Pharrell Williams wants you to understand that his latest collaboration with Adidas, a pair of PW Boost Slide sandals, is exceptionally comfy. Not simply comfortable or foamy, however more like a cloud cuddling your heel. Or even like your arches are being cradled by the baby-soft hands of one thousand cherubs. Williams himself likens the feeling quite merely to “wearing socks.… You don’t even deem it anymore.” The superstar rapper and producer’s take on a slide has been an extended time coming, one thing he had in mind once he initially began collaborating with Adidas back in 2014. Straight away his style philosophy seems particularly prescient.
“It is what I’ve been talking concerning for years and we finally got around to doing it,” says Williams speaking over the phone from his place in Miami. “You should be the comfiest you can be, and I assume these slides are competing for that spot in your mind.” Unlike the standard flat pool slide, the PW comes enhanced with Williams’s longtime love for reflexology.
The silhouette follows the foot’s anatomy with additional padding on the higher part of the shoe, as well as a sole that’s injected with the brand’s padding boost technology. “[Comfort] is the one factor that gets unnoticed once it comes to sports slides. It’s always regarding how much a brand will save and how much of a profit margin can they garner by simply throwing something in some regular previous mold,” says Williams. “These are totally different because they were crafted with the expressed intention of making each step comfy.”
Williams’s trademark sense for color is front and center within the collection, with hot pink and orange slides on the market in addition to basic black. Wondered about his thoughts on the controversial sock-and-sandals debate? Mr. Williams refused to take a side once asked, despite having sent in a selfie decked out in socks and sandals. “Some individuals wear nothing, some individuals wear pantyhose, it simply depends on who the person is and what they need to do and where they’re headed and what their intentions are and how snug they need to be,” he says before adding. “You’ll see, but better yet, you’ll feel.”