Y-3: Yohji Yamamoto, adidas and the Sportswear Avant-Garde

In 2002 a Japanese designer who had built his reputation on black, volume and the refusal of fashion's rules went to the biggest names in sportswear with an idea. Yohji Yamamoto first pitched it to Nike, which declined, and then to adidas, which accepted. The result was Y-3, a line whose name carries both partners: the Y for Yohji and the 3 for the three stripes. This guide, a companion to the Louis Vuitton documentary, sets out how the line began, how it looks, and the milestones that matter to a collector.

A pitch to Nike, a yes from adidas

According to the END. history of the line, Yamamoto's interest in designing sportswear emerged in the late 1990s. He first took the idea to Nike, which declined, and then approached adidas. The partnership was described at its twentieth anniversary as born from a shared passion for experimentation and meant to bridge sportswear and avant-garde fashion.

Dates and the meaning of the name

The dates vary by account. The official Yohji Yamamoto page records that he was appointed creative director of the line in 2002 and that the first collection was Spring/Summer 2003. END. says Y-3 was established with that Spring/Summer 2003 collection, and also says the partnership debuted in 2002. Another account places the start of the collaboration in 2001 and the first show in October 2002. One product predates the name: the A3 Control sneaker appeared in 2002, before Y-3 was officially named, in a run of 103 pairs tied to Yamamoto's birthday on 3 October.

Design codes

• The palette. Yamamoto's monochrome and oversized silhouettes meet adidas sportswear.
• The stripes. The three stripes appear in mesh, on a single sleeve, or in tonal applications.
• The categories. Track jackets, raincoats, jerseys and accessories sit alongside the footwear.

Milestones for collectors

• 2003. The Platform Sandal blended traditional Japanese wedge sandals with sportswear design.
• 2007. The FAC51-Y3 debuted to celebrate 25 years of The Haçienda.
• 2013. The Qasa High launched and became an icon of mid-2010s streetwear.
• 2015. The Honja Low Floral Pack launched, inspired by Miyako-jima in southern Japan.
• 2018. The Runner 4D was the first use of adidas's 4D technology outside sports performance.
• 2019. The All Blacks jerseys for the Rugby World Cup were designed by Y-3, according to an adidas release of 30 June 2019.
• 2022. END. and Y-3 launched 20 Years Re-Coded on 18 March, a year-long celebration of the line's two decades.
• Football and myth. The F50 YY Tunit Tiger blended football and fashion with a design inspired by Japanese mythological creatures.

Where Y-3 sits in Yamamoto's world

Yohji Yamamoto was born in Tokyo on 3 October 1943. His company Y's was established in 1972 and its first collection was shown in Tokyo in 1977. He showed in Paris for the first time in 1981, in April at the InterContinental alongside Rei Kawakubo, and his menswear line, Pour Homme, was first shown in Paris in 1984. In 1989 Wim Wenders made the film Notebook on Cities and Clothes about him, an 81-minute work commissioned by the Centre Pompidou. Y-3 is the part of that world that goes to the stadium and the street. The poetics of the black are in the essay The Discipline of Silence, and his Paris generation is in Japan in Paris.

Reading a Y-3 piece

Check the stripes, the mesh and the soles first, since sportswear shows wear at its seams and its soles before it shows it on the face of the garment. Confirm model codes against the tag, and compare the era of a piece with the milestones above. Condition is graded by the system explained in Japanese condition ranks.

Why Japan

Y-3 was conceived by a Japanese designer for a global sportswear brand, and a culture of careful keeping means that pieces from Tokyo often arrive in good order. The wider argument is in Why Japan Is the World's Finest Market for Pre-owned Luxury.

In the archive now

• Y-3 by Yohji Yamamoto · Yohji Yamamoto · Junya Watanabe · Comme des Garçons
• Yohji Yamamoto Pour Homme leather riders jacket, Taisho back artwork

Continue reading

• The Discipline of Silence: Yohji Yamamoto and the Poetics of Black
• Against Clothing: Rei Kawakubo
• Technical Radicalism: Junya Watanabe
• Japan in Paris
• All collector guides

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Index terms: y-3 yohji yamamoto adidas · y3 history 2002 2003 · y-3 qasa high · y-3 a3 control · y-3 runner 4d · y-3 all blacks jersey · y-3 20 years re-coded · yohji yamamoto sportswear · adidas yohji yamamoto collaboration