Ye’s choir wore the Scuba at Coachella. It was never sold to the public.

Ye took Sunday Service to Coachella on Easter, 21 Apr 2019, on purpose-built hills at the festival site in Indio. Billboard counted a full choir, Chance the Rapper, Teyana Taylor and DMX, and a new song, Water. The choir all had the same thing on their feet, and it wasn’t a shoe you could buy.

It was a Yeezy sample, worn by a whole choir on a festival stage. It never went on sale. The pair that’s surfaced since is a sample, tag and all.

Neoprene, heat tape and no laces

Ye showed the boot himself, and his Sunday Service cast wore it through the set. Hypebeast’s closer look a few weeks later showed flexible neoprene, exposed stitching reinforced with heat tape, no laces, a high collar and a thin sole with ridges for cushioning. It’s the inside that gave away its working name: Coachella Scuba.

The tag says SAMPLE

A pair that’s since come up for resale on Grailed settles what it was. The size tag reads SAMPLE, COACHELLA SCUBA ADLT, US 12, MADE IN CHINA, and it’s dated 06/19. The insole is printed SAMPLE NOT FOR RESALE. That date puts this pair two months after the festival, so samples were still being made after Easter.

Steven Smith’s Sunday Service Bootie

Steven Smith, the designer behind the 700 Wave Runner, talked about it with Complex in 2020. Complex said he’d made a pair for Ye that never went on sale to the public. Smith called it the Sunday Service Bootie, and Ye had worn it to his gatherings in 2019 while people tried to work out what they were looking at.

“It was literally something he wanted.”

Steven Smith, to Complex

Smith also tied it to a shoe that did come out: “You can see that the Sunday Service Bootie led to the 380, in that simplicity.”

The 380 went on sale. The bootie stayed with the choir, and with whoever’s managed to find one of the samples since.