist Owens' artistic vision and don't detract from it. These collaborations have yielded new single compounds and manufacturing technologies, but retained the overall look and feel of the entire catalogue. These releases are closely followed by collectors since they are the only times that some of the rare combinations of sole constructions and material may be offered.

Humble and patient, the colorway is a simple yet powerful design that embodies the philosophy of restraint.

The color of Rick Owens sneakers is not just a choice for the season; it's a statement of value. The prevailing colors – milk, pearl, black, dust, concrete – feel like a dismissal of the fashion-forward and colorcycle-oriented shoe releases that are prevalent with snevers. Owens has talked about his fascination with colors in between the known colors that lie in a gray zone, where it is difficult to place a name on. If saturated colours are used, they are used sparingly and are normally just used for one part of the shoe, such as the sole or a lace eyelet row. This is a contraption to capture a range of sneakers which age as the clothes containing them age, instead of competing with them. Each time the colourway is released, it aligns with the other releases of the same season, eliminating a 'discontinuity' effect and creating a unified archive for the brand instead of an episodic one.

This is a position statement in the name of market position and a reality of the secondary market.

Rick Owens sneakers are in a weird place in the footwear world, as they fall somewhere in between the shoe price of a classic luxury shoe and the more high-end streetwear-inspired releases. The mainline sneaker is generally sold from a few hundred dollars up to a lot more than a thousand, depending on how complex the construction is and the materials used. Some silhouettes on the secondary market have premiums that are not due to scarcity but rather due to the fact that they are limited DRKSHDW releases or collaboration releases. The brand hasn't adopted the “drop” strategy of forcing the urgency of purchase as there is no drop model in place, but rather the stock levels are managed in a regular way, as with any other retailer. The traditional distribution system involves price premiums on secondary market being based on real product scarcity and not on coordinating hype. Rick Owens footwear seems to suggest that there is a collector base who are passionate about not only resale value, but design appreciation as well.

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