Rick Owens F/W 25 Creep Geobasket

The Geobasket has been in this house’s line since 2006, which makes it older than most of the clothing around it and old enough that the shape has stopped being read as a comment on athletic footwear and started being read as itself. The elements that identify it have not moved in twenty years: a tongue extended well past where a tongue needs to end, panels cut oversized and geometric so the upper reads as architecture rather than as a shoe, a shaft that rises above the ankle, and a stacked sole doing the opposite of what a running sole does.

Creep names the sole. A creeper is a thick, flat platform that raises the entire foot uniformly rather than pitching it forward, which is a construction borrowed from post-war British shoemaking and has never had anything to do with sport. Here it puts the whole shoe 3.5 cm off the ground, on a lower sole of 1 cm, so the wearer gains height without gaining a heel, and the leg line changes while the foot stays flat. There is a zip on the inside, which is the only concession to convenience anywhere on the shoe and the reason it can be a high shoe you actually put on.

Cow leather above, calf leather inside, thermoplastic rubber below.

Why we selected it

Almost everything about this shoe is unnecessary and every part of it has been made deliberately, which is a combination we will take over efficiency most days. It is also the piece of this house that a person who owns nothing else by him tends to buy first, and we would rather that first object be the one that has been in the line for two decades than the one that arrived this season.

The Geobasket is the house’s oldest continuous footwear model, introduced in 2006 and still recognisable from across a street.

Materials and construction

Upper one hundred percent cow leather, lining one hundred percent calf leather, sole one hundred percent thermoplastic rubber. Above-ankle height with an extended tongue and an inside zip fastening. Creeper sole, 3.5 cm, on a lower sole of 1 cm. Black and milk.

Fit notes

A high shoe on a flat platform, so it adds height without pitching the foot, and it walks flatter than it looks. The inside zip means the lacing can be left set and the shoe treated as a pull-on, which is worth knowing because the shaft is high enough to be tedious otherwise. Leather uppers of this weight relax across the width with wear and do not lengthen, so size for length. Beyond the sole heights we do not hold measurements for these, and would rather you tried them.

Styling

Under a wide or floor-length trouser, where the platform is a surprise at the hem rather than the whole statement. Under a cropped trouser if you want the opposite. With black.

Care

Leather does not go in water and does not go near direct heat, and a thick rubber sole will hold damp against the upper if the shoe is put away wet, so let them dry at room temperature with the zip open. Brush rather than polish. A shoemaker rather than a cleaner if the sole ever needs attention. Our care guidance covers leather in more detail.

Related pieces

The same model without the creeper sole is the Geobasket Sneakers. Low rather than above the ankle, the F/W 25 Minimal Sneak, and on a different platform, the Mega Bumper Low Sneaks. Everything we currently hold from Rick Owens is listed together.