Ye’s $20 SL-01 had no logo. A week later he nicknamed it the Yeezy Slides.

“I don’t collab.” That was the whole caption when Ye posted YZY’s SL-01 on 13 Jan 2025. The shoe was about as spare as the line: a low black slip-on with a ribbed sole, no visible branding and numbers stamped underneath. It cost $20 a pair, in sizes 2 to 16. Hypebeast described lightweight materials, a snug fit and a textured outsole for grip, which is about all there is to say about it.

It didn’t come alone. Complex reported a sizeable apparel range went up with it, and Hypebeast tied that to the Gosha Rubchinskiy collection revealed the month before. Complex’s Victor Deng counted the SL-01 as Ye’s second shoe since the adidas deal ended in 2022. The first, the YZY Pods, had launched at $200 before falling to $20.

The SL-01 started at $20. Ye said on his Instagram Story that it brought in $2.3 million in its first 24 hours, Complex reported. Hypebeast later put Ye’s figure at $3 million.

A year on his feet

It wasn’t new to Ye. Alongside the launch he posted photos of himself wearing a pair at Hong Kong Airport the year before, Hypebeast’s Joyce Li reported. The shoe had been on his feet for a year before it had a product page.

“The Yeezy Slides”

A week later he posted it again: the original black next to two new colours, a soft grey and a light taupe. This time the caption gave it “a nick name”: The Yeezy Slides, after the slide he’d made with adidas. Sneaker News ran with the nickname, and comedian Justin LaBoy showed a pair up close soon after.

White and grey went on sale on 2 Feb 2025, still at $20. Inside three weeks of launch the SL-01 had two more colours and a name everyone already knew.

The caption said he doesn’t collab. The nickname came from a shoe he made with adidas.