
Ye has announced veteran sneaker designer Steven Smith as the head of Donda industrial design.
Smith has been a close collaborator with the artist for years, executing Kanye West’s vision in footwear for the Adidas Yeezy line.
In his new position, Smith will expand beyond footwear to work on furniture, vehicles, and more within the West empire. A release issued by West’s creative company Donda announcing Smith’s role features a portfolio of his sneaker designs (which appear below) and a concept for something called the Donda Foam Vehicle.
“I’m honored to help create our shared vision of the future,” Smith said in a statement to Complex. “Mr. West is the single most inspiring creative I have ever worked with.”
Smith’s long career has spanned almost as many decades as it has brands. He’s worked on iconic silhouettes for a number of different sneaker companies, from the New Balance 574 to the Reebok Insta Pump Fury. Smith started as a designer at New Balance in 1986, left for Adidas in 1988, and then moved on to Reebok in 1989, spending eight years there. He did a two-year stint at Fila before landing at Nike, where he worked from 1999 to 2009. In the next decade, he worked for Adidas again, this time as a freelancer, and briefly for Keen before connecting with West.




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