Ten years ago nobody was entering a raffle for a Saucony Grid Jazz 9. It existed, it was fine, it cost a third of what it costs now. Then Westside Gunn turned up with a glue gun and a stack of fur swatches, and all of a sudden it’s an event.
What you see in the photo is not an understatement. Panels of leopard, zebra and spotted print, done in short pony hair, lie across the whole upper like a patchwork. Underneath them hot pink and yellow flashes surface, there’s a gold accent at the heel and a salmon rubber block under the arch. The midsole is cream, the outsole black, and the Saucony logos on the side are picked out in off-white to keep some calm. It half works.
The facts, because there are some
The Westside Gunn x Saucony Grid Jazz 9 “Awesome God” dropped on 28 August 2026, in unisex sizing, for $225 in the United States — two independent sources agree on that number. The execution is genuinely considered: real cheetah, zebra and cow print, artificial pony hair, leather laces in a moccasin style, the Griselda Records scorpion stamped on the heel, printed on the insoles and bagged as a hangtag. Anyone who knows the archives will clock the nod to the old Jeremy Scott and atmos releases too. This isn’t a new idea; it’s a well-made repeat of an old one.
Where it chafes
At $225 retail the question changes. Not “is this nice” — “what exactly are you buying.” The Grid Jazz 9 retired as a runner a long time ago; here you’re paying for material, for a label, and for the near-certainty that you won’t bump into it on the street. That’s a legitimate purchase. It’s just a different purchase from a sneaker. And fur on a low runner is beautiful in a studio shot and vulnerable on a wet October pavement — so decide now whether this is a pair that leaves the house or one that stays in the box. Both answers are honest.
What it actually costs now
Here’s where the number gets uncomfortable. On Solezilla.com there’s no regular retail left — it’s resale and consignment only. We’re tracking six active euro listings from five shops, and the floor is The Attic at €394.95, then Geturbrick at €425, Stadium Goods near €638, and Farfetch at €830 and up. For a shoe with a $225 sticker, that’s the collab tax in plain sight. The one bright spot sits in the UK: a single Solestop listing at £290, below every euro offer on the board. There’s no US listing right now. And the demand behind all this? Thin. Our Hypescore has it at 8, band INERT — the quietest end of the scale. The prices are chasing scarcity and the name, not a crowd.
So the honest verdict: this is one of the better artist collabs of the year precisely because the execution isn’t half-hearted. That doesn’t make the resale price reasonable, and it doesn’t turn Saucony into a luxury house overnight. Grail or Bail? On this one I genuinely want to know what everyone else thinks — vote below.