The Story Behind The Faux Under Armour And A$AP Rocky Sneaker

Under Armour‘s collaboration efforts thus far with A$AP Rocky haven’t exactly gone smoothly. Under Armour announced the collaboration in September of 2017, but until now there hasn’t been any preview of the product. At the same time, Rocky who is constantly photographed for his sartorial choices hasn’t been spotted wearing as much as an Under Armour headband.

Yesterday (January 15, 2018) an image of a sneaker surfaced via Instagram account @detroitsneakerbar, which is run by Dino Hatfield, who collaborated with Under Armour on a shoe in 2017. Rocky was featured in the image though Hatfield didn’t say whether the shoe was designed by him.

When sneaker sites began to push the story that the shoe was designed by Rocky, the Harlem rapper pushed back on Twitter and wrote, “False!”

There isn’t any news about whether the shoe Hatfield posted will be produced, but we heard Under Armour management met with boutique retailers in a Los Angeles meeting in fall 2017 where they spoke about the Rocky collaboration, but said they were still working on product.

A buyer confirmed to us today that Under Armour hasn’t shown any Rocky product since that meeting. Given the amount of time it takes to design and make a shoe, unless Under Armour and Rocky have created a very limited edition shoe sold only by Under Armour, that means there probably won’t be a shoe at retail until June.

Under Armour has been struggling with its own internal issues, including a decline in demand for its product in the United States that’s led to a steep drop off in its stock value. As a result, the brand has been forced to cut back staff and cut ties with Ben Pruess who helped create the brand’s elevated UAS line.

Check Rocky’s retort along with the faux Under Armour shoe below.