What’s Up with Kanye West’s New Sneaker Socks?

On Sunday, Kanye West stopped by Erewhon, basically the snake-free Garden of Eden for the Los Angeles rich and famous, wearing a deep eggplant outfit of slacks, sweatshirt, oversize tee, and…sock booties? Sneaker-socks? Sooties? Snocks?

West’s shoes are often newsmakers—from his regular Yeezy drip to the undersize pool slides he debuted at 2 Chainz’s wedding last summer—but these are particularly unusual. They appear to be laceless pull-on booties, crafted from neoprene, snugly fitted, and bonded with fabric tape. The super-thin chevron-grid soles extend over the toe.

Over the past several months, West has focused most of his attention on his Sunday Services, a weekly program of gospel performances that culminated in April with a performance at Coachella. Its members insist it is not a church, and yet its sensibility and aesthetic cultivate a highly religious atmosphere.

And footwear has always been an essential part of religion. A little cult book called the Bible is filled with stories about shoes, and Jesus, among other revered figures, was known to go barefoot as a gesture of humility. More recently, Catholic popes have allegedly worn Prada loafers, and their socks alone have become famous objects of desire. The hypepriest phenomenon has also swept American Christianity, with the Instagram account @PreachersNSneakers tracking the hypebeast-level sneakers religious leaders are wearing. The materialism has ruffled some young Christians: “People will follow you if they believe in you, and it has nothing to do with your sneakers,” one Catholic sneakerhead told The Wall Street Journal.

West’s barely-there sneaker is perhaps a move in the other direction, a humbler kind of footwear in an age of excess. If this seems like too close a read, consider that his Coachella performance arrived with a new capsule of merch titled “Church Clothes,” including a pair of “Church Socks” and “Holy Spirit” sweatshirts. Are these shoes meant to suggest that he’s not like the other hypepriests? As sneakers get bigger and bigger—physically and culturally—is West doing some kind of sneaker atonement?

Or maybe they’re just great shoes that are very comfortable for popping into Erewhon when you need a little shot of wheatgrass.